Any offshore fisherman on here that could offer some advice on line? I have 6 Penn International 130 reels that I got at an estate sale a few months back and I need to get some fishing line for them. Anybody know of a good online place to get high test braid and mono lines in bulk and anybody have any brands they recommend? I am looking for something around 130# test and for each reel I need around 3,500 yds hollow braid as backing and probably a 250 yd topshot of mono. I prefer that the braid comes on a 3,500-4,000 yd (or some multiple of that) spool so that I can use a single continuous line and don’t have a bunch of unnecessary knots that could potentially fail. In the past I have always just taken my reels to my go-to tackle shop when it’s time for new line and trusted their judgment but they are now closed thanks to Coronavirus. Whatever they used always served me well but I don’t remember what it was and 130# braid isn’t cheap so I hate to just buy 15 miles worth of some random ass brand and cross my fingers that it’s not crap.
Have you tried the big box stores as Bass Pro, Cabela's, Academy, etc.? Still doing business online, I bet.
Small lake fishermen laugh at us salmon guys because we have deals that hold 4-500 yards of braid. 3500 would knock them right over
Not unless I willing to piece together a bunch of 300 yd spools. Tackle shop usually had monster spools, probably 10,000 yds plus that fit on their their rod spooling machine that they used. Thats kind of the thing I am looking for. Tackle direct has some larger spools of braid, but they're expensive as all get-out.
Well you will never use the full 3,500 fighting any single fish. You would maybe use 500 - 1,000 yds max if its a true monster and the water is rough and the fish is running parallel to the waves, preventing you from backing down on him effectively (running a center console boat parallel to the surf in high seas is a good way to end up with a 50 mile swim back to shore). And really even using that much is somewhat rare, usually you really only end up letting out a couple hundred yards or so. The main reason for having that much line for me is because I will end up cutting off a lot of it off over time. If you spend an hour fighting a hard-fighting fish such as a big marlin (Or just a monster of a not so hard fighting fish like a 500 lb grouper) all the jerking and pulling and such causes a lot of wear on the line and some of the tiny individual strands that make up the braid internally start breaking which weakens the line. My understanding is that a 130# test line actually starts out with a breaking strength of around 150lbs and even up to 200lbs when it is brand new but by the end of a big long fight that'll have dropped down closer to the nominal 130# strength or even less than that. So standard practice for me is that any time you have a big hard fight I cut off and discard whatever line that got used in the fight. Otherwise the next time you hook up with a big one you'll be starting with already weakened line and by the time you are done with that fight it might only hold 80lbs which may not be strong enough to finish the fight... Since braid doesn't go bad like mono it can last unused on the spool for 10 years or more. In the long run you actually use less line by starting with the full 3,500 yd capacity and only cutting off what gets used. So while I might be starting this season with 3,500, if a couple big fish get hooked on the same reel then that reel might only have 2,500 or 2,000 yds left by the end of the season, then the season after that it might be down to 1,500 yds and so on... Personally, 400-500 yds remaining is the point where I usually discard all the remaining line and fill it back up with fresh line.
We don't use anywhere near 4-500 yards on a fish. If you did, the drag was set too loose. The small lake guys think 125 yards of mono is a lot. That was the point. To them, 3500 yards??? OMG. And fishing the trough on certain days in Lake MI ends the same way. A very long swim in cold water.
I'm mainly an ice fisherman but do end up getting out a few times during the year. Does anyone have a recommendation on an affordable spinning rod/reel combo that can be used for different species (Bass, Walleye, Panfish, Northern)? Minnesota fishing opener is coming up and I would like to get a few shallow diving crank baits (10-20 feet) for walleye. Does anyone have a recommendation on those?
Perch pattern, smallest rapala available. I would go with an ugly stick pretty unbreakable rod. I prefer 6 pound green trilene.
Penn battle 2 combo is a pretty good entry level setup. They’re like $120 for the rod/reel combo which is a little on the high end as far as entry level gear goes but it will hold up a lot longer than one of the $50 Walmart specials. I’d suggest one with a 2000-3000 size reel and a medium or medium-light action rod somewhere around 6-7’ long.
Unless you have screen/storm doors on your house, there is no such thing as a rod that is durable enough to survive a bad encounter with a screen door. I could probably buy a boat with all the money I’ve spent over the years replacing rods that got their tip snapped off by a spring loaded screen door.
Got confirmation I’ll be heading to Anderson’s Cove on Leech Lake for fishing opener. My best friend since 6th grade parents own the resort and I’ve been going there for years. If anyone is looking for a place to go on vacation, I highly recommend them. I’m more excited than previous years simply because I haven’t had anything to look forward to in 2 months! It’s weird actually getting ready/making plans to go somewhere that’s not 10 miles away. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Looking at getting this in the 6'6" https://www.scheels.com/p/pflueger-...html?cgid=fishing-rod-and-reel-combos#start=2
You folks are on your own for about 6 weeks--going to Arbor Vitae Wi ( UP NORT ) to fish and become a beach bum ! No smart phone, No computer, only tv is when its raining all day ! Unless the bars open of course ! Going brain dead ! see ya down the road, Oh by the way-don,t tell gov Evers I am going !
