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<p>Quick Question.<br />
I was wondering about using heavy braid for fly line backing? <br />
I have backing on my line now but its the heavier comercial backing. Its fine for carp and other fish, but in a few days Ill be going for some larger fish that will spool me with what I have. <br />
I was debating running heavy braid and attaching that to the existing backing to give me more yardage.<br />
<br />
Anyone ever use Braid for backing? <br />
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Going for Bigheads on the fly, then...
Fishn sure is neat
Going for Bigheads on the fly, then..."
Why I Never............
I did it years ago, but was never able to hook anything that would get me to the backing. Seems like it should work.
I'm hoping to toss a fly at some bigheads in a few days as well. You coming this way?
Redhorse ID cheatsheets, gars, suckers: moxostoma.com
2020: 10 days fishing 11 species 0 lifers. 2019: 34/45/13 2018: 39/40/5
Will will be passing through southern western illinois and fishing for a few hours before we reach our main spot.
yep it works. not many people do it, unless their reels don't hold much backing or they are after hard running salty fish. No problem doing it though.
Awesome Tony, Thanks.
I couldnd see why it wouldnt work, but then you never know.
High-end flyfishing companies have been selling "gel-spun" backing for big bucks for many years. It's just braid.
the fly fishing industry:
1. find something already exists
2. re-brand it to fly anglers, charging at least double (usually even more)
3. Profit
Yep, gel spun is essentially braid.
I've got gel spun on my Orvis Battenkill Big Game V. I fitted all 300 yards of 65lb gel spun onto that reel, plus a 10-wt weight forward fly line with lots of room left over on that large arbour reel. I went with 65lb gel spun not because I needed the strength...but rather a larger line diameter so I can tied the braid onto the fly line...more on this later.
So far, I've had longnose gar take me into the gel spun when they managed to get into the current, as well as king and chum salmon taking me into the backing.
Like you said, if you expect to be hooking fish that will take long runs and deep into your backing, gel spun or braid will give you more capacity if you have a regular or mid arbour reel. It can increase your capacity quite a lot without using a large arbour reel.
Just make sure your spool is constructed strong enough to handle the braid. I've had friends who fish with float reels (similar to fly reels) where the spool was constructed of inferior material. They used braid for backing. When the braid was wet then subsequently dried, the line contracted and started warpping the spool.
You shouldn't really have to worry if your spool is made with machined aluminum. If you have cartridge spools, I would take caution loading braid as backing.
Do watch out when you tie the braid to the fly line. Braid has a much smaller diameter and it does cut into the fly line. If I were to do it again, I would connect the gel spun onto a dacron backing first before tying onto the fly line. It was frustrating connecting to the fly line when I tighten the knot and the braid starts to cut into the fly line.
I could have just use regular Sufix Performance braid or their new 832 braid...but at the time, there was a sale on the Offshore Angler Magic Braid Gel Spun (I think that's what it was called) and it was the cheapest braid to use for my backing. Plus, they had it in yellow for high visiblity so I went with the gel spun. But for all intents and purposes, gel spun is really just a braided line.
Thanks!
Another option to look into is cheapo knock-off braid on flea-bay. Yeah the stuff is probably crappy but if you are using 50-65lb braid for backing it probably doesn't matter. How often is you tippet more than 10lb test? Rarely for most people. Not to mention most fly flines break at 30lbs. Agreed that going a touch large on the braid is a good idea for diameter concerns. And yes braid will cut up your knot so a short piece of dacron or heavy mono will fix that.