Braided fishing line?

vicker · #1 03/18/07, 10:20 PM

Last fall I nabbed an old mitchel 300 on an Ugly Stick at an auction(8 bucks

). I got it out today and was going to put new line on it and prepare it for its proper use. Well, the old line on it is a very thin braided line and quite strong. It seems to me that this line would have not near as much of a problem with twisting as mono does. Should I keep this line on the reel for a while and try it out? I'll be using alot of spinner baits and also flipping for crappy. I have no experience with braided line, but once I got to looking at the line it seems kinda nice? Any info?

jross · #2 03/20/07, 07:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vicker

Last fall I nabbed an old mitchel 300 on an Ugly Stick at an auction(8 bucks

). I got it out today and was going to put new line on it and prepare it for its proper use. Well, the old line on it is a very thin braided line and quite strong. It seems to me that this line would have not near as much of a problem with twisting as mono does. Should I keep this line on the reel for a while and try it out? I'll be using alot of spinner baits and also flipping for crappy. I have no experience with braided line, but once I got to looking at the line it seems kinda nice? Any info?

Older braided lines tend to flatten and do not hold knots well without glue. Flat line does not cast well with spinning reels. Some of the newer braids are said to stay round, so they can be used on spinning reels and knots should be glued. I use Fireline in my freshwater gear. It is not braided and will dig into itself after some use. It is dyneema, not monofilament. When that happens I tie on a half ounce Kastmaster and cast as far as I can and that resets the line. Also Fireline should attached to a about ten wraps of mono on the spool to prevent the whole line wrap from rotating on the spool. Fireline now comes in crystal, but I haven't tried it. One thing to remember, high tech lines put a lot of pressure on plastic spools, although I would suspect braid would be more forgiving due to the way it is constructed. Try what is on the reel. You can always change it. Check that 300, if it is one of the originals from France, you have a collectors item. If it is one of the recent copies released under the Mitchell name, you have a servicable reel, but not as much in value. Oh yeah, check it carefully when winding on new line with commercial line winder where the spool is off the reel, for they rotate opposite from all other reels. I had an infuriated customer come in saying he was unwinding line as he retrieved his lure. The kid who filled his spool did not know Mitchells turn opposite. Mitchell 300's came out when I was kid in the 1950's and we wound more than one backwards (along with exploding plastic spools because we set the tension too tight) until unhappy customers started coming back.

Clifford · #3 03/20/07, 07:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vicker

I'll be using alot of spinner baits and also flipping for crappy.

Spider wire and others are excellent line. Only you don't know how old it is... Change it out so you know you have good line. Wouldn't want to miss that enormous Crappie.

doing it in NM · #4 03/21/07, 11:49 PM

Braided line is good for what they were intended to do. 50lb test is 12lb diameter. If you ahve a real mitchel don't use the braid as it cuts into the reel and the rod guides. That is why they have reels and rods made special for braids. Also don't have your finger on the line when you set the hook or casting. I have had a lot of cuts when I forgot which pole I was casting.

PyroDon · #5 03/22/07, 12:28 AM

I switched to spider wire braid on my spinning reels shortly after it came out .
I haven't had any problems with it holding a knot , with 6/30# I can cast the entire spool off my shimonos or mitchelles using a 1/4 OZ Zara puppy . I personally love the stuff its saved me a couple hundred in lures alone . If the waters really clear and the fish skitish I'll use a triline clear leader other wise just tie right on with a cinch knot and go .
I take three poles 1 has a O/5 worm hook with a scatter shad or other soft jerk bait (no weight) 1 with a top water or shallow crank bait, and 1 with a beetle spin

jross · #6 03/22/07, 07:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PyroDon

I switched to spider wire braid on my spinning reels shortly after it came out .
I haven't had any problems with it holding a knot , with 6/30# I can cast the entire spool off my shimonos or mitchelles using a 1/4 OZ Zara puppy . I personally love the stuff its saved me a couple hundred in lures alone . If the waters really clear and the fish skitish I'll use a triline clear leader other wise just tie right on with a cinch knot and go .
I take three poles 1 has a O/5 worm hook with a scatter shad or other soft jerk bait (no weight) 1 with a top water or shallow crank bait, and 1 with a beetle spin

How do you splice the leader to the braid? How often do you change line? I don't like Fireline for saltwater and mono gets heavy after absorbing water, reducing casting distance.

PyroDon · #7 03/22/07, 08:13 AM

to splice the leader I tie a loop in the leader then chinch knot the spider wire to it . Ive never had the opportunity to fish in salt water

.
I tried a few other brands of braided line ,gorilla braid I had a problem with knots holding as well with the fused spectra lines for these you really need a drop of superglue to keep the knot intact.

big rockpile · #8 03/22/07, 09:03 AM

The reason I don't like Spyderwire is I can't bite it intwo.

big rockpile

vicker · #9 03/22/07, 03:17 PM

Yeah, it is a bit tough to bite through. I removed it when I went fishing this morning. It did have a mono backing. The spool is one of those DEEP ones. Took a couple hundred yards of 6# with the backer still in place. I tried the crappy and bluegill early and only caught one. I then got a serious case of the trout bug. I drove on down the the West Fork Elk River. I didn't catch any fish, but waded up to my waist along about a mile of river and managed to lose 4 lures

PyroDon · #10 03/22/07, 08:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vicker

Yeah, it is a bit tough to bite through. I removed it when I went fishing this morning. It did have a mono backing. The spool is one of those DEEP ones. Took a couple hundred yards of 6# with the backer still in place. I tried the crappy and bluegill early and only caught one. I then got a serious case of the trout bug. I drove on down the the West Fork Elk River. I didn't catch any fish, but waded up to my waist along about a mile of river and managed to lose 4 lures

see maybe you should have kept it it might have saved the lures .
I went from restringing 5-6 times a year to once a year the castablity is what got me and the fact you can feel even the slightest nibble. It does take some getting used to . when I first started using spider wire Id end up tangling quite often but learned quickly to hold a bit of tension and went to a med pole so the tip wouldn't bounce so much.

vicker · #11 03/22/07, 09:31 PM

What intrested me in it was that it was the diameter of (maybe) 4# mono, but it was way stronger. 20# or better would be my guess. It didn't cast very well though. Maybe that was because it was old. I lost most of my lures, because the line was getting beat on rocks. I also grabbed the wrong spool of line when I left the house. I bought a new spool of mono Saturday, but I grabbed one a couple years old off the counter.

I won't mention all the squirrel fishing I was doing

But I didn't lose any lures up there.

PyroDon · #12 03/22/07, 10:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vicker

I won't mention all the squirrel fishing I was doing

But I didn't lose any lures up there.

Done my share of that . If the line will actually drop into the water you can have flying fish after hauling them 30ft up an oak tree .

the braid is plenty strong and has no problem cutting to the bone either

suburbanite · #13 03/23/07, 12:35 AM

Would a Mitchell 300 from 1971 fall into the collector's-item category?

moonwolf · #14 03/23/07, 01:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vicker

Last fall I nabbed an old mitchel 300 on an Ugly Stick at an auction(8 bucks

). I got it out today and was going to put new line on it and prepare it for its proper use. Well, the old line on it is a very thin braided line and quite strong. It seems to me that this line would have not near as much of a problem with twisting as mono does. Should I keep this line on the reel for a while and try it out? I'll be using alot of spinner baits and also flipping for crappy. I have no experience with braided line, but once I got to looking at the line it seems kinda nice? Any info?

I use Tuff Line made by western filament in the high test for muskie fishing. The top of the line stuff will last several years without changing it, in my experience. If you have fire line or spiderwire, I'd change the line with a fresh respooling on the reel. I'd also recommend not using it on the ugly stick, especially anything in the diameter equivalent to 4 lb. (approx 15 lb equivalent mono strenght), besides weakening the rod from the 'no strecth' characteristics of the line, it will wear grooves into the cheap ceramic guides on the ugly stick much sooner...or you could replace the guides to SiC guides, but that would cost more than the rod is worth.
A nice line you might try using is one of the copolymer lines rather than the spectra braids. Fireline isn't a spectra type braid, so if you feel you *must* have a spectra superbraid line, I'd go with power pro or better yet, Tuff LineXP.... they have the more 'rounder' line characteristics and twist less.

good luck fishing!

suburbanite,
not much. those 300 mitchels are very common in used condition. If you have one mint in the box, it might be worth something as a collectors item.
If it's in the most excellent condition without the box and NOT mint, you might get $25 out of it.