# Is this crazy?



## Carolina Rebel (Aug 25, 2005)

Be honest with me guys. My beach trips are going to be few and far between for awhile, and I'd like to make the most of them. 
I'm working on a conventional reel to go with my newly acquired Team Alabama rod (thanks fish-on!). My choices were between a Slosh 20, a Saltist 20, and a Millionaire 4H. 
I chose the Millionaire, because I wanted to keep the Slosh and Saltist on a 4-7oz. rod and a heaver, respectively. 
The Millionaire 4H is the size of a 4000 series Abu, and aside from alignment of sideplate holes is almost identical. My plan is to load it with something like 200 yards of 10lb braid, then another 100 yards of 20lb braid, and top it off with a 50lb braid shock leader. In other words, I will have a lot of light braid transitioned to slightly heavier braid to be fished. Has anyone else here tried this approach with such a small reel? My target fish with this setup will be anything that will eat a chunk of shrimp or sand flea past the bar, and I may occasionally toss a small piece of cut mullet or pogey with a 3 or 4oz. sinker. I do have spinning reels for lure fishing, but I figured this approach would give me maximum distance for bait fishing.


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## Shooter (Nov 14, 2004)

Have you ever bird nested a reel before??? if you have now times that by a thousand and that is what you will get with braid on a bait caster  I know there are lots of guys that use braid and have good luck with it but small braid will dig into it's self and cause issues. 

I stick with braid on my spinners only.


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## HStew (Jan 8, 2009)

I would not use a reel that small on a T.A. rod...6500 size on mine is a good match.


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## Carolina Rebel (Aug 25, 2005)

Thanks guys. Blow ups are a big consideration, and I have worked with that before. I use braid on all of my reels now, spinning and conventional, including the Slosh and Saltist I use in the surf. Those two reels are spooled with 50lb braid though, so they are a little easier to work with when the inevitable blow up occurs. 
I will probably peruse eBay for a deal on a Millionaire 6 or an Abu sideplate. I think I have everything else I need to build a 6600, including a Mag-X sideplate assembly.


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## RuddeDogg (Mar 20, 2004)

I am a braid guy, but I would do mono then braid. I used 17lb mono and 50lb braid on my 525.


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## Jersey Hunter (Jul 26, 2009)

I use 30 lb braid without any issue but maybe 40 or 50 lb will help.


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## BPReeds (Jan 11, 2013)

What do you gain by using braid?....Do you think your casting distance is really improved??....


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## Espresso (Mar 18, 2005)

Why are you using braid on a conventional bait soaking setup? I've used it in the past but fluffs and blowups were eating up serious fishing time. Plus I was using 40# braid. You're using much thinner braid and it might cause more headache. The problem with braid is it digs into itself after hauling in something. On a spinner, it's fine as it will cause some distance loss but will not cause a blow up. On a conventional, any lag in line coming off the spool as it's spinning and letting out line will cause fluffs or simply a big blowup. On a smaller rod/setup tossing lures, I say braid on a level-wind conventional is fine since you'd thumb the line and feel and fluffs. On a big bait rod tossing heavier stuff, a lot of line will be coming out really fast. After a big casting motion, you're not going to have a lot of time to react if things starts to fluff. Using mono will give you a slightly larger margin of error to react plus mono doesn't dig into itself. 

I personally would use the Saltist 20 (assuming it's non level-wind) with mono. It will have more than enough line capacity for whatever you're targeting with that rod using 17# mono. It will also have a better drag than your other reels mentioned. Besides, I don't know if I want to be manually laying wet 20# braided line. That's just your thumb/fingers asking to be cut.


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## SharkyMalarKey (Dec 4, 2012)

Some guys do have some luck with the braid...most of the time they run the heavier thick lines though...if your limited with your time I'd say skip it all together but you may have some experience with it already so maybe u got a good feel for it? I stick with 20lb straight up until the shock leader. When you've got it out there a good distance and or its choppy your sputnick could really need a good nudge to pull it out...10lb line isn't going to inspire a lot of confidence when u want to give it a good yank even to set a hook. 17lb works too...14lb some guys are daring but for me it seems too light if u catch the BIG ONE. (all mono btw) you could spend couple extra bucks on premium flouro if your aim is for more yards...its thinner but stronger last time i checked. it also does not cast as bad as some say....try Pline.


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## Espresso (Mar 18, 2005)

Btw, a Millionaire 4H I believe is level-wind no? A level-wind and "maximum distance" is counter intuitive. Sure, it beats laying line using braid but I think you can cast a Saltist 20 with mono just as far if not further than the setup you're proposing yet land big fish.


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## Carolina Rebel (Aug 25, 2005)

Espresso said:


> Btw, a Millionaire 4H I believe is level-wind no? A level-wind and "maximum distance" is counter intuitive. Sure, it beats laying line using braid but I think you can cast a Saltist 20 with mono just as far if not further than the setup you're proposing yet land big fish.


It is, but I have removed the levelwind. 
The 4H is actually the size of a 5000 Abu, so capacity is less an issue than I originally thought. Initial test casting with a 4oz. hopkins and both brake blocks installed was great, no blow ups and distance "seemed" good. I was casting at the lake, so I don't know how far it was going, but it took awhile to land and the entire process went smoothly. Only issue occurred when I went to "hit" hard, the reel would pop into gear. I'm certain this is due to the oversized power handle I had on the reel, so I switched back to a standard paddle handle for now. 
I'm going to give this a shot and see how it works. I fish braid on just about everything I have, including conventionals, and I am pretty good at avoiding blow ups. With its current setup the reel only freespools for 10-15 seconds with no brakes; it's pretty tame. Since this rod is Fuji concept-wrapped for spinners or conventionals, I'll keep a Daiwa SS 2600 handy for days with a headwind or night fishing.


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## Carolina Rebel (Aug 25, 2005)

BPReeds said:


> What do you gain by using braid?....Do you think your casting distance is really improved??....


Absolutely!


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## shughes (Oct 28, 2011)

Carolina Rebel said:


> Absolutely!


Another advantage of braid is the ability to use a smaller pyramid sinker size since its not as buoyant as mono.


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## jmadre (Jan 3, 2008)

I find I have to use more weight when I use braid because the line doesn't stretch and the weight is pulled free from the bottom easier.


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## NcRon (Dec 15, 2007)

jmadre said:


> I find I have to use more weight when I use braid because the line doesn't stretch and the weight is pulled free from the bottom easier.


I run into the same problem also


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## Carolina Rebel (Aug 25, 2005)

Update: Fished the rod and reel this weekend. 
It went great! I cast it regularly for 2 days of surf fishing, including some casts into a headwind, and no problems. Reel was very controllable; there was a little hint of fluff on start up casting into headwinds, but it sorted itself out quickly. I had a couple light overruns at the end of the cast, but they sorted themselves out in seconds. Using a 4 oz. frog tongue on a single hook dropper rig, I was able to easily cast this setup much farther than any other rod and reel I own. This reel also easily outcast the Daiwa SS Tournament 2600 I used on the same rod, although my form is partly to blame. I am poorly practiced in distance casting with spinners. I'll try to get both to a field sometime soon to compare measured distance. 
I did get to play with a big fish on the setup. All casts got down to the 10lb braid backing, and since I had line to spare I kept the drag a little loose. The mystery fish hit a whiting fillet and ran hard. I got it stopped, got line back, got it near the breakers, and it ran again. This repeated 3 times before the mystery fish, I'm guessing a bluefish, bit off my pompano rig's 15lb flouro leader at the hook. This was at night, I should have switched over to a drum rig! In any case the reel worked fine, and had it not been for the bite off that fish would have been on the beach. 
I'm hoping this setup continues to work well. I have had braid backfire on baitcasters before, and I know it can get gosh awful ugly. Since this setup will just be soaking bait on open beaches though, I believe it will be alright.


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## surfchunker (Apr 10, 2006)

but mono will stretch and your sinker will stay put where was with braid it will pull your sinker up letting it move


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## Carolina Rebel (Aug 25, 2005)

I didn't have any trouble with the sinker pulling.


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