Anyone see any good deals on some backing? I know that it typically isn’t a large ticket item, but someone that I know, 
bought 11 reels in the last year. Hey, I couldn’t fish with all of this frozen water so I became an equipment collector over the winter. :rolleyes:
I’m looking for a 1000 yard spool of 20 pound stuff. A pointer in the right direction would be great. Thanks,
Rick
The Cabelas brand is on sale right now. It is called Prestige. They have both white and chartreuse.
Have fun winding all those reels! 
Thanks for the tip. That’s the kind of stuff that I was looking for. I bought a Teeny reel filling station as well so it shouldn’t be all that bad.
Rick
I now use dacron regular bait fishing line…believe I got my last large spool at Wal-Mart.
I looked at this and this is one of the new kinds of super braid. One of the big issues with these new kinds of backing is that if your hand makes contact with the gel-spun or some of the other types of braids they will cut you to the bone and right now. The stuff that is on sale at Cabelas isn’t for me. Thanks again for sharing the thought though.
The regular dacron from Wal-mart might be an option if I can get it in white or some other color that is high vis. Thanks for the thought.
Rick
I bought this off of Ebay: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=220211342047&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=012
$21.90 delivered price for 500 yards of 20 lb IGFA braided dacron line.
Rick
clay …
The old wives tale about Gel Spun cutting you to the bone is actually exaggerated.
Besides if a fish gets into your backing you should be fighting it on the reel and not hand lining it in. Thus your fingers never come in contact with the line anyway.
Once you try it, you will never go back to dacron. 
I don’t think it is an old wive’s tale. Within the last month Gary Borger of Targus and multiple fly fishing books said that gel spun is dangerous. The product is out there and is popular, but it is not for me. What’s neat about America is that if you choose a different way, that’s OK with me. We don’t all have to agree. I’ll stay with dacron.
Rick
I know this is not what you are looking for, but it is all I ever use. 
http://www.cortlandline.com/catalog/micron.html
Clay, you might want to look at BassPro, their magibraid 20# 500yds is 14.99. I use it and have never had a problem with it. Just my 2 cents. John
I also use baitfishing Dacron for backing. I don’t care if it is black, fish seldom take me into the backing anyway. It is basically the same stuff and is resistant to mildew so that is all that matter for me. AND it is cheaper and doesn’t bleed colour into your line.
The new braided lines are extremely dangerous and I have had a friend cut himself to the bone completely across his palm and could not get away from the line once it had dug in. Another was cut badly across the fingers. Both happened while fishing with me and I got to make the ER run and wipe up the blood. The first guy has had several surgeries and still has serious problems with his cut hand.
Perhaps better technique and more caution would have prevented both incidents, but I will not allow the stuff on my boat and burned all I had already spooled up.
If fishing for ordinary trout and such I would have no fears, but with the heavy fish we deal with there is simply no reason to trust the stuff.
art
I totally agree. Get the fish onto the reel as soon as possible. It is a pet peeve of mine that some fly fishers think the only purpose of the reel is to hold their line. Learn how to palm the reel or put a thumb on the side of the spool if you need to increase drag. You should never handle the backing while a fish is stripping line!
The rod and reel [SIZE=2]are the tools used for fighting the fish. Something that spin fishers are taught from day one. You do not see them handling the line with a fish on, do you. If they did and got cut, then they also deserve what they got.:o[/SIZE]
Most people who fish spring creeks etc only use their backing as a spacer to make their reel more of a large arbor than anything else. Talk to the saltwater guys who bonefish, or tarpon fish or others that really do intend to get into their backing often and see if they are willing to take the risk.
It’s just not worth the risk for me. Your mileage may vary.
Rick
Well as a salt water fisherman I can tell you that I love gelspun backing and will no go back. I even use it on my trout reel.
Clay …
I would be willing to bet that a full 75 to 80% of the guys that fish in saltwater today use Gel Spun. 
Just a little common sense here. We do have cut resistant/proof safety gloves these days. You might even want to consider going to the dive shop and buying some chainmail from a shark suit. Plenty of plans and folks out there making chainmail armor fro re-enactors too. Check these out:
http://www.kk.org/cooltools/archives/001643.php
http://www.askthemeatman.com/cut_resistant_gloves.htm
Just two examples of where to buy the protective gear.
This wouldn’t bother me so much except that it is a commonsense safety issue and not a manufacturer or product design fault. I can just see the law suits coming out of this. Why should those of us, regardless of where and what we fish for, have to suffer expense and/or lose of a fine product because of a few careless others? We shouldn’t. Perhaps the manufacturers should now put warning labels on their gel spun products.:o