Braid basics

[elnath]

I'm looking to increase line capacity on my Penn international 50(not the wide version). According to penn it holds 600 yards of 50lb mono, I want to spool around 500 metres of braid and around 400m of 50lb mono to give me plenty of capacity for marlin fishing. It will be used for trolling lures and live baits. Should I use 50lb braid and 50lb mono or should I step the braid strength up to 60lb or 65lb and if so why a different line strength?

Thanks
Peter

In general you want your main line to be proportional to the drag you intend to fish (between 3x and 4x intended drag), while the topshot is buying you terminal abrasion resistance and easier resolution of tangles.  With a 400m topshot, you shouldn't be into the mainline unless you have a very large fish on the line, so you may want to stay on the upper end of that multiple.  BTW, personal preference, but that's an awful lot of topshot, you could add considerably to the the capacity (if this is your goal) with not much impact in the overall performance by shortening it to 100m or so.

You likely want to step up on the braid test to give you more abrasion resistance, 50lb braid is rather delicate, I generally fish 60 or 80 on a 50lb rig (for solid it would be 65) for this reason--I also hate working with braid that I can't hardly see (old eyes ).

[Bryan Young]

I'm looking to increase line capacity on my Penn international 50(not the wide version). According to penn it holds 600 yards of 50lb mono, I want to spool around 500 metres of braid and around 400m of 50lb mono to give me plenty of capacity for marlin fishing. It will be used for trolling lures and live baits. Should I use 50lb braid and 50lb mono or should I step the braid strength up to 60lb or 65lb and if so why a different line strength?

Thanks
Peter

Hi Peter,

My theory behind using a higher braid strengh than my top-shot is I'm going to break off on a fish, I would rather loose my mono and not my braid, and my reels are set up where the top-shot are as short as possible.  That said, I don't do much trolling any more, but if I did, I would fill my 50# class reel with 80# braid (assuming that you are using spectra or dyneema) backing.  the lenght of my top-shot would be maximum 2x the distance from the rod tip to the lure.  This will allow me to change the top-shots when needed (after every fish or after every trip).  At least this is what I would try if I were trolling. 

Then, if you will be live-baiting, you can cut your top shot and rig with live bait.  Shorter the top shot alows the bait to swim more freely with lest line resistance.
\
Good luck.
Bryan

[SoCalAngler]

I'll add a little here also. All non tournament or IGFA rated lines break at or above the lines rating, most breaking well above that rating. IGFA rated lines break at or below their rating. On the other hand spectra breaks much closer to its line rating than the non IGFA lines and like Bryan said most would like the mono to break before the spectra. I also think a 400m topshot is way too long I would think something in the 10m maybe 20m length would be plenty. Your not going to need to worry about abrration from the fish unless the marlin you are targeting are over 30-60 feel long

[elnath]

I'll add a little here also. All non tournament or IGFA rated lines break at or above the lines rating, most breaking well above that rating. IGFA rated lines break at or below their rating. On the other hand spectra breaks much closer to its line rating than the non IGFA lines and like Bryan said most would like the mono to break before the spectra. I also think a 400m topshot is way too long I would think something in the 10m maybe 20m length would be plenty. Your not going to need to worry about abrration from the fish unless the marlin you are targeting are over 30-60 feel long

We also adjust the length depending on the boat.  If you are on a private boat that can maneuver as you fight the fish, then the abrasion concern is from the fish itself, i.e. the leader needs to fight abrasion along a distance similar to the length of the fish.  On a larger multiparty boat that won't be maneuvering, you also need to deal with rubbing against the boat and/or other lines.  Braid won't last long if it's rubbing against the bottom of a boat hull.....

[p-deverett]

Thanks for all the feedback, I'll significanty shorten the mono on these reels. Now I need to find some big spools of braid here in NZ.

Thanks
Peter

[saltydog]

Well I have a 50 that I just loaded for sharks and it took 1000 yards of 80# braid and a 100 yard topshot of 80# mono.I don't drop too far from shore,usually in the first and second gut so I would rather have the line capacity.If you set your strike at 22#'s you should get up to 35 at full which really puts the hammer on when needed.Plus I'm gonna use it on a tune trip this fall so those gulf YFT better watch out.

[SoCalAngler]

I'll add a little here also. All non tournament or IGFA rated lines break at or above the lines rating, most breaking well above that rating. IGFA rated lines break at or below their rating. On the other hand spectra breaks much closer to its line rating than the non IGFA lines and like Bryan said most would like the mono to break before the spectra. I also think a 400m topshot is way too long I would think something in the 10m maybe 20m length would be plenty. Your not going to need to worry about abrration from the fish unless the marlin you are targeting are over 30-60 feel long

We also adjust the length depending on the boat.  If you are on a private boat that can maneuver as you fight the fish, then the abrasion concern is from the fish itself, i.e. the leader needs to fight abrasion along a distance similar to the length of the fish.  On a larger multiparty boat that won't be maneuvering, you also need to deal with rubbing against the boat and/or other lines.  Braid won't last long if it's rubbing against the bottom of a boat hull.....

Point taken but where are you fishing that you will be targeting marlin on "multiparty" boats?

[elnath]

Well not Marlin, but we fish for Tuna and Swordfish from "party" boats and I have person experience of losing more than one nice tuna due to abrasion against the boat--in fact I think I've lost more fish to boat abrasion than fish abrasion--and that is rubbing through 80-100 mono.....