How much backing on a 12wt do y’all run?
With chasing these tarpon around, thought I should probably check what was actually on mine.. As it had backing on it when I got it.
Turns out It only had 180’ yes…feet.. I went through my line box and found a 125 yards of 30lb I had leftover. Went ahead Threw that on there, but with the fly line added the spool is completely full.
Then with Adding in the fly line, that’s still only 160 (ish) yards total.
I’m thinking that’s a bit on the light side.. I also have no idea on what brand this reel is.. So I have no way of knowing what the specs are.
Just realized Father’s Day is this weekend.. So I ordered a new reel that’ll carry 250yrds + ..Problem solved..
The big game reels hold anywhere from 300 to 500 yards, which is a ton. I believe my Tibor and Abel big games have about 450 yards on them, which is a quarter of a mile. I’ve never had fish run more than maybe 200 yards and that was marlin that sounded. I had a bluefin trevaly nearly take an entire spool, around 200 yards, but I was on a 6 wt fishing from the beach and could not run it down. That’s the closest I’ve been to being completely spooled.
The hollow core backing like Hatch roughly has the same diameter as Gelspun, so it can pack more onto the reel than standard braid.
I probably have 4-600 yards on my gulfstreams and spool 2 pacific. I’ll do 200 yards of 30lb Dacron then top it off with 60lb hollow core. Not entirely sure of the amount of hollow core but it’s probably 2-300yrds and you should never get to the Dacron. I like it because of the diameter as a fish runs off the arbor size doesn’t decrease as much allowing for more pick up.
I have 30 pound dacron on my Gulfstream- I have 350 yards on it (or thereabouts).
My Riptide has 65 pound gel-spun… not sure why I did that… but it holds a lot less. Probably 150 yards or so. I actually need to check that - but the reel is slap full with the fly line. It may need to respooled as I plan to use it for big jacks, spinner sharks, and tarpon - but I don’t think it would go the distance.
On the riptide you can do 100yrds of 30lb Dacron and close to 200yrds of 60lb cortland c16 on top of it. As long as you don’t have a clear floating line on there it’ll fit. That’s what I have on one of mine I used to fish on a 10wt. Would have to cut a but off the back of a clear floater to get it to fit though as they’re thicker.
I like to have at least 400 yards on my tarpon reels, but it’s a misnomer to call them that as they are all multiple duty reels for big game fishing - I use Mako 9600 reels for everything from tarpon to tuna to billfish to sharks. I prefer 500-700 yards whenever possible as I never know when I go after a runner. I’ve been almost spooled (within 25 yards of it) on a reel with 500+ yards of backing…it’s not a comforting feeling to see your backing disappear, although it is exciting…
I’ve a Rio Tarpon WFF line that came 110 feet long. I cut 20 feet off so not to take away from the backing that’s about 250+ yards (750 feet). When a fish runs over a hundred yards and is not slowing down I want the boat to start following.
woosey move?.. so be it.
I think 200 yds is what I have on my Tarpon rods but I never measured it, just an eye ball enough to allow my fly line to be added. I put my fly line on an empty reel, mark where it is then take it of and put backing on to that mark
I’ve never run out of backing on a fish. I don’t know how you could on a boat to chase. I guess on the beach you could hook a big shark
Once in Alaska I was on the bank fishing where a creek came into the river I was on. I hooked a big fish that got into the current and I couldn’t stop it. That was my only fly rod I had so I broke it off before I lost all my line
Pretty easy for a fish to spool you even on a boat unless you are ready with motor running depending on the fish and circumstances. Real life example…I’m fishing for makos, actually record hunting with a good friend who has guided his wife to multiple light tackle world records. We were looking for a mako of about 200#, and a massive one shows up swimming up our chum line at the stern of the boat. He was swimming with his mouth open, he was so big, his teeth looked like small daggers; he was enormous. Our best estimate was round 800-850#. I had 16# tippet on and my friend says to cast at him. I was dubious that I could land this fish but he thought it worthwhile because if I landed it I would set a record that probably could never be broken.
The mako ducks under the stern and comes around again, he looked like a submarine in the water. I cast and he just inhales the 8 inch fly and it’s fight on. He immediately takes off to the port side of the boat. The Mako reel is screaming as he takes line faster than I’ve ever seen before. My buddy starts up the boat, but within 15 seconds he’s taken at least 300 yards of line, then jumps 30 ft in the air…except he’s behind the stern of the boat - the line is in a big arc from the port to the stern direction. By the time the boat starts moving the fish has taken nearly all my line and then the tippet popped from the water pressure.
And yes, that’s the biggest fish I’ve lost on a fly :).
I’ve had a 150+ lb tarpon take out 250 yards of line literally while the guide got the boat going, not expecting it to go on a long run like that. That’s why I don’t fish with less than 350 yards of line when I’m after big fish.
