It is a damp and snowy Saturday evening after a week of sunny 60 degree weather and I am sorting through all of my gear in anticipation of the upcoming trout season. I came across a 50 yd spool of 30 lb Mason Tip-Up teflon coated, braided nylon ice fishing line that is dark pine green in color. I purchased the line "Up North" last summer with the intent of using it as backing on a fly reel in which I would place a 10 ft sink tip line for stripping streamers on a 5 or 6 weight rod. I figured, I would need less backing than using the standard 20 lb stuff, and there was little if any chance of this thicker line pinching if ever a large fish got well into the backing. Besides, even if I got a 20"+ fish on the creeks and smaller rivers I like to fish, there is no way I would get spooled unless I accidentally hooked a large steelhead or salmon over 15 lbs. Has anyone out there tried using this type of line for backing? Have I overlooked any potential downfalls? If not, I will get more and use it on a couple of other spools I need to line. Thanks!

I have used braided nylon backing and it cut my fingers when good fish went on long runs. It stretched and put considerable pressure on my fly reel spool. Such pressure can deform and even fracture reel spools. I have used teflon-coated braided dacron ( salt-water Micron backing) and it works fine. I can't see much advantage to teflon coated braided nylon over teflon impregnated braided dacron.

There really isn't any such thing as "fly line backing" in terms of a specialty product. Most often, it's just relabeled braided nylon with a resulting increase in price. For many years, both Cortland and Gudebrod spooled their braided nylon as both "Braided Trolling Line" and "Fly Line Backing." It was the exact same product but the latter sold for over 3 times as much.

Having said that, some line makes better backing than others. As Phil said, you'd prefer not to have too much stretch. Bass Pro Shops "Magi-Braid" nylon is what I've used for a decade now. Great stuff for fly reel backing. The main thing is to keep your fly reel spool filled. The final retrieve ratio depends on how full the spool is (not the arbor size) and if you want the maximum retrieve ratio you need to use something under the line to put the line at full spool capacity.

I'm not really familiar with the particular product you mention. I suspect it'll work fine. The teflon coating could possibly interfere with the line cinching on the spool arbor and preventing you from having any drag. Maybe. If I were you I'd give it a try and see how it works out. I have a feeling you'll be okay.

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Thanks Tom and Phi. My motivation for trying this ice fishing line as fly reel backing is that it is a bit thicker and certainly cheaper than what is sold as fly line backing. I have a couple of other spools I'd like to try it on. Tom, I'll also take a look at the Bass Pro line you mentioned as an alternative. As a kid growing up in Michigan, my dad would take me on these ice fishing outings with no shelter regardless of the weather! Sometimes we would set up a tip-up for pike using a similar dark green, nylon line. We never caught anything big, but I can remember a few times seeing other fishermen pull up through the ice pike over 3 feet long and weighing 15 to 20 lbs. As I remember, this line does not tend to stretch or twist. After all, it is designed to let a live minnow roam around until the big fish shows up. Now, I much prefer to give the fish a rest during the winter months and do other things like build rods and learn to tie flies.

Magi-Braid comes in both 20lb and 30lb sizes so if you just need to take up space, opt for the 30lb stuff.

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Peter,

I stopped buying anything that was labeled "fly line backing" many years ago. I usually get whatever braided nylon or dacron I can find on sale. They both work well. I dont know about anything teflon-coated, but, as Tom said, it'll probably work just fine.

Phil is right. Keep your fingers away from the backing, when the fish makes a run, or you'll get burned. I like to pressure the rim of the reel, with the heel of my left hand (I hold the rod in my right), to try to slow the fish down. I only touch the backing to level the line on the spool as I reel it in. If the fish runs again, I let go of the line, and go back to pressing the rim of the reel with the heel of my left hand.

If there's a chance that you're going to hook into a 15-20# salmon, using light gear..., give yourself the advantage of having as much backing as you can get on that reel. It only needs to be rated slightly stronger than your leader. 20# test is more than strong enough. If you wanted max backing capacity, you could go with 15#, knowing that your 6# tippet is going to break long before the rating of the backing ever comes into play.

Just my .02

George Forster
Fort Collins, CO