Salmon & steelhead line suggestions

[AaronKrick]

Hi guys & gals. I have bought a longer rod! As many of you suggested I moved on from my 6'6". My mew rod is a shimano clarus salmon and steelhead rod. It is 9' long and medium heavy action. It is rated for 8-12lbs test. I would like to know your input on line weight for the reel. I will be using it for steelhead and salmon in the grand river and from peirs. I was thinking about 8lbs test. Anybodys advice?
Thanks,

Cat

 

[CanadianAngler87]

8 lbs siglon..can't go wrong
Congrats on the new rod.

 

[grubman]

Hey Cat
Sounds like a sweet rod, congrats. Did you get any floro for a leader yet? Or you gonna wait for recommendations on main line? What reel you gonna marry it with? Hope to see your first steelie with it.

 

[AaronKrick]

Hey Cat
Sounds like a sweet rod, congrats. Did you get any floro for a leader yet? Or you gonna wait for recommendations on main line? What reel you gonna marry it with? Hope to see your first steelie with it.

Hey grubs,
I have 10lb furo that i use for all my leaders. Are you suggesting that i do a blood or surgeons knot to hook up two peices of line or should i fish straight mono? I have a zebco genesis on it. It is rated for 8-12lb line too. The rod is really nice and i got it at a steal of 99.99$. I got it cause i read you can do float, bottom, and lure fishing with it. Where as i saw other rods at the tackle shop which were specifically for float fishing. I almost ordered a 9' ugly stick from BP but i steered away from that because of shipping and duty charges.

 

[Klamp]

Hey grubs,
I have 10lb furo that i use for all my leaders. Are you suggesting that i do a blood or surgeons knot to hook up two peices of line or should i fish straight mono? I have a zebco genesis on it. It is rated for 8-12lb line too. The rod is really nice and i got it at a steal of 99.99$. I got it cause i read you can do float, bottom, and lure fishing with it. Where as i saw other rods at the tackle shop which were specifically for float fishing. I almost ordered a 9' ugly stick from BP but i steered away from that because of shipping and duty charges.

10lb leader?

If you're running 8lb main, your leader should be lighter, not heavier. If not, you end up snapping off at your main line and lose your whole rig.

I run 8lb mono main and 6lb fluoro leaders. I don't tie the mono to fluro (i.e. don't tie main to leader directly), use a micro-swivel to join leader and main.

 

[AaronKrick]

What's with this flurocarbon talk??? Are you saying that I should fish with a leader while spoon chucking?? I know and use leaders for float and bottom fishing. But do I really need a leader for spoon chucking off the peir? Unfortunatly i won't be able to fish for salmon with it this fall because here in sothern ontario there is not really any extended seasons for salmon. I'm stuck with the grand river steelhead.

 

[Klamp]

What's with this flurocarbon talk??? Are you saying that I should fish with a leader while spoon chucking?? I know and use leaders for float and bottom fishing. But do I really need a leader for spoon chucking off the peir? Unfortunatly i won't be able to fish for salmon with it this fall because here in sothern ontario there is not really any extended seasons for salmon. I'm stuck with the grand river steelhead.

You mentioned using 10lb fluoro for all your leaders, and also mentioned buying the rod because you can do float and bottom fishing too. You never mentioned in your OP you were spoon chucking, hence my comment.

For chucking heavy stuff from the piers I go 12-15lb. You don't need it to land the fish, just to prevent line snap when loading up the lure on hard/long casts.

 

[grubman]

Hey Cat

Klamp is total right. New or old, you never want to risk breaking your rod. Your mainline can be mono (cheaper then all floro) but your leader must be of a lower test strength. This way you are imparting a weaker link so that is where it will break and not the rod.

With 10lb leader you'll have to have 12lb mainline, do you want to go that heavy? You can use a micro swivel, so when the leader breaks off just tie on a new leader. For spoon chucking you won't need a leader, just tie directly to the main. For float and bottom bouncing then use a leader. This way if you are able to change to lighter leaders like 8,6,or 4lb.

Hope this helps.

 

[AaronKrick]

Okay guys, thanks for the help guys. Is 14lb mono too big for a spinning reel? I use it for my baitcasters. I have 2 reels and this is what i'm going to do with them:

Reel #1: heavy line for spoon chucking
Reel #2: 8lb test for river fishing with roe

I have the two extra reels and they will both be for my new rod. Reel #1 is a year old and still in the package. Reel #2 already has line on it. I will swap out the reels for wherever i'm going.

 

[Klamp]

Okay guys, thanks for the help guys. Is 14lb mono too big for a spinning reel?

You could put 50lb on a spinning real if you wanted to. There are two limiting factors. First is what the reel is rated for. If you get a 2500 series reel and it's rated for 8lbs/120y. and put 14lb mono on it, you'll probably have enough space for only 60-70 yards of line. And once you start cutting and retying, that line gets shorter and shorter.

Second factor is matching the reel to what you're fishing. If the reel has a poor drag system on it, you'll be running lots of line out there or preparing to cut it off.

Sounds like you got a few pieces here and there. If you list it all out I'm sure many will be able to provide solid combination recommendations including line weights, hook sizes, etc.

Some of the tidbits I got from guys here saved me moola (and frustration from using/losing the wrong stuff). Good to see you're taking advantage of the knowledge here.

 

[AaronKrick]

I have a giant spool of 14lb mono. My 10lb is used up on other reels........ I really have to buy some new line

 

[grubman]

The rod is rated up to 12 so if you put 14lb, you'll probably have to loosen your drag a little making your reel work harder with big salmon. The rod should be ok. I normally stay within the manufacturer's rod ratings. I assume that they have designed and tested their rods for the specific line and lure weights. This would be for optimum performance. 2lb over should still be ok tho. I know one member put like 25 lb on a rod rated for like 18lb. Line strength overkill and a big fish snapped his rod.

 

[AaronKrick]

The rod and reel are both rated for max 12lb. Do you think it will snap my rod?

 

[NADO]

theres no need for you to go bigger than 12 lbs, always have your mainline 2lbs stronger than your leader. id say have one reel for pier chucking with 12lb mono and the other for drifting. For the drifting reel put on 8 or 10lb mono. For the pier reel line Trilene big game would be fine or Raven. For the drifting reel id say siglon or raven but any quality mono will do.

 

[chefboi17]

Is there any reason why you aren't considering braid? For pier casting, I normally use 20 lb braid, with a floro leader to act as my shock cord. I use a uni to uni ith about 4 ft of leader to take the abuse of sharp rocks, etc. Also the finer diameter to strength ratio will help with longer casts, not to mention braid doesn't retain line memory like mono will. Considering you are using a smaller reel, you will want to have as much line on there as possible so you won't get spooled