Time to Respool...

[Blakesdad]

I've had a few " difficulties" the past few outings, tending to lead towards my beloved Power Pro has seen better days. Can't be my knots.. No sir, no how...

Found myself near Bass Pro today, with an hour to kill. From a few reccomendations, I'm " moving on up".

What up Suffix 832 Simple 20 lb, green ???

We shall see.....

[Spot77]

I'm a cheap SOB, so I've never tried Power Pro. Must be something to it though with the price that it commands and the fact that Walmart locks the stuff up.

I use a lot of Stren Sonic 14lb braid on my medium rods and it seems to work really well. Only thing is, it's definitely not good for more than 2 seasons. After that the stuff will break at the knots a lot. It casts EXCELLENT though, and I can get within inches of where I want to be when casting up under trees and other structure from far away.

For the rods I spool up with Mono, I'm a big fan of the old fashion Trilene XL. It's a great "all purpose" line. My panfish rods will get that in 6 or 8 lb flavor.

[Skip]

FWIW: You might want to carefully check each rod guide with a Q tip. Try from both sides.

Run it all the way around the ring - the light fiber of the Q tip will snag if the guide has a nick in it.

I had a bad guide - nick was on the part of the guide the line did not touch when reeling in. My guess - the line hit the nick when casting , putting nicks along the braid.

Drove me crazy ( short drive there ) until I took a Q tip to the guides. The nick was tough to see but Q tip caught in it right away.

[reds]

Originally Posted by Blakesdad

I've had a few " difficulties" the past few outings, tending to lead towards my beloved Power Pro has seen better days. Can't be my knots.. No sir, no how...

Found myself near Bass Pro today, with an hour to kill. From a few reccomendations, I'm " moving on up".

What up Suffix 832 Simple 20 lb, green ???

We shall see.....

I reverse the braid every year on the heavy rods. Saves a pile of money.

I'm going back to mono on the light tackle. Braid tangles to easy for people who don't know how to fish with it.

[Spot77]

Originally Posted by Skip

FWIW: You might want to carefully check each rod guide with a Q tip. Try from both sides.

Run it all the way around the ring - the light fiber of the Q tip will snag if the guide has a nick in it.

I had a bad guide - nick was on the part of the guide the line did not touch when reeling in. My guess - the line hit the nick when casting , putting nicks along the braid.

Drove me crazy ( short drive there ) until I took a Q tip to the guides. The nick was tough to see but Q tip caught in it right away.

Good tip. I had the same problem, but realized it as soon as I lost the second lure.

The action was so good that day that when the lure snapped off the first time I just assumed that the line had gotten beat up. I cut about 4 feet off of it and tied a new lure on, only to have that one sheer off too as soon as I cast.

I ain't real smart, but I learned quick enough after losing $10.

[garlien]

I remember that day !

[Blakesdad]

Scott.. Scott.. Scott....

Reds, I do reverse the braid once a year. Butchy boy taught me that trick years ago. Its only 150 yards. Would be completely different thou if I had broomsticks.

Skip, GREAT tips, as normal. One of my rods had three guides out of whack, we contemplated that for awhile.

As for nicks in the guides, I had that happen once, and like you it drove me nuts.

WHAT I WILL NEVER EVER UNDERSTAND: and some of my closest friends do this:

They always "park" there lures in a guide, and tighten up the line for storage, either temporary, why we are running, or leave it that way for transport back to home. That's just asking for trouble in my humble opinion. A sharp hook could easily nick a guide, thus posing a problem down the road, when the mother of all fish is on.

I ALWAYS, and I mean ALWAYS, park my lure down by the reel seat, and then tighten the line. Thus completely eliminating the risk of nicking a guide.