Greetings, and happy holidays:

I'm building a few rods for Florida pier and shore fishing. The majority of people use braided line down here. The line typically has two specs; first is the srength (test) of the line, say 30# for example. The second spec is the line diameter. For a popular brand of braid, 30# line has "8# equivalent Diameter".

The St Croix blanks I am using, 3SW70MLF, are rated for 1/8 to 1/2 oz baits and 6 to 12 # line. Am I correct in assuming the rod spec is for the equivalent line diameter, not the actual strength?

Thanks,

Skip Kerwin

Line strength is what you need to be concerned about.

Given the other way around, if you looked at diameter only, you would be fishing 30# line on a rod rated for 8#. That isn't going to work. You will quickly break the rod by overlining it by nearly 4x the suggested rating.

Blank design, and the line rating are related to the amount of drag you set on the reel. Drag settings are typically 1/4th to 1/3rd the line rating. A rod rated for 30# line would be expected to have 7.5 to 10 pounds of drag set on the reel. Unfortunately people forget when they load a reel with 85# braid and put it on a blank rated for 30# they have way overlined the blank if they set drag pressures at 21 1/4 to 28 1/3 pounds of drag.

Hi Jim,

Very well stated. Your reply brings up what many anglers do not know, pay no attention to, and don't care about. Being on a party boat black fishing and watching the anglers is a lesson in itself. Some of these guys want the lightest most sensitive rod, load the reel up with 50# braid and lock up their drags. Heaven forbid if a big tog has the gaul to fit its way back into the wreck!!! Guaranteed hearing a rifle shot go off during the trip.

Very few anglers know how to set their drag properly. I am as guilty as anyone but them I always fish with a light drag. I always have scissors hanging around my neck just in case. More than once while drifting I gave up the rig in lieu of a broken rod.

Many years ago THE LONG ISLAND FISHERMAN did testing and wrote a great article afterwards about fighting fish and where your rod should be held to put the greatest pressure on a fish without breaking the rod. I kept it for years and can not find it now. Basically holding your rod between 3 and 5 o'clock allows the rod and reel to be in sync with each other. As you raise the tip of your rod towards 12 o'clock you loose pressure on the fish and place your rod in danger of snapping. Many times the break is where the tip section meets the mid section of the blank. This can be more pronounced with extra fast rods.

Hope you are well Jim.

Capt Neil Faulkner

I will point out that when fishing braid most saltwater guys are using a mono top shot....or at least a mono leader. There is nothing wrong with having 2-300 yards of braid with some light mono on top. The braid lasts forever and never breaks and all you are replacing every few trips is a 100 yards or less of mono.

Set the drag at home with a spring scale and don't touch it on the water. Apply extra pressure with your thumb if needed. Set the drag based on the weak link. Every terminal tackle solution needs a weak link to protect the blank. And take the time to determine the actual breaking strenght because it is all over the place....or use IFGA line for your weak link! Don't forget that knots reduce line strength a lot. Very few guys are getting even 80% of the actual breaking strength of the braid they are using.

If you want to go the extra mile static test your blank and see if it can handle the point where your weak link breaks and then lift that with the blank to have an idea of the maximum stress you can put on a fish with your blank and line.

There is a lot to be learned in spending an afternoon with a scale and some line(s). I have seen 10# braid test stronger than the same brand's 15# braid. I fish a 5# braid that tests just shy of 17#'s.

Russ in Hollywood, FL.

As Russell has stated braid can break at some crazy levels depending on what brand you are using.If you are using for example 20lb braid
on a rod rated for 20lb and have the drag screwed right up your in trouble or the rod is.That braid could break at maybe 40 plus so your rod
is going to break first especially if it is high sticked.There is a good article in the library about rod use.

cheers

Ray Balmforth
Figtree
NSW
Australia

never could understand why a rod rated for 20 lb - usually mono and people put 50lb braid on Now it is over lined

Bill - willierods.com

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/20/2016 05:16PM by John E Powell.

It is a problem that advances in line technology have brought about. It doesn't need to a be a problem if you understand what you want to accomplish. The differences are more profound with saltwater reels so I'll use them as an example.

Used to be a trolling reel needed to hold 650 yards, a bottom reel 350 yards, and a spinning reel 250 yards. Drags weren't so good and neither was the line so drags were set at 25% of the breaking strength. Nowadays the drags are much better, as is the line; therefore we can push it to 33% of the breaking strength. That alone allows a smaller reel for the same fish. Factor in that braid allows about a 3 to 1 difference, meaning 30# braid is roughly the diameter of 10# mono.

So lets put it altogether Skip. Say we used to need 650 yards of 60# mono so we could fish 15#'s of drag. Todays better drags allows us to get by with 650 yards of 45# test. If we switch to braid now the diameter of the line is roughly equal to 15# mono. So now, all of a sudden, a much smaller reel becomes a viable alternative for a serious trolling outfit. Yes you have to have a high quality reel that will weigh a lot more than an old time reel.....and yes you must use a high quality/dollar PE 4.5 line.....but it can be done.

Another way to look at it....and one I use a lot....is to have two spools for a spinning reel. Load one with mono and the other with braid. I'd be looking to get 2-300 yards. All of a sudden one spinning reel can cover bonefish and dolphin. The problem then becomes one of finding a blank that can safely cover the same amount of ground. That is where you are at. For the ML croix you mention I'd suggest 6 to 8# mono on one end and PE 1.5 with a 12# copolymer leader on the other end. You can do that easily with a 2500 size reel and have it hold enough line to be able to handle a "surprise" fish. Personaly I'd move up to the medium power for what you are doing.

Russ in Hollywood, FL.

When fishing for larger fish that make big runs, there is another factor that can cause a properly set drag to result in an overpowered rod. As line rips off the reel, that spool becomes smaller and exponentially increases drag off the rod and reel. I have seen exactly ONE rod break in this fashion.

From my personal experience I have found that most manufacturer's do build a small cushion into what a blank is capable of with the line ratings (not necessarily lure ratings). I have seen a 6# rod comfortably handle 12# class tackle in the proper hands. I have also seen plenty of that exact same scenario result in a broken rod. Take a look at the breakage tests if a manufacturer will ever let you. Under a proper load most blanks exhibit a vastly larger break point than they are rated for. I think the biggest problem here is that most anglers do not know how to properly use a rod and the compensation that manufacturers accross the board have adopted is to overbuild the blank which works in the majority of cases.

Locking down a drag = blank failure
High sticking = blank failure
Door/Window/Tailgate/Fan = blank failure
Whack a tree on backcast = blank integrity compromised and blank failure imminent

These are ALL USER ERROR.

There are far more ways to improperly use a blank improperly than in the correct manner.

Thought we were talking about pound test of line and not how much line goes on a reel

Thinner line will let you put more on a reel -- Common Scene

But if you have a rod rated for 10 lb - mono - and put 30 lb braid on --- it is over lined
Or am I thinking wrong ??

Bill - willierods.com