Re-spooling with braid

[Kimberly662]

I'm wanting to re-spool two of my reels with braid. The larger of the two can hold 30#/325 yds. and the smaller one can hold 20#/330 yds. Since braid has a much smaller diameter than mono; I'm having trouble finding how much I will need. I was looking to spool with 50lb braid (or heavier), which leads me to another question: when a rod and/or reel have a recommended action, example of my gear: Heavy 40-80lb and 30#/325yd, is it safe to spool with heavier line than what is recommended on that gear, and if so, how much is too much?

I was going to go with power pro, (I already have it on another outfit, and have no complaints) but my cousin told me about sufix braid. What would you all suggest? I'm torn between trying something new, and sticking with what I already have

[livetofishnj]

You kinda have to do some math and get an idea of how much of the spool the braid is gonna take up and work backwards.

I.E. 330 of 20lb, if you went with 50lb braid it's about 12-pound diameter. so by rough math it'd take 600 yards to fill the spool. If you want to dump 300 yards of 50 then load up a little under half a spool of mono, like 100 yards of 30-pound mono or 130 of 20lb.

your 30lb class reel would be about the same if you went with 65 or 80 pound braid, 300 yards of braid, little more or less than half a spool of mono under it depending on which size of braid you use.

I know it's rough but I have filled a lot of reels from working behind the counter at a shop, it usually worked out perfectly for me.

As for brand, I have used both and have nothing against Power Pro but they did have some problems a couple years back and I know I had some breaks I couldn;t explain. They have it fixed and I still use it but I have put sufix on most of the reels I've respooled and love the stuff, smooth and easy yo work with. I just can't justify taking off good Power Pro to put the sufix on and I have no problem with braid 2+ years old for inshore fishing.

Plus Sufix came out with marked line this year which is sweet, same as the Japanese PE line where the color changes so you can measure how much line is out.

[Kimberly662]

[QUOTE=livetofishnj;424023]your 30lb class reel would be about the same if you went with 65 or 80 pound braid, 300 yards of braid, little more or less than half a spool of mono under it depending on which size of braid you use.QUOTE]

Would it be over-kill, or even safe for my set-up to spool with heavier line than that? By the way, thanks for all your help!

[Sea Draggin]

You are fine to use heavier line, just keep in mind the drag pressure on your reel and don't overload the rod. In actuality a rod rating should be drag pressure, not line size. But line size is something a consumer can wrap their head around. For example I have seen rods (custom built high end rods) that were rated for PE6 (80lb) but line would contact the blank at 20lbs of drag.

As far as braid, get Jerry Brown or Tufline. Its a purchase you won't regret.