Barra Braid Baitcasting Rod??

[mackmauler]

Went to just about every tackle shop I could think of today and the 6* trebles are an urban legend to them even 4* in size 1 were unatanable ??? I am not an experienced barra angler but I'll be in awoonga for a few days this week fishn the black bass rod at breaking point with 50 bionic I've customised some lures with singles rigged loose, will report next week.

[Steve_Ooi]

Mackmauler if you are fishing open water then i would suggest backing the drag off.Locked drags are for extreme conditions, like Faust and other dams up in sticks, where it all or nothing.
Cranking up the drag in open water only increases the risk of pulling the hooks or straightening them.
Dont forget to drop the rod tip when they head to the surface to jump.
With some of the real big fish you can actually feel them implode on the lure , you'll get a small tap ( as they boof the lure and suck it backwards) and then a split second later you get the almighty thud as they turns on the lure and run.
good fishing and I hope you nail a few.

Poony

[mackmauler]

Cheers mate, I just want the monsters after hearing all these great stories I've got to see it for myself, Ill start off light and if its not working I will at least be able to see for myself if these little suckers are as tough as they reckon, I doubt it, but i'm lookin forward to finding out.

[Rev]

but I'm interested as to how much it costs for a trip up there now. Let's say for about a week with travel and accommodation. Are you nudging $5,000 yet.

Brett

Brett,

I assume you're talking about Bensbach.

The trip for Bensbach at this time is for 2 half days and 5 full days fishing. It includes two nights in Cairns, one before you leave and the other on your return. Add a bit for meals and drinks in Cairns, drinks and tips # at Bensbach and Departure Taxes. Oh and don't forget return Airfairs to Cairns, ex-Melbourne for us and we didin't see much back out of $5,500 each.

Not to mention the fact you need to take all of your own gear so, if you don't have any, there's another $1,000.

If you want to go to the other place where all of the other big fish came from then, rock up to Darwin, with a hat and couple of changes of clothes and you'll be fishing for under $3,000 for five days. 2 nights accom in Darwin included. You'll need to mindfull of the correct times and tides for that though.

Save hard and live.

Rev.

[team_mongo]

MackMauler,

Try Jones for 4x VMC with cone points (had some last week), and when I was last at tackle warehouse they had the 6x VMC's (I think???).

I havent found anyone yet who carries Owners as stock, but you can order them through Jones's.

Cheers
George

[lordy]

One for the road.

Katie from earlier this year, again, in the Northern Territory.

Same Creek.

Barra of 36lb.

20lb Fireline again.
Rev.

I note you like fireline. You are using 10, 14 and 20lb.

Don't for a second think you are fishing that light. Ever wonder why fireline is thicker than other similar lb braids/gelspuns? Its because its actually double strength to what is marked on the box. You are fishing 20, 28 and 40lb lines. Those barra you caught on 14lb were really caught on something closer to 30lb, keep that in mind when suggesting 30lb bionic is too heavy (its actually 36lb). Not bagging fireline, its just they should put the real breaking strain on the box.

I'm still bloody jealous, those are some awesome fish you caught there. One day, one day......

[mackmauler]

I tried tackle warehouse George they were the only ones southside I tried to have the 4x but the problem was i could only get size 2 and 4 (only size available from what im told)they don't have 6x yet and another shop said they arn't in the country yet, mailorder might be the go for anyone chasn them. Cheers Rob

[Rev]

I note you like fireline. You are using 10, 14 and 20lb.

Don't for a second think you are fishing that light. Ever wonder why fireline is thicker than other similar lb braids/gelspuns? Its because its actually double strength to what is marked on the box. You are fishing 20, 28 and 40lb lines. Those barra you caught on 14lb were really caught on something closer to 30lb, keep that in mind when suggesting 30lb bionic is too heavy (its actually 36lb). Not bagging fireline, its just they should put the real breaking strain on the box.

I'm still bloody jealous, those are some awesome fish you caught there. One day, one day......

Fireline is not a braided line, it is a fused multi-filament line, made from "Micro-Dyneema".

The closest thing to it available, is/was Spiderwire Fusion, made from "Spectra" and it was significantly thicker than Fireline for the same breaking strain.

All Braided superlines are much thinner than their fused counterparts.

The common thing is the amount of strands for a given breaking strain remains the same for the Braided and Fused lines of the same material, but the fusing process instead of the tight braiding makes the overall line thicker as there is an overall coating applied to it as part of the process.

I think nearly all of the Superlines break at levels way over the stated breaking strain, that's why there is no I.G.F.A rated superline, although I hear rumours.

Rev.

[Steve_Ooi]

I remember reading about some IGFA rated braids but i cant remember where.
Instead of the marketing hype of playing with numbers to make products look better, personally i think all lines should be rated at the actually breaking strain, so that way we know exactly what we are buying.
It gets hard to compare lines if the labels give false infomation.
"spectra" and "dyneema" are just company names for the same thing UHMWPE (ultra high molecular weight polyethylene) .

Poony
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[Rev]

"Micro-Dyneema" is a much thinner material for a given breaking strain than the "Spectra" although they are essentially the same material.

I think you'll find, that the strength of the superlines might be rated for a sudden jerk rather than a constant pull as is happens in normal fishing scenarios.

If you could provide a short, sharp jerk on the superlines, with no give at the anchor points, it breaks at much much lighter level than the constant pulling technique.

Try it with the lighter lines and you'll see. It's a bit too hard to do it the higher rated lines.

And because that is the lighter of the two methods to break it, then that is how it maybe rated.

Rev.

[lordy]

"Micro-Dyneema" is a much thinner material for a given breaking strain than the "Spectra" although they are essentially the same material.

I think you'll find, that the strength of the superlines might be rated for a sudden jerk rather than a constant pull as is happens in normal fishing scenarios.

If you could provide a short, sharp jerk on the superlines, with no give at the anchor points, it breaks at much much lighter level than the constant pulling technique.

Try it with the lighter lines and you'll see. It's a bit too hard to do it the higher rated lines.

And because that is the lighter of the two methods to break it, then that is how it maybe rated.

Rev.

True, but fireline is probably the worst offender. Most of the others like to use the finer diameter as a selling point, which means keeping the line closer to the marked breaking strain. I'm pretty sure Harro's is close to 20% over (30lb is now 36lb, 50lb is probably closer to 60lb). Its interesting to look through Geoff Wilson's book of knots for superlines, and note what fireline actually breaks at even when knotted.

[Randall]

Lordy you knot nerd!!!

You love to get to the bones of it dont you!! ;-)

What is the true breaking strain of say 8lb fireline that we use here for our Bass and Bream playthings?

Randall.

[Maxg]

Braid, ergo, High Molecular Weight Polyethylene yarn, can be either Dyneema, made by DSM High Performance Fibres in Heerleen Holland, the inventors and patent holders of, Toyobo Co in Japan, licenced, or Spectra, made by AlliedSignal Inc in America also licensed.
The stretch of both is so low that normal IGFA testing isn't appropiate to test GsP, the load rate of IGFA machines is 400mm/minute wheras for GsP that is a sort of snap load and results are eratic, best load rate is 100mm/minute.
Braids vary in abrasion resitance in relation to diameter, the very thin braids 20lb and under are so fragile its nearly impossible to lay them on a textured brick under tension, they fracture immediatly.
The knot strength of GsP is low, generally under 90% but spider hitiches are around 48%. Contrary to the usual stuff Biminis are a failure in GSP, because the braid is so thin and slippery a positive lock is rarely obtained, and in any case the double is rarely a double due to the low stretch, so that very precise setting up is needed to get equal loads on both legs of a GsP double.
In rough country heavier braids are best but a good mono is probably better, mind you Stren PowerBraid is better than GsP and mono as far as abrasion resistance goes, at least 400% better, it is sold, or was, at knot strength and it can be glued, GsP can't.
I the impoundment dams if I could get it I'd use 35lb (70lb) Stren PowerBraid.
Fireline is a fused product, the fibres in Fusion were not braided but Fireline has a weave in it, not tight but a weave. It breaks about 5000% up on the message on the box, why, dunno but it's tough. I tried some 30lb Fireline rubbed across a textured brick and it had extremly good abrasion resistance, I'd say really good because I gave up on breaking it after 20 rubs.
GsP braid is the worst fishing line ever invented, it has so many bad bits, stiff, high modulus, fragile, low abrasion resistance, slippery, has to be loaded on reels under high tension, bad knot strength has a terrible critical radius, but it is thin and strong. I love it.
Best fly line backing in the universe, and you can get IGFA standard Magibraid (Spectra).. 30lb BB breaks at 36lb because it allows for the low knot strength when using 10kg tippets, its pink because fish see it as light blue, in other words you see it, fish dont. Why, there is no red in the ocean, Cheers have fun on the barra. Max

[Randall]

Good enough for me....I`ll stick with Fireline!!!

Randall.

[Mad_Barry]

Top post here fella's

Though it's taken for granted that fireline is way under rated,, the "extent" that they fib is pretty ludicrous really,,maxg's 5000% is pretty spot on

While mucking around with various knot & leader set ups over a few beers one arvo,,ie, rig various set up's & then hook it to the post on the back verandah & test to "destruction"

While the "experiment" didn't set any records for scientific accuracy, I'll swear black & blue that with the same knot's & leader set up 14lb fireline on my 4600,,takes a lot more oomph to bust off than my 5600 with 30lb bionic.

which is a bit crazy from a user point of view,,,, but from a marketing angle of saying "the worlds strongest line",, I suppose it makes sense,, ,,sort of