I recently heard about backing fluorocarbon with braid on baitcasters. I am using my reel as a cranking reel and was curious to what advantages a braid backing would give me besides saving money. I am using 16 lb. sunline sniper as my mainline. Any thoughts on braid backing?

The cheapest way to go would be backing it with mono. Braid is definitely not cheaper, unless you've got some old, used braid laying around.

I've heard some people say braid is good for backing because it is lighter so there is less inertia to overcome for the spool to spin up.

If you do tie braid directly to your spool, tie it through the holes if you have a waffle spool, or put some electrical tape on the spool, or else the braid will slip on the spool.

I use braid as a mainline and back it with cheap mono.

Some tourney pro was pushing this idea a while back claiming added casting distance. Braid is probably lighter than mono. A lighter spool can aid casting of light baits but a heavier spool stores more inertia for casting heavier baits. I think it's wT over thought personally. If your Fluoro is expensive to the point of needing backing use the cheapest mono you an find. If you want to experiment with braid backing use Dacron backing as opposed to PP etc. 

I don't tie through the waffle spool myself. I fish braid on everything. Ill maybe use a flouro leader from time to time . And as far as backing goes.  I use electrical tape. Its honestly never failed me. 

I've been using kite string just to take up the space. But... DVT's comment about adding mass to the spool is something I hadn't considered; A detriment to casting distance with a casting reel. Cotton string is very light -until it gets wet, and if it is wetted unevenly, that could be a real issue. I'm not sure whether my backing gets wet or not, but it certainly could. Thanks, DVT. Really nice having your expertise here.

56 minutes ago, Western-Mass-Bass said:

I don't tie through the waffle spool myself. I fish braid on everything. Ill maybe use a flouro leader from time to time . And as far as backing goes.  I use electrical tape. Its honestly never failed me. 

That's a hell of an idea!

Would I just be better off just putting flouro on the whole spool?

3 minutes ago, Lars1115Angel said:

Would I just be better off just putting flouro on the whole spool?

Up to you.  I use mono backing on everything other than mono.  I try to get a few 'spools' out of each spool of line I buy.  Braid and FC aren't cheap so it saves me a little money and my braid doesn't slip.  

4 minutes ago, Lars1115Angel said:

Would I just be better off just putting flouro on the whole spool?

Im curious to see this answer myself. 

21 minutes ago, Mosster47 said:

That's a hell of an idea!

Ya, my casting skills are getting better but have truly not mastered it by any means. I feel really confident when I cast braid for some reason. Dont know if braid is easier to cast but when I tried flouro. Lets just say It was a loooong day out on the water

How much backing of mono do you use? I try to back about half the reel with backing before I start my braid.

13 hours ago, Lars1115Angel said:

Would I just be better off just putting flouro on the whole spool?

I mean, you could do this. There's nothing inherently wrong with it, however, if you are using even moderately priced FC, I certainly wouldn't recommend it. You are never going to get to the bottom half of the spool and will end up throwing away all that line when you replace it.

I am a big fan of Seaguar Tatsu, but at $50+ for a 200-yard spool, you better believe I'm putting backing on my reel. If I can get 1-2 more line changes by using cheap mono as backing, it really helps bring down the long-term cost of using quality FC. It's still not cheap, but it's certainly more reasonable.