Dave Case

Thanks, everyone - I really appreciate the help! Pretty much jut going for schoolies now, but it seems that the recent storms and weather may have ended the striper season where I fish from in Jersey - been dead the last few weeks, so I'll get back to it in April!

I use 20lb braid now on my freshwater spinning reel, but I know that braid can be an issue if you go out when it's too cold (is that right?). I'd say I'm flexible, but leaning towards braid - maybe step it up to 30lb...

Hey all, well, I got bit by the fishing bug pretty good this year - got a St Croix Avid 7' road and a Shimano Stradic Ci4+ reel for my freshwater fishing and love it. I also started going for some stripers this fall and through December now until it gets too cold in NJ using the same setup, but rinsing it down well after each trip. I was looking to get a St Croix Avid Inshore and was wondering if it's recommended to use the same reel - the Stradic? Shimano says it should be good for both, but I wanted to hear from folks here first. Thanks so much! Dave

Interesting! That's what you get for reading the manual! Thank you!

It's a Shimano Stradic CI4+ 4000XG

Thanks, gents - yeah, I didn't have it mounted on anything to hold the spool down so it was flopping all around - I'll rig something up, I always used larger spools of mono, so I guess them being heavier and the line coming off easier was just what I was used to. Using a spinning reel - wanted to fish in some areas where it's loaded with grass and logs, so I wanted to go heavy. Oh, and thanks for the welcome!

Hey all - new to the forum and new to PowerPro braid (150yds/50lb) - braid in general. I just pickup up a spool so I could try out a heavier braid line and I don't know if it was just this pack, but I found it pretty difficult to load onto my reel. The braid seemed to keep getting caught up on the edge of the plastic spool (why are those two cutouts there?) or just not releasing from the rest of the braid causing the plastic spool to lift up and flip over sometimes. I kept the line tight open loading it on, but it took way longer than it should have. It was almost like it had to be mounted and secured in order for it to spool properly. Not sure if it was just me or known issue... Here's shot of the cutout notches on the side of the spool: