spooling penn 50s

[pelagic addicted]

Guys I have a question about what line I should put on my penn 50 wides. Should I use a hollow core diamond braid or stick to the traditional 80 pound mono? I have 3 reels to spool just trying to get some different ideas and input. Most of my fishing will be done at night, chunking for tuna. Not thinking before I purchased it but I bought a spool of jinki high visibilty 80 pound mono. Can I still use this for chunking at night as long as I use a top shot of clear mono? Any input or advice would be appreciated!

[Clint3240]

whats your budget? you can put 130lb braid on that and splice in a top shot but its gonna cost you $100 a reel. if you already bought the 80 lb mono id use it, then just put a 10ft flouro leader on the end, dont need to "top shot" mono onto mono

[backman]

your going to want to be cutting that line back constantly if your chunking as invariably it gets roughed up on the hull, abraded by a shark. All my 50's have 600 yards of Jerry Brown 130 and perhaps 150 yards of 100# momoi. That gives me enough line to be able to cut back 10 yards 5 or 6 times throughout the 1st half of the year without having to replace the entire top shot.

I typically replace the top shot in August halfway through the season. I cut back 20 yards of so of the braid each winter.

[pelagic addicted]

whats your budget? you can put 130lb braid on that and splice in a top shot but its gonna cost you $100 a reel. if you already bought the 80 lb mono id use it, then just put a 10ft flouro leader on the end, dont need to "top shot" mono onto mono

I get the stuff at cost because I own a small shop but it still gets rather expensive buying line and not using it. I'm just looking for the best set up I can possibly get. If I go with the mono and use a flouro leader what type of connection would I join the two together with? Also, when you say 100$ per reel, what brand braid are you talking about using? Alot of the guys swear by the diamond hollow core braid in the 80 pound test. Considering most of the guys that come to my shop are in shore fisherman or freshwater fisherman all the offshore stuff is strictly for me. This is only my second year off shore fishing so I'm still quite green at it. Thank you for the replies!

[Clint3240]

If I go with the mono and use a flouro leader what type of connection would I join the two together with?

use a wind on swivel, if the line is small enough you can tie it...i usually crimp mono line if its bigger than 80lb.... no matter what line you use your gonna want a fouro leader on the hook 130-150lb

the 80lb hollow core is gonna be a little small of a diameter, you will have a ton of line on there that you will never see, do what backman said for the line, 600 yrds of jerry brown 130 and the the rest mono, it gets pricey. if you do that you will need to splice the mono inside of the hollow core. you can find info on the web about that. jerry brown 600yds goes for $85 then the mono, so you could look at $100 a reel, i dunno how cheap you get it for cost but thats what id have to pay for it.

oh ya and there is also wet packing, might wanna look into that

[Captain Greg Sears]

use a wind on swivel, if the line is small enough you can tie it...i usually crimp mono line if its bigger than 80lb.... no matter what line you use your gonna want a fouro leader on the hook 130-150lb

the 80lb hollow core is gonna be a little small of a diameter, you will have a ton of line on there that you will never see, do what backman said for the line, 600 yrds of jerry brown 130 and the the rest mono, it gets pricey. if you do that you will need to splice the mono inside of the hollow core. you can find info on the web about that. jerry brown 600yds goes for $85 then the mono, so you could look at $100 a reel, i dunno how cheap you get it for cost but thats what id have to pay for it.

oh ya and there is also wet packing, might wanna look into that

Cost is not an issue you will spend more in the long run for mono than braid the life span of braid is three fold that of mono. Plus you get at least twice the capacity. JB is what we use non waxed hollow core very easy to work with. Just wet pack before you fish by letting out the line with nothing on the end while you go about 10 knots. Use wide back and forth action on the rewind to keep any chance of line bury from happening. 50 yards of Backing should be Dacron or mono so the braid will not slip on the spool. Wind ons require special guides on your rod so if you have regular guides use a finger trap splice or loop splice on your braid. We put rig's direct to braid when trolling. But a lot of guys like a little stretch with 50 to 100 yards of top shot of mono for leadering. We wind the fish to the boat without handling the leader by hand. When we chunk or live bait we Make our mono or Flouro carbon leaders the depth we are fishing at. and put the balloon or kite marker at the top of the leader. We use 130 to 200 braid on everything 50 to 130 reels. and 130 to 200 topshot or leaders. Unless of course you are fishing for an IGFA record! Than use mono for everything or you will get scrutinized. A nail knot or a albrite should suffice for a thicker mono to thinner mono connection like a fly line leader knot. But be careful when winding on or letting it out.

PS; if you use outriggers and your line is to thin 80lb or less. Somtimes the wind will blow it arround the clip and get caught up when you hook up. This is why I stick to 130 or a mono top shot.

[ifish42na]

Myth Busting: The truth about line slipping on the spool.

Many mistakenly believe that Spectra® fishing line will slip on the spool unless you take draconian measures to prevent it. Experience has clearly shown that putting on several layers of mono, dacron or duct tape is totally unnecessary. This practice is not recommended to solve a problem that does not even exist. Braided line grips the spool much like tread on a tire grips the road better than a smooth one with an infinitely small contact area.

Before you start spooling a reel, pass the line around the arbor twice and form a good knot such as the Berkley Trilene knot. Cinch it tightly on one side of the spool leaving a long tag end to be laid across the arbor. Spool the first full layer of Spectra® onto the spool in a close side-by-side fashion under tension of 6-8 pounds over the tag end. If this is done, the line will not slip! No exceptions have been reported but try pulling on it at this point if you have any doubts. When convinced, you might tell a friend that it works.

Continue filling the spool under tension without any exaggerated crisscrossing. Tension about 1/2 the drag pressure expected may be appropriate when spooling heavy- duty line. Exaggerated crisscrossing creates open space in the spool which may invite the subsequent layer to dig in. In any case, crisscrossing is a one-time-event because you would not attempt exaggerated crisscrossing when fighting a fish because to do so would give the fish the opportunity to shake the hook. Actually, even if you think you are laying the line tightly under tension in a close side-by-side fashion, it is likely that you can’t see that you are crossing several wraps every turn because the line is so small diameter.

Some believe that Spectra® should be spooled on wet. This is not needed, but if it makes you happy, OK. The main concern with wet spooling is that often insufficient tension is applied. Fresh water causes no problems, but I would not use sea water which has about 3.5% salt (about 1/3 pound per gallon). Salt causes spool erosion. You would be saturating the line with salt all the way down to the bottom of the spool to start trouble later.

[sushi42]

I'm getting the feeling that you're fairly new at the game. Thats great, enjoy the ride. Spooling your reels is on the lesser end of what your about to start spending!

Seeing how you own a small shop and you get your tackle at a small discount, I would suggest you just go with 80 lb. mono this season. After all, you buy a bulk spool and your cost will be about $20.00 p/ reel. Now your into the respooling for $60.00 vs. $300.00. I don't know, I'm no Bernie Madoff but I like those figures.

This is a no-brainer considering the type of fishing you will be doing. Chunking at night for yellows. You have a dozen different mono to flouro techniques available at this point, it's up to you as to which one you prefer. My guess is a 200 lb. in-line swivel would be your ticket but I would test the waters on some splicing techniques with hollow core too.
Good luck

[austin ensor]

i put 100lb JB hollow core on (300 yds) and fill the rest with mono not sure about the length of mono

[chumtini]

Backman's got it. I do the same thing. If cost isn't an issue, 130# spectra is the way to go. 80# isn't necessary. It's too much line and just adding cost. You can pack more than enough 130# onto a 50. And, if/when you do hook into something BIG and it's going to snap, it's better to snap down by the hook than have a fish out there swimming around dragging 8 gazzilion yards of line.
JMO

PS if cost was a consideration, dacron backing is a less expensive alternative.