TheBigGuy
Well-Known Member
Well it’s looking pretty quiet on the board these days so, I thought I’d bring up a subject that there’s a lot of disagreement over. Do you use braided spectra line on your Salmon mooching reels? I do, and have for many years. I prefer it for lots of reasons, here’s some.
Smaller line diameter lets you spool tons of line on reel, (almost never get into backing).
Allows you to use a stronger line than mono, helps when battling seals, snags, etc.
More economical in the long run, no need to cut off degraded sections like mono.
Line needs replacement far less frequently, line takes many years to degrade.
Line almost never breaks off, so you also lose far less tackle over the season.
Reel stays more fully spooled giving larger diameter, faster retrieves.
Weights can be used without damaging the line, or fear of break offs.
Exciting responsive fight from the Salmon, less stretch in line.
There are a few negatives to using braid, lack of shock absorbsion, line visibility, and false releases on rigger clips. These can all be resolved by adding a 30 ft. section of 40 pound mono to the lure end of the braided line. I join the lines with an Albright Special with a lock knot on the spectra tag end. The join has never failed me in any battle with a fish. Many big game fishers the world over use this system with no issues whatsoever. Using a good non slip knot recommended for braid (and lines of dissimilar diameter) is the key thing.
I know most of the guides will pile on me, saying that far too many Salmon are lost using spectra. Most guides viewpoint is a little skewed though, they often have clients with no experience Salmon fishing with mooching reels aboard. Inexperienced fishers will definitely lose more fish on spectra. Once used to fishing with braid (with a top shot of mono) I can almost guarantee no higher a loss ratio. The short section of mono is enough shock absorber for any competent angler to land just as many fish.
During my trip to Barkley Sound this summer I actually found the complete opposite to be true. I ran two reels with braid, and two with strictly mono. I ran the ones with braid far more than the ones with mono. Caught far more fish on the lines with braid, yet we lost far more Salmon on the lines that were strictly mono. It got to the point that my son was bugging me to switch those reels over to spectra too. It was that obvious how many more Salmon we were landing on the spectra. Maybe that was just an anomaly, but I can say with a fair degree of certainty that I don’t lose any more with braid.
Thought I'd bring it up to maybe change a couple minds.
Smaller line diameter lets you spool tons of line on reel, (almost never get into backing).
Allows you to use a stronger line than mono, helps when battling seals, snags, etc.
More economical in the long run, no need to cut off degraded sections like mono.
Line needs replacement far less frequently, line takes many years to degrade.
Line almost never breaks off, so you also lose far less tackle over the season.
Reel stays more fully spooled giving larger diameter, faster retrieves.
Weights can be used without damaging the line, or fear of break offs.
Exciting responsive fight from the Salmon, less stretch in line.
There are a few negatives to using braid, lack of shock absorbsion, line visibility, and false releases on rigger clips. These can all be resolved by adding a 30 ft. section of 40 pound mono to the lure end of the braided line. I join the lines with an Albright Special with a lock knot on the spectra tag end. The join has never failed me in any battle with a fish. Many big game fishers the world over use this system with no issues whatsoever. Using a good non slip knot recommended for braid (and lines of dissimilar diameter) is the key thing.
I know most of the guides will pile on me, saying that far too many Salmon are lost using spectra. Most guides viewpoint is a little skewed though, they often have clients with no experience Salmon fishing with mooching reels aboard. Inexperienced fishers will definitely lose more fish on spectra. Once used to fishing with braid (with a top shot of mono) I can almost guarantee no higher a loss ratio. The short section of mono is enough shock absorber for any competent angler to land just as many fish.
During my trip to Barkley Sound this summer I actually found the complete opposite to be true. I ran two reels with braid, and two with strictly mono. I ran the ones with braid far more than the ones with mono. Caught far more fish on the lines with braid, yet we lost far more Salmon on the lines that were strictly mono. It got to the point that my son was bugging me to switch those reels over to spectra too. It was that obvious how many more Salmon we were landing on the spectra. Maybe that was just an anomaly, but I can say with a fair degree of certainty that I don’t lose any more with braid.
Thought I'd bring it up to maybe change a couple minds.