a fly reel with plain old monofilament??
I’ve heard it was done years ago but how about today??
Normand,
I’ve seen it done for Salmon fishing in the ocean while using cut herring for bait. Other than that application, I’m not sure of the advantage a fly reel would have over a large spinning reel. What are you planning on using it for?
Jim Smith
I’ve heard of people doing it for steelhead back east, mostly for the added line capacity. A lot of those guys are basically bait-fishing with a fly rod, rather than casting a fly. I can’t imagine it would cast very well, most people I know that do it just feed the bait out into the current until something happens.
LOL Bluegill, you guys crack me up, what we are doing is using the mono for backing. We are not BAIT fishing. Some saltwater fish will run 100-150 yards before they even start to slow down. The mono allows us to carry 350+ yards of backing. 20lb mono takes up a lot less reel space then 20lb dacron does. We don’t cast with it nor do we use bait.
Ray,
You are using mono for backing? I’ve always heard and read you should not use mono for backing because of the pressure it places on the arbor of the reel. Years ago I had a reel on which I used mono for backing. After a while it got so tight I couldn’t turn the handle. True!
H.
Hendrickson, I’ve never had a problen, then agian I only use Abel reels in the salt.
I have seen it done alot when fishing for salmon. when you are cucking and ducking heavy weights you dont need a fly line to cast out, and mono sinks fly lines dont. Now I dont see why they dont use a sinking line or a baitcaster rod
The potential problem with mono backing is due to the pressure on the spool sides that can occur when mono is wound on under pressure.
Mono has a lot of stretch compared to dacron backing. As it stretches its diameter decreases. If wound on the spool under pressure, it goes on at a thinner diameter. As it relaxes once wound on, it tries to expand back to its initial state. This causes an increase in side pressure on the spool, which can cause the spool to deform or even burst if it is not strong enough to resist the pressure.
One might ask “why isn’t this a problem with baitcasting reels?”. Typcially the ratio between the radius of the spool and the width of the spool is much less with these reels compared to fly reels. So the area of mono in contact with the spool side is less that with a fly reel of similar capacity so the pressure exerted on the sides is less with baitcasting gear.
I have seen some examples of inexpensive revolving spool reels with plastic or composite spools that have failed when hooked up with heavy and powerful saltwater fish because the line cranked in under load resulting in a pressure on the spool that it could not handle.
Won’t mono groove the rod guides?
I’ve considered doing it but am not there yet.
I suspect that most of you are too young to have experienced this but, once upon a time, spinning gear was unknown ('sa fact). Before spinning gear was introduced from Europe in the years following World War II, trout fishermen only had two kinds of equipment available to them; fly tackle and baitcasting gear. For those who didn’t face up to the (perceived) difficulty of actually casting a fly, it was quite common to load up the fly reel with braided nylon (before the ready availability of monofilament; remember, this was still the era when leader material was derived from the gut of a silkworm) and later monofilament and, putting a split shot or two on the leader, it was possible to strip out a bit of line and to lob a single salmon egg or a worm or bit of nightcrawler to a considerable distance. It was a pretty effective way to fish
I’ve always considered the problem of winding on monofilament so tightly as to distort or even damage a spool to be more theoretical than real. I, as I’m sure most of you do, usually “pump” the rod when retrieving so that, when line is actually being wound onto the reel, it is done so with a minimal amount of tension. In the “good old days”, not quite so long ago, when most steelhead fly fishing in the PNW was done with 30-foot shooting heads, the material of choice for running line was 30-pound test monofilament and most of us just filled the spool up with it. Again, I don’t actually recall ever hearing of any spool damage resulting from the practice
Ray-
I stand mostly corrected, I say mostly only because I do know one of my customers goes to PA every year for steelhead using spawn sacs for bait.We taught him to tie sucker spawn flies and they worked for him last time he was there, so maybe we’ve begun to convert him, too 
Mono as backing makes much more sense.
I put mono on a fly reel once but I did have some dacron backing first. I put 250 yrds on one because there are some lakes that are well over 100 feet deep and the Big Boys do lurk the bottom. Figuring even a lake that is 80 ft deep, the chances of getting a fly down there is slim with the angle unless you can sit perfectly still and the water isn’t moving at all.
Gave up that idea before I tried it however. 8) Don’t go to that deep water that often. Plus as mentioned, cant cast a fly unless you add some kind of weight to the end.
I read a book by Don Bryant that promotes mono on a fly reel for nymph fishing. He claims it’s more effective than a fly line, because it’s easier to control drag with the almost weightless mono line.
He gets very involved in explaining the advantages and disadvantages of both setups. It was an interesting read, but smacks tradition in the face. So, you need to be opened minded.
Preston,
Not sure where you are fishing but up here on the Skagit we still use short shooting heads. I don’t know of anyone using mono for backing. Mostly the guys up here use large reels on 2 handed rods. Personally I prefer Bougle’ MK IVs 4 inch reels. Plenty of room for a multi tip shooting head line system with small diameter running lines and several hundred yards of backing. The only person I have seen using mono was Steve Rajeff when he was doing a spey casting distance demostration. Man, that guy can hang some fly line in the air. 200+ foot casts with little to no effort. Of course I think his rod was about 18 feet long and custom built for distance casting.
I read a book by Don Bryant that promotes mono on a fly reel for nymph fishing. He claims it’s more effective than a fly line, because it’s easier to control drag with the almost weightless mono line.
He gets very involved in explaining the advantages and disadvantages of both setups. It was an interesting read, but smacks tradition in the face. So, you need to be opened minded.
Thank you thank you!! This is exactly what I was asking about and should have been more clearer!