Northwest Fishing Reports

I'm having trouble getting my line to "slip" all the way to the bobber stop. Everything's fine until I catch my first fish, then the line gets a little frayed in a spot and the line doesn't want to slip anymore. So far I've just been having to cut a bunch of line off and retie everything to get a good slip....anyone else having this problem? Any suggestions? I'm using good quality line.

I don't know if I quite understand what you're describing. Does the line get frayed somewhere between the swivel and bobber stop? If so, What's been fraying your line? Usually there shouldn't be anything in line that would do that unless you've got something not quite right between the two points.

Yes, between the swivel and the bobber stop. After catching a fish, who takes me all around the rocks...the line gets somewhat frayed but its nothing to retie over. The frayed line is catching at the tip of the bobber (I believe) and preventing the line from slipping all the way to the bobber stop. Thus leaving my jig at an undesired depth. I've contemplated slathering some Vaseline on the top of the bobber.

Use the bobber stop rubber eggs. They're made by Beau Mac. Use 2-3 of them

So the trip through the rocks is causing the fraying? If that's the case, better to cut and retie in my opinion. Anywhere the line gets frayed is a weak spot. I'm assuming this is mono? Braid is a little more abrasion resistant.

Ya, I just spooled up with 8lb maxima, I was using stren. I'll see how it goes tomorrow. Do you use braid for fishing a river?

Bmastro777 wrote:Ya, I just spooled up with 8lb maxima, I was using stren. I'll see how it goes tomorrow. Do you use braid for fishing a river?

I typically use braid for float fishing, which is nearly bulletproof, but many use mono without issue. Each has their pros and cons. If the rocks are the cause of the fraying then there isn't much you can do about that besides deal with it. Again, I would not recommend continuing to fish with frayed line. It would stink to lose a fish and setup for that simple reason. Good luck tomorrow.

wow, i'm surprised to hear that mono line will fray so bad a slip float cant pass over the rough spot.

That being said, if you have frays that bad, take everyone's advice and re-tie your line. I can't tell you how many times I've looked right at a frayed knot or section of leader and ignored it due to laziness, only to hook into my only fish of the day the next cast and snap off.....

The vaseline will just gunk it up. Like others have said - retie. In the relative scheme of things line is cheap.
I use 30# braid for my float rig, use the same line for up to 2 seasons with no issues steelheading the upper rivers. If I see fraying, I cut it off and retie.

This is what I do...I buy a bulk spool of 20# mono and use it as backing, then just blood knot it to 50 yards of braid at a time. Use it till I start running into backing on my casts, cut it off and put another 50 yards on. This way you're spool is always full.

For leader I retie..
Before the 1st cast
After every fish fought
After every snag

I have lost fish at each one of these stages at one time or another cause of damaged line

Ya, I hear what your saying. After filling up with 8lb maxima it's still happening. Just too many rocks at the area I'm fishing I guess. I'm going through a lot of line right now...:(

I fish around rocks all the time and have never run into that problem. Check your guides. I bet you have a chip in them, or a missing ceramic eyelet. Or your reel is catching the line in a groove on the bail or something. For it to fray that badly, every time, I'm pretty certain it's not the rocks.

If you're using the same float every time, it could be that your float has a sharp edge that cuts up the line.

Nice tip Nate, I'll double check...now that I think about it, I bet that's it. A bad guide on the rod. Its happening after every fish which means the pressure from the fish is nicking the line up bad. Wow, why didn't I think of that? lol.

Nate nailed it. Where were you two spools ago? Lol. Top guide on my rod was chipped a little bit. Ugh /:

I thought so! I'm amazined that the fish didn't break you off. That's why we run Maxima though. Good stuff.

I replace the tips of my rods on a bi-weekly basis. It always seems like they're slamming against rocks, or boats and I'm not a fan of these fuji guides anymore. They just pop out all of a sudden. Most rods companies use 'em, and I'm not a fan. I like the spendy titanium ones.

natetreat wrote:I replace the tips of my rods on a bi-weekly basis. It always seems like they're slamming against rocks, or boats and I'm not a fan of these fuji guides anymore. They just pop out all of a sudden. Most rods companies use 'em, and I'm not a fan. I like the spendy titanium ones.

Me too. As I move from off the shelf rods, they'll all have them. I hate when you go to cast and half the guide moves up the rod a notch. A dot of CA holds them better than the pressure fit but not by much.

Bodofish wrote:

natetreat wrote:I replace the tips of my rods on a bi-weekly basis. It always seems like they're slamming against rocks, or boats and I'm not a fan of these fuji guides anymore. They just pop out all of a sudden. Most rods companies use 'em, and I'm not a fan. I like the spendy titanium ones.

Me too. As I move from off the shelf rods, they'll all have them. I hate when you go to cast and half the guide moves up the rod a notch. A dot of CA holds them better than the pressure fit but not by much.

Yep. I'm respinning a couple as we speak. I wish I could afford to put those titanium guides on every rod, but they run like 60-80 bucks a set. I'm going to talk to my rod guy about it, if we complain enough they may offer an upgrade. My NF composite rod came with those fancy guides and they are super sweet. But with about 40 rods in my arsenal, twisting them up would cost me an arm and a leg.

Are you spinning your own NF blanks or do you have one of their program guys doing it? PM is cool if you don't want to broadcast. NF is the next replacement, coming down the pike, it's almost time for a new casting rod.

I got mine from the guy at NW Rods at the Sportsman's Show. Nice guy, he's not spinning them with the fancy guides anymore, so I bought out one of the last ones he'd made. I'd like to spin my own, but I just don't have the time. I have two blanks sitting in their tubes waiting for me, and it's just one of those things where you have to set aside a whole day to do it. I do love those NFC blanks though, they are pretty darn amazing. Hands down the lightest, sensitive and expensive rod you could ask for.

I know what you mean about time. although I have a 5 on 5 off schedule it's amazing how fast it gets filled up with "stuff". I'll have to check him out, the off the shelf offering just aren't doing it for me anymore. I guess I just want one (a bunch) that's mine.