Thread: 30lb braid breaking at 8lb

Originally Posted by Three O'Three

Poor bugger. Thanks for that story, yeah I'm definitely gonna get these reels respooled, not gonna take any chances. Do tackle shops do it for you? The only ones close to me are Smartmarine and Burnsco. Doubt Burnsco will?

My local Burnsco does it. It's not hard to do yourself, easier than setting up a scope

fishing storys and snapping lines was fishing down the Rangaaunu harbour Kaitaia with my mate - he kept getting snapped off - we found the reason - his cheap warehouse fixed spool had the roller seized for so long the line had worn a groove in it - and as soon as he loaded up the tension - ping bugger me again

The reels I want to put new braid on are 4000 size reels. Any advice on what diameter weight rating I should use? FYI will be using braid on 6' jigging and spin rods using 6kg fluorocarbon leaders

Originally Posted by Three O'Three

The reels I want to put new braid on are 4000 size reels. Any advice on what diameter weight rating I should use? FYI will be using braid on 6' jigging and spin rods using 6kg fluorocarbon leaders

That's pretty light leader, but doable. Based on the leader, braid in the 6-10kg range.

How thick was the braid, was it mislabelled?

Originally Posted by inglishill

How thick was the braid, was it mislabelled?

.30 and .33mm. Just checked some more fishing ling diameter charts and its more around the 30 to 40lb mark, not 20 to 30lb.

Honestly if it’s rated 30 lb and you breaking it at 8 lb bin the lot and start fresh , yip it’s a pain in the arse , but buyer beware etc ..better to have gear you can trust and enjoy your fishing , than worry every time your hooked up.

For the price of burley , bait , time and hooks and sinkers ,weather and enjoyment for me next payday a fresh spool is money in the bank!

Some of the sunscreens and tackle spray products can be a little hard on braid as well - also the baseline quality of the spectra (or chinese fiber of the day) has a huge bearing on how well the braid lasts as does it's construction (fused vs weaved etc).

If in doubt, bin it.

As far as spooling up, the only thing you have to be careful with is twisting the line as you reel it onto the spool. If you get a pot and lid from the second hand shop and take the center handle off the lid, usually there is a nice smooth grommet thing there that the bolt in the handle locks onto. Make sure it's got a smooth grommet, fill the pot with water and make sure the spool doesn't have any sharp plastic dags sticking up. Pull the line through the hole in the lid, making sure that it unwinds the same way off the spool as the winder on the reel goes and bob's your uncle's cousins sister or something.

the other way is to spool it on and this really only applies to fixed spool ( egg beaters ) turn the spool of nylon every few minutes so you are not twisting the line to much - the line will be coming of the spool clock wise or anti clockwise - turn the spool so that an equal amount comes of both anti clockwise and clockwise - left hand right hand kind of thing - free spools are easy put a screw dirver thru spool - get some one to feed it out under a little pressure and wind it on -what I do periodically if I think my nylon is twisted up on reel when slowly steaming out on boat pay out line say 300 meters and let it troll for awhile with nothing on line and then wind it back with minimal loading - twists gone

There are some shit cheap braid brands out there.

Scrap the lot and get Tasline....job done. I also reverse the spool before replacing as the bottom of the spool is hardly used so swapping it to the top is like respooling

just a wee aside .if any of you blokes do a bit of diy repairs to leather canvas or suchlike .braid makes a bloody decent alternative to other synthetic threads . ive used it in assorted sheaths etc ,though it can be a proverbial to thread on needle it locks me up bloody good .son whose done tons of shoe repairs etc reckons its shoul d hold up .

My local tackle shop respool reels for free if you buy their lines, so I'm gonna wait until they have the braid I want on sale then take the reels in.

Smart Marine in Hamilton will spool your reels for you so I would Imagine Tauranga will as well.

Someone made a point about suddenly loading up braid versus gradually loading it, they are right.

One day I was trying to stop Kingfish that were miraculously taking cut baits with little room to play them. My mates insisted all I needed to do was to tighten up the drag.

Eventually I tightened up the drag just to shut them up. Next fish swam under the boat, swallowed my chunk of bait.. felt the hook and hit the gas.

I was holding the braid in my finger and could feel it happen, flicked the bail arm and bang! braid parted right on the bail arm. (80lb braid)

Originally Posted by Gibo

There are some shit cheap braid brands out there.

Scrap the lot and get Tasline....job done. I also reverse the spool before replacing as the bottom of the spool is hardly used so swapping it to the top is like respooling

Do you start sweating when a good fish takes you back to the old stuff that you thought you wouldn't use?
Regarding good brands, J Braid is alright, as is Cortland Black Spot.

I have found Berkley Fire Line (especially the Fusion) to be very good.