[Smolt]

I have bitten the bullet and bought my first two-hander, a Sage 7136-4. I would like to use an Orvis Vortex 7/8 with the rod. Does anyone know what the backing capacity for that reel would be if I used 30 lb Orvis dacron and a RIO 6/7 MidSpey line? The reason I have chosen 30 lb Orvis dacron is that I have a spool of that backing available.

I also have an Abel Big Game #3 I could use, but would like to keep it set aside for saltwater use. That notwithstanding, which reel do you think would be a better fit?

I will be fishing for atlantic salmon in New Brunswick.

 

[Dana]

I think you'll be okay with this set up, Smolt. My Orvis catalogues say that the 7/8 Vortex will hold 150 yards of 30# Dacron and an 8 weight line. The 6/7 MidSpey is a little thicker and about twice as long as an 8 weight line that I have here, so I'm guessing you'll probably be able to get 100 yards or so of backing on that reel along with your line. While I haven't fished Atlantics in the Maritimes (help me out here, Bill!) I'm thinking this will probably do the trick.

 

[wrke]

Dana
100 yds for the Maritimes is probably fine, but , we do have fish where I'd be more comfortable with 150. Fresh fish, not far from the sea can be real hot fish. Remember, we have fish over 30 lbs. (and 40) and some of them can be screamers.
Bill

 

[Guest]

Another point is that early fresh fish are not usually fished for with 6/7 weight lines, whether single or double handed rods are used. If he's going to fish the Restigouche, Grand Cascapedia, Moisie, etc. in June I would say his entire setup would be marginal. We often fish flies as large as 2/0 standard wire doubles at that time. He should be OK on rivers like the Miramichi, Margaree, and Tobique, though, of course, large fish are caught on those rivers too. It's just that large flies aren't used nearly as often and truly large fish are the exception.

 

[Smolt]

Thanks to all for your replies.

I will be fishing the Miramichi and the Cains with this set-up. I have caught fish over 20 pounds on the Cains, but found that they seemed to stay in the pools in which they were hooked. I have had 12 pound Miramichi fish run 200 feet or so, but that was when I was less experienced in playing strong fish.

I have fished the Matapedia and the Resitigouche in the Spring three or four times. When I did, I used 4/0 streamers and a 10-weight rod. Unfortunately, I never caught one of the fresh "screamers", mine were all returning fish that fought more like logs.

 

[Per Stadigh]

Hello Smolt,

Here is how I would do it:

1)Get 100 yard (better meter) spool of good quality gelspun backing (35 pounds), and load the reel with it.

2) Put the Midspey on (TIP FIRST!!) and splice a spool of 30 pound dacron on its rear end.

3) Fill the reel up with dacron until full. Take dacron and casting line off and splice the dacron to the gel spun.

With a bit of luck you will have at least +70 yds of dacron between yourself and the "cheese cutter". In 99 cases out a 100 you will never even run out of the dacron.

This is how I load my Evotechs up to have the +200 meters of backing that is needed in Russia or Norway.

Good luck,
Per

PS: I just checked with Orvis and the stuff I have used is now white in color. It costs just over $10.00 per 100yds regardless of what size spool one buys (they have them up to 1200).
The serial number starts with: SI211T-35 (35lbs). On their web page they also advertise a newer "HiViz" one that I know nothing about. DS

 

[Per Stadigh]

Hello mjyp,

Your question worried the **** out of me - I have just unpsooled a reel to see if anything is wrong - I guess you thought of corrosion?

After two years everything looks swell - as this type of line has virtully no stretch it can't possible be deformation of the spool you mean......??

The line I mainly have used is an Orvis product - pale green. I can't remember the specific name. But I have used Berkley's "Spiderweb" as well. To be honest I think one can use anything that a well reputed allround store recommends - here I am certain that the "metal junkies" sit on the real knowledge. Some early products had a tendency to dig into itself to get stuck that way, but they probably have evolved out of the market.

Anyone else with views on this?

PS: Copy from entry above: I just checked with Orvis and the stuff I have used is now white in color. It costs just over $10.00 per 100yds regardless of what size spool one buys (they have them up to 1200).
The serial number starts with: SI211T-35 (35lbs). On their web page they also advertise a newer "HiViz" one that I know nothing about. DS

Good luck!
Per

 

[Per Stadigh]

Hello,
It was just the reel I checked that was 2 years old. I have used the system for more than 5 and have had no problems of the kind you suggest - on some large reels I have more than 300yds of gelspun on, but always with a buffert of at least 50 yds of dacron (30-50 lbs b.s.) for nicer handling. (The stretch is rather nice to have, as well, as it seems to cool fish down better than when everything is hard and tight.)
Some 20 years ago I remember that a friend blew a Marquis Salmo 3 apart when going cheap by using 40 pound test mono as backing - but there the stretch was the factor. Where have you heard of this in respect to gelspun?

Per

 

[Philster]

Gel Spun and Spool deformation

It is possible for Gel Spun to deform a spool. I've loaded bunches of reels with it (in a shop environment), and in probably10 percent of the cases, I had to unwind and reload to relieve the stress. and Believe me, you don't want to unwind 700 yds. The good news is it NEVER happened when loading a reel by hand, only on high speed machines. I don't know where this idea that only high stretch materials cause this problem, but it's not the case. Even Dacron, loaded tightly enough on a highly ventilated spool can cause some deformation. Just pay attention to how you load it and you'll be fine. I have an orvis 7/8 vortex loaded with 35# orvis gelspun that I use on a ten weight rod for saltwater fishing, and it's never been a problem.