Spooling the old reels for rockfish

[jlezama]

Hi Guys
           With the rockfishing season opening tomorrow in central/norcal (yes!) I am taking my time this year to adequately spool my reels. In the past recommendations from the tackle shops leaned me to put heavy braid test (65#) in some of my reels, which as of now I think is overkill and might bring other problems around.
         
This are the reels I have (skipping the rods more or less matched to them), uses and plans I have for spooling them
         
          Abu Garcia Record50 (Swimbaits 15 lb drag max) spooled with 30-40 # braid
          Calcutta 400 BSV (light iron, jigging 17 lb drag max) 30-40 lb braid
          TLD star 20/40 (<100 ft flies and live bait, 17 lb drag max) 30 lb braid 30 lb mono topshot
          Okuma CV30C (>100 ft flies and live bait, 20 lb drag max) 40 lb test 40 lb mono topshot
          Avet MXJ (Heavier jigs, 14 lb drag max) 30-40 lb braid
         
So what do you guys think? I have been thinking on leaning towards lighter braids, but I wanted to hear your opinion on it.
Some other things are lingering in my mind such as the braid getting buried if its too light on a non-level wind reel, abrasion resistance (which I think suffix is the worst), so any feedback will be greatly appreciated.

BTW anyone up to charter a boat at some point in the summer? It would be great to know some of you guys in person and in fishing... and we can call the the "reel repair by alan tani" charter boat
Take care
Juan

[alantani]

go with either 50# or 65#.  i use small reels and 50#, because that is what i have alot of.  it's just a question of line capacity.  spectra is expensive, and 400 yards of spectra is wasted on rock fish. 

[jlezama]

Thanks very much Alan for your response (pretty fast!). I think you have a really good point. Lots of money can be spend when spooling 3-4 reels with a lot of spectra... So I guess for our local applications choosing would come to reel capacity more than # rating, I was just a bit afraid on overkilling, but I do put a short topshot more appropiately rated which I guess balances things out more.
Thanks again!
Juan

[Keta]

Like Alan posted use 50-65 pound.  Ignore the breaking strength and consider the diameter, thinner spectra causes more problems.  I do spool some of my real small reels (curado 200s and Calcutta 51s) with 40lb but the rest of my reels are spooled with 60lb and up.

Put on 1/4 to 1/3 of a spool of Dacron backing then the Spectra.

[Bryan Young]

Hi Juan,

Right or wrong, my reels are spooled with the following:

Abu 6500C3 - 20# or 30# Power Pro.  I cannot remember.  Why?  Because I believe that Pure Fishing indicated that line size for the reel if using braid.  5# drag max.  For use with jigs or weight up to 6 oz.  use flies, bait, or live bait.  And more importantly, that is what I had.

ProGear 255 - 50# Power Pro.  Becuase I wanted to use up the spool, and it did right at the end.  For use with jigs and weights up to 12 oz.  flies, bait or live bait.

My new lite reel is a new Okuma Tormenta with upgraded drags (3# max) and 10# Berkeley Big Game braid.  For use with jigs to 1 oz.  Just for fun.  I am thinking of getting a 8-9' Shimano Crucial rod for this.

I need one more set up for squid.  Not that big humboldt ones but the little ones like the box squid you buy for bait and other calamari dishes.  During my last trip fishing out of Monterey, CA, we caught some live squid on my chaser.  This time I'm prepared with small squid jigs.  I want a separate set-up just for this.  I don't mind catching live bait for the boat and for the bucket for me to take home.  Depending on where on the boat I am fishing from, I may also set up a rod for fly-lining live squid for white sea bass.  That would be a hoot while jigging up bait.

Juan,  I'll be game to join you on the Huli Cat or New Gravy out of Halfmoon Bay, or with Randy's out of Monterey.

Also, I hardly pound the bottom.  Never need to especially on a party boat.  Many on board are pounding the bottom making a racket.  My baits are usually up above the bottom but 8-10 feet and I have not been disappointed.  Nice bit reds and Lings ever since, and no stuck jigs.  I figure that when everyone is pounding the bottom, it make the fish look up and they seemy jigs and rigs, and pow.  Besides, when a ling comes up, he's got that much more to swim down, and if I can hold him a little bit, he's got no chance in getting snagged on the bottom where a lot of lings are lost.

[Norcal Pescador]

Like Alan pointed out you can use up a lot of braid filling a spool. I put a mono backing on all of my braid-spooled reels to push the braid to the top even if I use a topshot.

For my four bottom fishing reels, I use 20 (Penn 501), 25 (Penn 500) and 40 (113HL) pound mono and 30 pound braid (Penn 500). When the braid on the 500 needs replacing I'll probably go up to 50 pound. The 113HL and the 113HN (65 pound braid) are mainly for 'buts. The drift is pretty harsh off Trinidad, so that's where I like smaller diameter line. I also use a 5-foot mono or fluoro leader on my braid. The max depth off Trinidad is 120 feet.

For deep water rockcodding off Baja, I have a 114H with 300 yards of 80 pound braid over mono.

All of my rigs are set up for double duty in SoCal / Baja / long-range.

Bottom line (pun here ), mono is cheap.

[doradoben]

In So. Cal.. I have 2 Penn 501's that are backed with mono and then spooled with 300 yards of spectra.  One reel has 30 lb. & the other has 50 lb. spectra. Attached to the business end of the spectra is a high quality 100 lb. ball bearing swivel. Ends with a 6 ft. length of mono that is lighter than the spectra. For my application, the backing is 20 lb. because we can't fish deeper than about 300 ft., so at best only 1/3 of the spectra is in the water. Both reels are mounted on 6'6" Fenwick 30lb. Offshore rods..