Downrigger braid

[Englishman]

Go read this great story folks. It is not just me who gets braid break offs on rough pulleys!!
http://www.sportfishingbc.com/forum/showthread.php?23864-Sweet-go-pro-footage-and-story!

 

[Last Chance]

6 years... Busted a mount with the stuff, still going strong. Love it, will never go back.

 

[Seafever]

As far as the braid breaking at points that are mystifying....and not at the knots etc.....

I was reading on another site about guys using lighter braid on their baitcasting reels in freshwater...and complaining about losing casting lures ( where they would be casting and the line would just break at random points.)

But these same guys would also say that the braid wears a groove in their rod eyes from repeated casts.

So maybe the wear grooves in the eyes are contributing.....

So for braid downrigger lines you need to make sure all your ducks are in a row when it comes to wear points,grooves,burrs,nicks etc.

 

[Seafever]

Just an observation...

We use braid for bottom fishing......it's going through ceramic eyes on the rods and the line is constantly being hauled up and down on a typical jigging trip.

It doesn't take too long before the braid starts showing signs of wear.

It starts to get "furry" on the outside of the line.....and the braid itself seems to lose some of it's "woven" characteristics.

At a certain point.....after continued use...I can take 80lb braid and break it with my bare hands.

I only get one season out of a roll of braid for jigging.

So maybe it might be prudent to change up downrigger braid on a regular basis "just because".......and not wait until it fails inexplicably.......

 

[spring fever]

I change mine from one to the other every year and put new braid on after the second year-just because!!!

 

[GDW]

I'm on my 2nd season with 200# power pro. My electric riggers are over 10 years old and have always used wire so the pulleys are in rough shape. I fish quite a bit.

Not a single problem and I'm still using my original knot I haven't re tied once. As far as I'm concerned with 200# power pro abrasion is not an issue.

 

[Dogbreath]

Just an observation...

We use braid for bottom fishing......it's going through ceramic eyes on the rods and the line is constantly being hauled up and down on a typical jigging trip.

It doesn't take too long before the braid starts showing signs of wear.

It starts to get "furry" on the outside of the line.....and the braid itself seems to lose some of it's "woven" characteristics.

At a certain point.....after continued use...I can take 80lb braid and break it with my bare hands.

I only get one season out of a roll of braid for jigging.

So maybe it might be prudent to change up downrigger braid on a regular basis "just because".......and not wait until it fails inexplicably.......

You must have some defective guides on those rods-I'm still using the same 20 year old 80# Tufline with no issues except cutting off a few feet per year.

 

[Rum Buddies]

Seafever you must be one strong Mofo - either that or your rods need some repair.

 

[Seafever]

Both our rods have ceramic eyelets....chose these because they are better than bare steel for wear.

No grooves etc. in them.

They look o.k.

We have about 400ft of line on the reels......it's only usually the first 100ft or so that wears out quick. It looses it's dark green color and goes sort of milky yellowy green. Then it goes 'stringy".......

So we'll cut that off and splice in some new stuff....

I don't know what better eyelets I could get than ceramic.....

Reels are good ol' moochers.....

 

[Dogbreath]

Both our rods have ceramic eyelets....chose these because they are better than bare steel for wear.No grooves etc. in them.They look o.k.

I have bare steel guides on my old Seeker have since back in another century and have no such issues.

 

[fish stalker]

Do you rememeber what brand it was? Not that it means anything beucase they are always changing. I went to a sale at army and navy in van last year and they had a 2for1 sale (insane) so I was going to pick up some pp for my dr's but the stuff they had was Demeea on not spectra which seemed to be the new fiber pp was going with. You might have just had a old batch of sumpthin' I have fuji ceramics on my casting rod and love them. I had a eye on another rod replaced and it cracked with in a year so again even eyes can have quality issues. A small crack would fray or cut a line fast. I thought ceramic was the only way to go of using braid?

 

[Seafever]

Went and had a close inspection of ny rod guides and eyelets for cracks......didn't see any...

As a rule I use Tuffline 80lb. with a 6ft topshot of mono 30lb. for bottom jigging Lings,Rockies,etc.

Where I live and fish we almost never get Halibut....so I don't worry about them. (I've never got one jigging around here yet).

maybe I should try another brand.....

A typical jigging trip for us....the line probably goes up and down 200 times a day....(we'll typically be out there 6 or 7 hours straight non-stop).

We cover all kinds of ground.........

 

[scott craven]

How's your tennis elbow ?

 

[chris73]

If dogfish rub their skin on your braid that will severely compromise the braid. If a dogfish manages to wrap its tail around your line, cut this section of line off or you will lose your next large fish.

 

[Seafever]

Thanks Chris...good to know.....

r.s.craven.......some of those days my arm is just about falling off when we get back....

IMO trolling is much easier than jigging.......

Weird how it works for jigging bottomfish........some days you go out there they are hot to trot....

otherdays you can pound the lead for hours without a hit....

I don't bother with the small inshore Rockfish......

I always get more hits on Lings when there is a flooding tide running at a good clip.......

 

[scott craven]

Just to let you guys know, braid on a downrigger does have a life span.
it's about 5 years, lost 2 cannon balls today so thought I would test it.
Could snap it easily pulling with 2 hands wrapped around a club.

(and it was 200lb powerpro)

 

[seadna]

Agreed - it needs to be replaced every now and then. Still 5 years is better than I ever got from a spool of cable.

 

[Birdsnest]

Just to let you guys know, braid on a downrigger does have a life span.
it's about 5 years, lost 2 cannon balls today so thought I would test it.
Could snap it easily pulling with 2 hands wrapped around a club.

(and it was 200lb powerpro)

what about the braid on the inside of the spool that never sees the light of day. Did you test that or only sections in the to 200'? Just curious. Did you ever turn the line around on your downrigger spool?

 

[AlK]

Just to let you guys know, braid on a downrigger does have a life span.
it's about 5 years, lost 2 cannon balls today so thought I would test it.
Could snap it easily pulling with 2 hands wrapped around a club.

(and it was 200lb powerpro)

Thanks for the info r.s craven!

That may explain why this year, all of a sudden while bringing up the 15 lb cannon ball, the 200lb Powerpro broke at around 70 feet.
Will have to check.

 

[spring fever]

I usually put 400ft of Ppro 200lb-switch it front to back after the second year and give it to my wife after the third for gardening(I DON'T KNOW WHY SHE WANTS IT). Haven't had any drop off for awhile using that system!