How much line to spool on ?

[jmg]

Bought a spool of 6/2 newly "improved" Fireline for jig fishing, upon the advice of a well-known walleye pro at the NW Sportshow. It's going on a 1000 size Shimano reel. How much mono backing should I leave on the spool before putting on the Fireline? I was thinking about only spooling on about 40-50 yds. of the Fireline, since more seems like a waste. Usually only cast out maybe 15yds. at the most.

guess I will have to put some 6lb Fluorocarbon on the end so I can see well enough to tie on the jigs. That Fireline is hard to see with these old eyes. Does the 40-50 yd.s seem like a good idea or should I put on more?

[delcecchi]

The way I did it when I put 832 on a couple of reels is, wind on desired amount of braid. tie on mono, and fill reel to desired level.

Now, tie line to something, and unwind all of line. Walk back to mono end, tie to reel and wind line on in opposite direction so mono is on first.

[Tom Sawyer]

That would be fine. I would leave as much backing line on spool to say 3/16 to edge of spool. That should leave you a 1/16 for 50 yds of Fireline.

Just curious how you'd know when you have 50yds from Fireline spooled on reel?

[live4chrome]

Just fill the spool 1/2 with mono then the rest fire line. I'd put 80 yards at a minimum. Gotta take account for broken line, tangles, and the line you loose every time you re tie. Nothing worse than being on the lake and not having enough line on your reel

[delmuts]

Great info! The 1000 spools don't hold a lot of line of, so doing as Del said would work the best. I think I get about 15 yds. of backing , then about 70 yds. of braid on mine, but would have to check to be certain.( I bought a line counter that clips on the rods so I could measure how much line I put on spools, then keep records.)

[delcecchi]

I came up with my method last summer when I wanted to put one spool of 832 on two reels so each would have 75 yards, and I had no idea how much backing would be required. It is easier to do when outside so you can just walk back and forth and let the line lay on the ground.

[jmg]

Tom Sawyer!

I planned to pre-measure the amt. of Fireline, either manually with a yardstick or with a portable line counter, if it will work with that small of dia. line. The spool is now full of 6lb. Sufix Elite, so I think if I take off about 40 yds., I should have enough room for up to 62.5 yds. of Fireline. I liked Del's idea of equally splitting a spool. Gets aggravating never knowing how much line is left on a spool. Hope my measuring is correct. Suppose I could wait till the snow is all gone and go up to the football field so I have 100yds. to stretch out the line. Will report the results of my project. Thanks for all the good ideas, everybody.

[live4chrome]

Just throw a little backing on and fill the spool up and not worry about it for the next 5 years

[Basschaser]

If you don't mind wasting money, do it live4chrome's way. Otherwise, do it delcecchi's way. I do it delcecchi's way so that I don't end up having spools of new line with only 30 or 40 yards left on them.

[20lbSloughShark]

This is one of life's easier questions. Just put some mono backing on the spool, and fill the rest with braid. If that's the only reel you want fireline on, put a piece of electrical tape on your spool, and put all the line on your reel.

[Grum]

I like filling the spool 50/50 mono to braid, then when the line gets worn I just cut the knot and reverse the braid, that way you get more life out of the braid.

[Northlander]

I put about 20 winds of mono and the rest suffix 832. Its not a waste of money because it lasts so long and I only cut about 6-12" off when it starts getting frayed from rocks etc.

[gunner55]

It's about 1/3-1/2 backing for me,then the braid,finish with 4-10' of flouro.

[JbuZZo]

Just throw a little backing on and fill the spool up and not worry about it for the next 5 years

+1...sometimes fishing doesn't have to be rocket-science-surgery, does it?

[Fish Head]

Just throw a little backing on and fill the spool up and not worry about it for the next 5 years

+2... I would use it 3-4 years, than reverse the braid so the braid that was on the outer part of the spool is now on the inside, and the braid that was on the inside part of the spool will now be on the outside. You'll double the life of your line.

[jmg]

Finally had time to spool on the Fireline today. Sure would like to know who comes up with the spool capacities of reels, since mine was supposed to hold 100yds. of 6lb. mono., but I didn't even have 40 yds off when I was at the end? Anyway, I left about 20yds. of mono on as backing and then loaded on the Fireline. Added about a 5-6 ft. fluoro leader. Looks good so far. Will be a LONG 4wks. now till the opener.

[20lbSloughShark]

28 days 1 hour and 24 minutes, but who's counting?