When respooling my casting reels I never take all the line off-waste of money-easier to tie to backing than to the spool arbor, etc. But if you have 3s on your rod and are changing from 12 to 20 lb test you have to join the new and old line between the reel and butt guide-not outside the tip. Found out the hard way that knot will not pass the 3s.

Crhis do you have any way to measure the ID of the 3? I need the info and I tried and can not - ANYBODY? If anyone has any hobby type music wire that fits pretty close what are the OD measurements of the wire?

Bill-
I was able to match ring to a hook wire size-.061 for a Batson 3 on my H. Freight micrometer. Checked accuracy of micrometer with a set of feeler gauges and it is surprisingly accurate-assuming the gauges are correct.

Chris

Chris, just one thing to consider. I understand what you are doing and I also do the same on several of my reels. The reason I bring this issue to mind, is because this actually happened to me, just about a month ago. Was bass fishing and had a casting reel that I had done exactly as you have mentioned about splicing in lines. I really never thought that I would get down to that knot in the spool of the reel, but guess what it happened. When I was bass fishing with a jerk bait, I hung into a great ole big striper, that wanted to spool me. I had size 3.5 micros out on the tip of the rod, which in the heat of the battle, I forgot about. When that spliced knot came thru, it ripped out all the rings on those 3.5 guides. Might want to re-consider your set-up with the line, as what I thought would never happened, did!!

Bob McKamey -- Custom Tackle Supply

Bob-
Your message reminded me of something-Alex Dzieng. was at the house and we were casting one of his builds with one of my reels and reached splice-luckily it was at the end of the cast and knot stopped instead of carrying rings with it. I would have hated it if my reel caused that.

Had to use a different reel for more testing and a new casting plug-1st plug burned up re-entering the Earth's atmosphere. Guess I'll have to get with Jimi at Backlash Tools-maybe he can design a casting plug with the heat shielding tiles like on the space shuttle.

Chris

I have a friend (charter captain and tournament angler) that transfers all his lines each year from one reel to another so that so that the used portion is always closest to the inside of the spool and reverses any twist. He uses new line every other year

Mike (Southgate, MI)
If I don't want to, I don't have to and nobody can make me (except my wife) cuz I'm RETIRED!!

Bob;
Interesting and definitely something to consider.
Not sure if it would make a difference but which brand guides were you using?
And what type of knot where both of you using?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/20/2008 05:47PM by Steve Gardner.

Guides and time to rewrap cost more than line. I would not splice line on a rod that I had used micro guides on. Good idea on rods with larger eyes but maybe not so good if there is any chance you will tear the rings out.

You are correct. Lesson learned. It was not the fault of the brand of guide. A case of me not praticing what I preach. The knot was a uni. Bottom layer of line was 25 lb. tied in to 12 lb. This is a old habit that I've done for years. I change line very often. I use either 20 or 25 lb. to fill spools halfway and then I tie in my top layer of small line. I just thought that I would pass on a good laugh for you fellows today and at the same time pass on a lesson learned. Again, since I have been selling micros about as long as anyone, I've preached not using any size smaller than what could clear a knot if used in your application of fishing. Sometimes it's hard to break old habits and the old habit got the best of my micros.

Bob McKamey -- Custom Tackle Supply

Bob;
Thanks for the heads up. I do the same as you, so am reconsidering how much old line to leave on, when using some of the techniques where something large enough to spool me could grab the bait, it just make sense.
On set ups were its not likely to happen like pitching, flipping, spinner baits and such. It should be fine to do as always.

Chris - You need me to just send you a spool of line to go with those micros? :)

Good info to think about though... thanks for sharing. I stopped doing that when I switched to fishing a lake that any hump could yield a striper big enough to strip line. Main reason being I don't trust a knot as much.

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