12-13-2003, 01:13 PM
[cool][size 2]For fishing fresh water, with depths seldom more than 60 to 70 feet, you can save some money by not spooling your whole reel with the "high priced thread". Whenever I need to build up a spool for a "topshot" of the working line, I tend to use dacron. It is relatively cheap and ain't too bad in the diameter and stretch departments. As you have discovered, the stretchy properties of mono make it not the best choice. Not only that, I have accumulated a lot of dacron over the years and have used it as backing on fly reels as well as for spool building.[/size]
[size 2]Probably the real issues are (1.) a good joining knot between the superbraid and the base line. and (2) being sure that you either have enough of the working line to sustain a run by a large fish, or having a base line that is strong enough to hold a large fish until you can work it back onto the superbraid on your reel.[/size]
[size 2]I'm sure Japanron has also seen more than a few big fish "farmed" on the party boats when a fish ran past the knot and it was not good enough to hold the fish...or the line under the topshot was old, rotted or just plain too small. Remember, when a large fish has a lot of line out, the stress on the line is much greater than just the drag setting on the reel.[/size]
[size 2]If you do not already do so, complete your topshot knot with a drop of fishing glue. But do not count on glue to overcome using a bad knot or tying a good knot poorly.[/size]
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[size 2]Probably the real issues are (1.) a good joining knot between the superbraid and the base line. and (2) being sure that you either have enough of the working line to sustain a run by a large fish, or having a base line that is strong enough to hold a large fish until you can work it back onto the superbraid on your reel.[/size]
[size 2]I'm sure Japanron has also seen more than a few big fish "farmed" on the party boats when a fish ran past the knot and it was not good enough to hold the fish...or the line under the topshot was old, rotted or just plain too small. Remember, when a large fish has a lot of line out, the stress on the line is much greater than just the drag setting on the reel.[/size]
[size 2]If you do not already do so, complete your topshot knot with a drop of fishing glue. But do not count on glue to overcome using a bad knot or tying a good knot poorly.[/size]
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