why Fly backing not other braded line

[Fish For Life 0]

something i want to know. Can you use a good quality braided fishing line instead of backing made for fly fishing? I have some fishing line called power pro. It is really good quality line and it is strong. You can get 50lb power pro that has the same diameter of 15lb line. could i just use this line instead of fly backing. If i cant why? why is fly backing that you buy in a fly shop different then other braided line? How is it any different?

 

Thanks

[iFly 0]

One problem that ive heard is that because of the slickness of the braid itll spin on the spool if under high drag pressure. Ive also heard it digs into itself too. And i know for a fact that you would amputate a finger if you touched it if its getting pulled off at a high speed. I know this for a fact because I have plenty of cuts from braid on my spinning rods. But ive never had it on a fly reel so i cant speak from personal experience. Hope this helps.

[utyer 0]

I agree, the slickness will make it difficult on the fingers if you end up trying to handle it. There is another factor to consider as well.

 

Braided Dacron has very little stretch. Nylon, will stretch. When your backing is taken off the reel by a heavy fish, it will be under tension as you reel it back on the spool. If your using nylon or any other line with a lot of stretch, the stretched line can build up a lot of pressure on the spool. This pressure can damage the spool.

 

Test your braided line, along side an equal length of dacron and see how much difference (if any) there may be.

[SilverCreek 0]

something i want to know. Can you use a good quality braided fishing line instead of backing made for fly fishing? I have some fishing line called power pro. It is really good quality line and it is strong. You can get 50lb power pro that has the same diameter of 15lb line. could i just use this line instead of fly backing. If i cant why? why is fly backing that you buy in a fly shop different then other braided line? How is it any different?

 

Thanks

 

Any line that does not stretch can be used for backing. Dacron will not stretch. Nor do the fused gel spun polyethylene "super" lines like Spiderwire.

 

Do not use nylon or fluorocarbon. They stretch and when put on the reel under pressure as when reeling in a fish, they can collapse the spool. I've had a spinning reel spool collapse because I did not release the pressure and stored the reel away after fighting a fish.

 

The super lines are thinner and you can get more line on a reel but do you need it? For salt water you may. For fresh water in rare cases.

 

There are three potential problems with these thin super lines. The first is they can cut you if you touch the line while the fish is running. Dacron being thick will "burn" due to friction but the super lines can cut.

 

The second is that they can bind. Being thinner you need to be careful winding the backing on. A bait casting reel and a spinning reel has a bail that mechanically distributes the line so it will not bind. A fly reel does not and you can get a loop of backing trapped so that it will bind and break the tippet. Dacron backing being thicker is less apt to bind.

 

Finally, they are also more expensive if the purpose of the backing is to build up the spool. Only use super lines if you have a limited amount of backing space that will not hold the amount of dacron backing that you need. For example, if you want to put a 6 wt line on a 4 wt reel spool so you don't need to buy an extra reel.

[sandflyx 0]

I have a few thousand yds. of older spider wire 14 lb. test and use it for backing with no problems, been on a few reels for over 6 years now...you can use it...

[perchjerker 0]

Just a side-bar on spider wire. A-7 ft. piece makes a great leader/tippet for fishing bass bugs in very 'weedy' water. And yes, it will turn them over beautifully. I was skeptical until I tried them.

[Mike1958 0]

If you're fishing a small creek or river, it doesn't really matter, because rarely will you find yourself into your backing even with the largest fish on the other end of your rig. Bigger water and salt water situations are a different ballgame; I wouldn't risk losing a finger on super lines!

[WiperDawg 0]

I've used power pro as backing, and it works fine - as already mentioned it is helpful in saltwater applications when you fish for critters that make long runs, and you need extra capacity - you can put approximately 3 times as much on the spool in the same pound breaking strength as regular backing or braided dacron. One negative about it that hasn't been mentioned is because it is so strong and relatively thin that it can be hard on rod guides - particularly your first ceramic stripping guide. Under pressure, the super lines can cut grooves in the ceramic portion. And they are pretty expensive compared to regular backing. But if you have it, or don't mind the added expense, I say use it. One other thing, it is slippery compared to dacron backing, so conventional attachment knots like the blood knot can slip sometimes and fail. I recommend strengthening backing to fly line connections with zap a gap or super glue when using power pro or other super lines.

Good Fishing All!

Wioer Dawg

[Capt Bob LeMay 0]

As a purely saltwater guy... all of my reels hold backing (and I want a minimum of 200 yards of the stuff under my fly line). Makers of dacron braid are fond of labeling the stufff they're trying to sell you "fly line backing" but any decent quality dacron will do just fine (and Micron is probably the best dacron I've ever used). My standards for dacron are 20lb for reels that are 9wt or smaller and 30lb for reels that will be holding larger lines. That 200 yard minimum is for inshore use, for offshore I'd want 300 yards as a minimum (and maybe more, lots more if it's tuna or billfish being hunted....).

 

Like many I was a bit skeptical of the new super braids (and for those that use PowerPro, Spiderwire, etc. you might want to try Sufix braid - it just is head and shoulders better than some of the original braids on the market). Yes, the stuff really will cut you when a big fish is screaming off your drag (so you keep your fingers away until the spool quits turning...). Yes, one of the chief complaints is that it will tend to cut into itself if not spooled properly (a cotton glove while using lots and lots of tension when spooling it initially will cure that problem cold...). Yes your initial turns of braid on the spool will tend to slip (that's easily cured with a single layer of masking tape on the base of the spool before your start winding on your super braid). Lastly is the concern over super braid tending to actually cut a groove into your guides. I bought that proposition for many years until I actually began to use braid on both spin and conventional reels. I have yet to see the first sign of any grooving on my guides (and I build and use all my own rods so I'd be the first guy to notice if that particular problem occurred). In short, with a few precautions those super braids work just fine for backing and many of my fly customers show up with their reels loaded with that kind of backing. The only advice I'd give is to use a bit heavier backing than you normally would if using super braid. Most that I know use 50lb since it's just a bit smaller than the standard 20lb backing. These new lines will provide a lot more backing, they'll survive real world hazards better than standard backing, and most of the "drawbacks" are easily surmounted.

 

There is one minor problem with super braids that I haven't addressed and that is they're a bit harder to tie a knot in properly. For those used to tying up a Bimini twist to double dacron... you're going to need a 40 turn bimini with super braid. You'll have to experiment a bit as well to find out which other knots work as well. Uni to uni knot connections work quite well with super braids (use a nine turn uni-knot with doubled braid to a three or four turn uni-knot of doubled mono, for example). Can't tell you how many of my anglers have shown up with first rate gear, nicely set up by their home fly shops, that fails the knot test the first time any real pressure is exerted. One of the things I routinely do is double check all of my angler's leader, and leader to fly line connections... You'd be surprised how many of them fail (and it sure is nice to find out before you hook a big tarpon or other really powerful fish).

 

One other thought about backing, this time about dacron.... Both dacron and the super braids are synthetic lines... so no matter how ugly or stained they get (mildew, etc) they don't ever rot and pretty much will not deteriorate on the reel so you won't need to be changing out your backing unless you've lost some of it or it's become abraded during extended battles with big fish... No it won't look good but once it again it doesn't rot or deterioate on the spool.... Hope this helps

 

Tight lines

Bob LeMay

(954) 435-5666

[Peterjay 0]

Asking what kind of backing will work is like asking what kind of car to enter in a race. What works for Captain Bob in Florida isn't necessarily optimum for largemouth bass fishing in Wisconsin or vice versa. Like Mike says, if all you're doing is fishing for stocked trout, you could use kite string for all it matters. If you're fishing salt water or big salmonids, muskies, etc., you'll need the good stuff and a reel to match. Aside from the stretch issue, the main point to consider is that your backing has to be stronger than your tippet. Otherwise, you risk losing your line, or worse yet, breaking your rod. If you're fishing fresh water, I doubt that backing is going to be much of an issue. I use Power Pro on my conventional reel, and I don't see any reason why it wouldn't work as fly backing.

[Kirk Dietrich 0]

Gotta go with the if the fish isn't going to get in to the backing it doesn't matter. Also, just because you're fishing saltwater doesn't mean you need backing. I've been fishing saltwater for twenty years and have never ever had a fish get in to my backing. Why?, well, I fish the interior estuary most of the time and occassionally go after bull reds on the edges of the estuary. The largest bull that I saw boated was a 30 lber and that fish didn't make the backing. I think one or two of my rods has the Power Pro just because I had it lying around, knots aren't as much a problem as when the material first hit the market. All of my other rods have dacron.

 

Kirk

[Peterjay 0]

I've been fishing saltwater for twenty years and have never ever had a fish get in to my backing.

Kirk

 

Wow! Laddie, we've GOT to get you up here to fish for little tuna. I'm really surprised to hear that - reds are a pretty powerful fish. Is it because of the lack of room to run?

[FlyFishin'Jam 0]

I have changed all my dacron to some sort of superline backing this year, heavier breaking strain etc etc etc. But i found i needed to tie it onto the spool through one of the little 'holes' as it tends to get slippy. Have not had trouble with the bimini twist but if you prefer use the Co-Ax loop method designed for superlines.

 

When i wind the stuff on i chuck the spool on the floor with a pencil through it and throw a huge blanket on top of it and that seems to give me the right tension along with cross winding to get the stuff on properly.

 

Have seen backing quite often already and sheesh you are not kidding, be really careful!

 

Here is the co-ax...

 

[Kirk Dietrich 0]

I've been fishing saltwater for twenty years and have never ever had a fish get in to my backing.

Kirk

 

Wow! Laddie, we've GOT to get you up here to fish for little tuna. I'm really surprised to hear that - reds are a pretty powerful fish. Is it because of the lack of room to run?

 

Skillful angling techniques!

 

I've caught a few Bonito in the Gulf of Mexico on a 9wt and they sounded but didn't get in to my backing. I think I had fifteen pound tippet so I had the drag cranked down pretty tight.

 

Peter, reds are powerful fish and you are partly right about lack of room, they can only go out in 1 - 4 feet of water. Then again, we're fishing 20lb tippet and cranking down on the drag pretty good but in general shallow water redfish are more bulldogs than grey hounds.

 

I'm not the most experienced angler but a very experienced angler friend once told me after listening to my story of how some big lady fish were taking my fly line out, "Hearing that a fish took your line out on you doesn't tell me how big it is although I believe you that they were big. How tight was your drag set? Were you applying proper pressure to the fish?" I said, oh, I guess you're right, my drag was set light and I was just raising the rod, letting them run and jump but they were the biggest lady fish I had seen at about 24 inches.

 

Kirk

[FlyFishin'Jam 0]

Besides the awesome skill, i think Kirk has something else and it is either a trolling motor or he can pole faster than most