Fly reel backing line

[Chris338378]

I just bought a fly reel to use on my jigging rod next year that came with fly line on it already.  I never used a fly reel before and am wondering if I should strip off the fly line and then put on the braided dacron line and leader or connect the braided dacron line to the fly line then put on my leader.  I'm going to be using fifty or one hundred yards of braided line and have room to do either set up.  What do you guys think?

[guthook1]

Chances are that there is braided Dacron backing already under the fly line. If not, it will take quite a bit of Dacron to fill the fly reel spool. If the reel isn't already spooled full with the fly line, you could make sure the fly line is level on the spool and over wrap the new Dacron.  If it doesn't work well, pull it all and start over.  I gave up and bought a Black Betty 6061 - love it.
bestfishes - jim

[Chris338378]

Thank you, I'll check and see if there is any dacron below the fly line.  I didn't even think that there might be any under the fly line.

[toofuss]

I filled mine with sheet cork glued down with spray glue. Then covered over with electrical tape. I spool 100-150 feet of regular line on top of that with more than enough room to spare

[davef]

I think all will be doing is wasting a lot dacron line doing it the way you describe.  I would fill the reel with as much heavy mono (20 to 25 pound) to take up space as possible,  then add 40 to 50 yards of whatever main line you want to run.  I ice fish in southwestern Pa and rarely have more than 30 to 40 yards of braid as my main line.  For 30 years I've been praying for a fish large enough to reach the backing but it hasn't happened yet.

[ryno]

I use Dacron backing.  Bought 1000yrds for like 20 bucks.  After backing is on I add another 30 or so yards of 4lb mono to fill in gaps of the 20lb dacron.  I slip a bolt with rubber hose over it into the spool so can fill it with a drill....helps lay the Dacron on smoothly.

[Ekruger01]

i use old tip up line....like 5 bucks for 100 yds of it new.... just the cheap black dacron

[just_a_beer_man]

Any harm in not using any backing?  Picked up a frabill 261 combo and just put straight mono on it.

[fishingabomb2006]

the 261 is designed to tie mono right to the spool, its ment for the straightlining not a converted fly reel

[just_a_beer_man]

Perfect, cant wait to try it out.

[BigDynamite]

I filled up a lot of the space on my Clam Spooler reels with foam rubber weather stripping (5/8" width I think).  Then I used electrical tape, a wrap or two, over that to hold in place.  The rest was built up with 20 lb. fly backing followed by 25 yds. or so of Fireline and then maybe 6 - 10 feet of Fluroice or whatever mono I chose.  Yeah, I know - I must like to tie knots.

I might have been able to get away without the fly backing if I had added another layer of the weather stripping.  By the way I used two layered of it, one on top of the other, instead of just continuing to wrap it around and around in one continuous strip.

Tight Lines and Hard Water

[eyefishermandt]

Go to wal mart and get the foam pad in the craft section .33$ cheapest thing ive found so far. Did up 4 clam spoolers and have enough to do 10 more lol

[stripernut]

Last season I used one of my fly reels for a outfit and just tied off to the fly line... There was plenty of room for a couple hundred feet of ice fishing line. I had no trouble at all doing this. In the spring I took the line off and went fly fishing... At first I was concerned that I might have trouble with line "burying" in the fly line, but did not happen...