Braid for Oman

[Dave Huck]

Continuing on from my rod thread......

I've picked up a couple of JM and Maxel 25k spools recently and I'm trying to decide what braid to spool up with. I already have a Stella 20k and plan on adding an 18k for popping duty. The spools are already in the States so I'm going to ask Basil at BHP to load them up with JB Hollow and make up some casting leaders in 130 and 200 mono.

For popping in Oman, a friend who has fished there on a number of occasions has recommended JB Hollow 80. His reasoning is that it's easier to cast and "if you're going to get reefed it won't make much difference what line you're using...".

Tying that comment in with Ed's words about casting distance and water coverage being paramount I'm inclined to agree with spooling up with the 80 rather than 100.

Of course, I have two spools so I could hedge.....

These spools will also be pressed into service for the 20k and heavy duty jigging duty. As well as Oman I plan on heading to the Andamans or Sri Lanka at some point so doggies are on the target list too.

So, with all the above taken into account, I'd be grateful for people's thoughts on the best line for the job.

Cheers

Dave

[Simon Bomholt]

There has been a member (jussi) that had alot of problems with those 25000 spools. Just before you load Them up with expensive Line, and they Fail.

[Trevor Skinner]

Dave,

I, personally, would not use the 25000 spools. On a few occasions I have seen them bend the spool shaft, jamming the spool against the rotor (which is what happened with Jussi) when hooked up to a fish whilst using heavy drag. You do not need more capacity than what the standard spools carry when fishing for GTs and I think the standard 18000 and 20000 spools do the best job. 

Somebody who is an expert on JB Hollow (not me) can tell whether the line is suitable or not. It may actually have a breaking strain above 80lb, I've no experience with it so don't know. However, I would not fish Southern Oman with less than PE8 (usually 100lb+) and ideally PE10 (120lb+). 

Hope that helps.

Regards,


Trevor

[Dave Huck]

Thanks guys, I'll do a search for Jussi's post  .

The 80lb hollow seems to test out at around 120 according to Paulus (it's a 16 strand braid, rather than the 12 strand 100lb hollow).

I picked up the spools relatively cheap so I may keep them. Otherwise I may look to complement my Dogfight with a slightly smaller second popping reel, is the 14k up to the job for Oman capacity wise? Have there been similar issues with 16k aftermarket spools?

Cheers

Dave

[Dave Huck]

I guess the other thing I should say is that I have absolutely no intention (or physical capability) of pushing these spools to the max!

[Trevor Skinner]

Dave,

Then they may be OK.

I use the 14K for PE6 (90lb) which is a little light for SO and wouldn't recommend it for anyone who hasn't fished a lot there before. It will take PE8 but obviously the capacity of the reel suffers accordingly, I can get about 220metres of good quality PE8 on my 14K.

I've not seen any such problem with a 16K spool.

Regards,


Trevor

[Mark Harris]

I think the 25000 spools are best avoided for reasons stated above Dave.

As well as the tested breaking strain, it is the ability to take initial shock load that is a big factor when GT fishing. So a key question to ask JB 80 lb hollow users is has it stood up to shock load at 12 kg + initial drag settings.  I have no idea as never used it.

Casting distance is definitely important, but it has to be a compromise between that and having line which is thick/heavy enough for the task.

Southern Oman GTs made me look very silly the one time I used PE8, so I think  PE10 (or 130 lb plus  if it is an American line) is the way to go.