Filling Your Fishing Reel with Spectra

Selecting the Correct Fishing Line

To maximize the Strength and Line Capacity your Reel can hold you should fill it with a Braided Spectra Line, although a Monofilament or Fluorocarbon leader is still needed at the terminal end for stretch and abrasion resistance. The length of leader is all personal preference, just make sure it is going to be longer than any fish you are planning to catch. Some people make their topshots as long as 300yds.

At Fisherman’s Outfitter we carry three brands of Braided Spectra Fishing Line; Diamond Products Spectra, Jerry-Brown Line One Spectra and Power-Pro Spectra. You may or may not be familiar with Spectra Fishing but it has been around for about 15 years now and has gone through some major transformations. There are two major categories for todays Superbraids; Hollow-Core and Solid-Core Spectra. The first decision you need to make is Pound Test you are going to use. The second the whether or not you want a Hollow-Core Spectra or Regular Solid-Core. The final decision is brand (this is the least important).

The is the reason for purhcasing a High-Capacity Reel with a Smooth Drag System is to let the Rod and Reel do their job. The more line the fish takes the more the drag increases because of angle it comes off the spool and the amount of line it is towing through the water. It is not a good idea to try and stop a fish during a run, if you put too much pressure the fish you will either pull a hook or break your line.

The Pound Test is determined by a few factors. Most important is the rating on the Fishing Rod and Reel and what type of lures you will be using. If using lighter lures you should stick with 65lb Test or Smaller, while heavier lures can easily be casted long distances with the heavier 80lb line (which only has the diameter of 20lb mono).

Solid-Core Spectra is less expensive and is the most commonly used line for targeting Bluefin with Spinning Tackle. With practice it is fairly easy to tie knots and will take years of constant abuse with little upkeep, just make sure to make necessary cut-backs if your line is starting to show frays. The drawbacks to Solid-Core Spectra is that a knot is needed to connect a leader. There is no knot that has a 100% connection, but some like the Albright is the easiest most secure (around 90% if tied correct).

Hollow-Core Spectra is fairly new to the market and is the ideal choice to fill your Spinning Reel. Although initally more expensive than Solid-Core, Hollow-Core will save you money in the long run. As the name implies the Spectra has a hollow center, which has the gripping properties of to “splice.” You can either splice loop ends to utlize Wind-On Leaders or a Chinese-Finger style splice for Top-shots. Both connections will pass through guides with minimal resistance. Top-shots give the angler a 100% strength knotless connection. Hollow-Core also allows for the virtually invisible and 100% connection of a Spectra to Spectra Splice of additional lengths of hollow Spectra, providing the ability to replace a damaged sections of line.