Filling reel with braid and fishing today in Dividing Creek

[Tom Lagana]

Hey guys,
Just wanted to start a new thread. Thanks for all the advice about line in the other thread. Can I send when you guys are saying that you're feeling your reels that you're doing it yourself. Do I need to hold the line really tight to get it on the reel?

Fished in Dividing Creek this morning for about three hours and caught over 40 fish. All white perch except for one yellow perch. I had about 12 white perch that were really huge so I took those home and ate them. I used a beetle spinner and they couldn't get enough of it. Only bad part of the day, I lost my fishing rod in the creek when it fell off my kayak.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[J. Rentch]

Might want to think about putting a "floatie" on your rod. BPS has them.

[Mark]

...for about three hours and caught over 40 fish...

You're a quick study. I haven't had a day like that this year! Congratulations.

Finger tip tension is fine for loading line. Google the topic. You'll find lots of advice much of it with illustrations.

Like John Rentch, I use rod floats. I used to fasten leashes to my rods also but have gotten away from using them this year.

[sega]

Yea especially with braid keep a good amount of tension on the line when loading it up. All that line has to do is loop around itself once in an abnormal and it'll break right off when you put tension on that part of the spool.

Also something to note when loading braid onto any reel, it doesn't hurt to put a small amount of backing or (what I prefer) a layer of electrical tape onto the reel before you spool it up. What this does is it gives the braid something to bite into and grip better. What can happen and often does with braid on spinning reels, is that once you hook a nice fish and he starts pulling drag quick, your whole spool and drag knob will start spinning. This is no bueno. And this happens because at the bottom of your spool your braid is not biting down into your reel tight enough.

[Backdoc]

Might want to think about putting a "floatie" on your rod. BPS has them.

I used to use a floatie until I started fishing the Susquehanna where I can see the bottom. You can get a piece of cheap pipe insulation from Home Depot and slip it around the bottom of your rod. I used a piece for 1/2" plumbing and it works great. Cost about 40 cents.

[bignose]

The best material that I use as a spool arbor to attach the backing line to, is Nashua silicon tape (hose sealing tape-from Home Depot). It does not leave the sticky residue that electrical tape does.
You can build it up a bit to use less line. Braid will "bite" into this and the line won't spin on the spool.
Braid should be spooled up under a fair bit of tension, I use finger pinch pressure, or you can thread it thru a book to maintain tension. If it is wound on too lose the line will bind itself because it is so thin.