I don't

I can contest to this as I have two of my 5500c reels with Golden Stren for backing. It has been on there for 35 years. Both of those reels go to Mexico with with me and catch 50 big fish per day. Never a problem; but those reels hold a lot more line than the new low profile reels.

C�mon man. That�s just poor maintenance and being cheap. Lol.

Just pokin.

Why do you use backing line at all
Just spoil up with what you are tying the lure to and you don�t have to ask these questions

Having backing on a reel is one of the smartest things we do, to save on line costs, (for those of us that fish often enough to need changing, or Tourney money in jeopardy). I do it on every reel, more on the flippin' rods, and as B. Hollingshead said, he doesn't do it on long cast presentations, I simply put less on those reels. Also, I use 15# Big Game for the diameter, most everything I tie to it, is of that same similar diameter. The 20# fluoro I use is 16# diameter. When I change line, and clean the reel, I take the old line off, to the backing, tape it down on the spool, if necessary, and carry on. Saved hundreds of dollars, thru the years.

Yep, found this on the internet .... must be true.

"If you do like to use backing (line under your main line so you only have to replace small sections of line), braid can be a better option for casting distance. You can wrap the line around the spool as tight as possible, and it's like increasing the diameter of the spool without adding as much weight. Braid allows the spool to spin faster, making it more efficient."

ok dumb question maybe. why cant someone use tape like electrical tape as backing? dont kill me just a question. also for the using braid as backing do you to the good line to the braid?

The main thing I was concerned with was how bad mono coils up over time. I didn't want that to have an effect on anything. Kept my old backing on there and put on some fresh floro to fill them up

Tournament season starts this Saturday (Lake Tenkiller) and they are calling for 20-30 mph SSW winds with gusts over 40. Oh and severe thunderstorms early. Can't wait!

You can use tape as backing, but the adhesive residue is something I wouldn't want to deal with when cleaning/maintaining the reel.

There are some advantages of using braid as backing, but I wouldn't want braid tied directly to the spool.
If you ever caught a huge gar or carp, you wouldn't want to get spooled at high velocity with braid attached directly to the spool--could cause some significant damage.

I do use braid mainline on all my reels, but use 10-15lb big game as backing (filling the first 10% of the spool with 10-15lb mono). Big Game mono has a lot of stretch, so if I were to ever get spooled by a big fish, there is less chance of bad damage to the reel.

You read that on the internet?

Saw it on a YouTube video

24 posts and over 1100 views on �changing backing�?

Tired Head again .

It's just not real smart to not use backing. Saves a ton of money in the long run.