line class vs rod rating

[Martijnf]

Hey guys,

I've been reading up on some articles and posts on barra fishing for when I get up to Qld and I've noticed lots of people fish with some pretty heavy line (30-50lb) but seem to be doing so on rods that are rated at around 8-10kg, i.e. heavy spin rods or baitcaster rods.

How does that work exactly.. I mean even if your reel can grind out that much drag, doesn't your rod snap in two?

I'm still working out some details about my setup and although I've ordered my reels, I'm looking at line classes to put on the spools. I might end up getting an extra setup for hunting barra (a baitcaster since my current setup is only threadlines) but I'd like to start out by using my symetre 4000 with a heavy spin stick.

Is that even possible with a spin rod or would it be too long and flexible and snap? Just seems odd to use a line class that is almost 3x the rods rated class..

[Scott nthQld]

Its not necessary the line class that the fishermen will go by. Each reel will only have so much drag and this drag is usually under the rod capacity, ie you can have 100lb line on a 8kg rod, but team it up with a reel with only 4kg drag, the line will only be pulled to 4kg pressure under the drag, not going anywhere near the capacity of the rod. The only time the rod will break is because of unnatural bends, locking the reel up to bust off a snag, shark etc.

The heavier line is only there for abrasion resistance because barra have very abrasive mouths and the country they are found isn't exactly line freindly. Most people using braid though will stick to the rods capactiy, as you will get little advantage of using heavier braid in the sticks, thats what leader is for.

[Mark-P]

Send them to Rove's What The ? The whole idea of the line rating is so the line breaks first !!

[steve99]

Send them to Rove's What The ? The whole idea of the line rating is so the line breaks first !!

Do people still watch ROVE????


Steve99

[Mark-P]

Sounded good at the time
Mark

[DR]

people are fishing heavy braids because it is so thin for it's breaking strain.
personally, i think it accounts for more than a few broken rods. It doesn't matter how heavy your line is,you shouldn't fish above what your rod is rated at. a simple way is to put maximum deflection in your rod & set your reel to give line when you reach that point as the rod loads. In close it won't make much difference, but remember as a fish takes line, the drag pressure increases, so you need to back the drag off a bit. easiest way, put a nice working curve in your rod, set drag & go fishing, this gives a bit of room for error in the overload department. a rod can only go so far & it will collapse as it has no more to give. I think a lot will point the rod at a fish & thumb the spool for extra drag pressure as it does not put strain on the rod..
hope this helps a bit

[Martijnf]

Thanks for the answers.. yeah that's what I thought too, the only point would be abrasion resistance but since you can run a heavy leader, why would you need that on your main line..

still, there's plenty of posts of people fishing those type of line classes and I'm pretty sure they're not using 24kg gamerods.

anyway you've cleared it up quite a bit, thanks.. was just wondering if maybe I'd missed some form of technique or something

[NAGG]

people are fishing heavy braids because it is so thin for it's breaking strain.
personally, i think it accounts for more than a few broken rods. It doesn't matter how heavy your line is,you shouldn't fish above what your rod is rated at. a simple way is to put maximum deflection in your rod & set your reel to give line when you reach that point as the rod loads. In close it won't make much difference, but remember as a fish takes line, the drag pressure increases, so you need to back the drag off a bit. easiest way, put a nice working curve in your rod, set drag & go fishing, this gives a bit of room for error in the overload department. a rod can only go so far & it will collapse as it has no more to give. I think a lot will point the rod at a fish & thumb the spool for extra drag pressure as it does not put strain on the rod..
hope this helps a bit

DR ..... you are right on the money & should answer Martijnf's question!
Its all to do with rod angles! ....... lower angles mean you can put some serious pressure on a fish ( & the reel) ....... You just need to know how to react when the fish is near the boat!
Actually ...... How many casting rods ( that we use for barra) ..... are really rated for 30lb .... Let alone 50lb
I've used a rod that was designed to fish for black bass .... with 50lb line ..... & I can tell you now ......You wouldn't want to fish it all day ( not heavy .... just hard to deflect the tip on a cast!)

Nagg