Reel Repair by Alan Tani

I fear I may not have been clear in what I said, and I apologize if I annoyed you with my comment.

I'm gonna take one more shot, with a clearer example. It is fairly well known that a stock jigmaster's first failure point is the gear sleeve, which will begin to round off at 12# of drag. So 10# is the functional limit. So to me, that means anything over 30# mono would be wasted line capacity.

I wasn't suggesting you ask people how to break your reels. But others who have broken their reels can help you avoid breaking yours.

Spectra braided lines made old school Penn reels obsolete overnight.  The Jigmaster 500 was designed for 275 yards of 30 pound mono.  You would never in a million years need all 800 yards of the 30 pound Spectra that can be loaded onto a Jigmaster.  Nor would you consider loading it with 275 yards of 150 pound Spectra braid. 

On conventional and bait-casting reals I use a dacron backing to build up the spool and use 65 lbs. braided line to finish the spool; it doesn't matter to me whether the reel is big or small(ish). Then I set the drag so the reel and rod combo won't get destroyed (I hope).  By knowing what the recommended line weights were/are for a particular reel, that lets me know where to start.  I think OhReely has the right idea.

Quote from: JasonGotaProblem on June 28, 2024, 07:32:41 PMI fear I may not have been clear in what I said, and I apologize if I annoyed you with my comment.

I'm gonna take one more shot, with a clearer example. It is fairly well known that a stock jigmaster's first failure point is the gear sleeve, which will begin to round off at 12# of drag. So 10# is the functional limit. So to me, that means anything over 30# mono would be wasted line capacity.

I wasn't suggesting you ask people how to break your reels. But others who have broken their reels can help you avoid breaking yours.

Not annoyed in the least.  I knew your intentions but just knowing the original line recommendations for a particular reel would get me where I wanted to go, a place to start so-to-speak.  Thank you for your input!

Stock Penn jigmaster is as relevant today as it was 50 years ago. Just ask Randy Pauly and his good friend Bart Perlman ! Randy's jigmaster was loaded with 50# mono for this legendary catch !!

 I wouldn't hesitate to load a jigmaster with 50# spectra, with a 30# mono top shot. Majority of the reeling would be pump and reel with drag never set beyond 75-80%

GerryR,
Sounds like you have a system that works for you. Keep on using it until it doesn't. As long as you don't have the drag locked down the reel shouldn't break if it's in good condition, stock configuration and used properly. The drag system is there to protect the reel and keep the line from breaking.

I've never used dacron so I know nothing about it. When it comes to using line of any type as backing I think it's important that it meet or exceed the strength of the main line if there's a possibility of being spooled. If they are not of equal strength then the drag should probably be set for the weaker of the two, just in case.