How to mark distance on mainline?

[LedgeCrawler]

Hey guys....what's the best way to mark your monofilament mainline so you know how much you have out?

I was thinking Superglue and waxed rigging thread, but I'm afraid the chemicals in the glue may weaken the monofilament.

Any thoughts?

[LedgeCrawler]

Admin....I meant to post this in the Rigging Section not the Rod Building. My bad.

[RiskTaker]

I've marked my lines before with wax line...

But then I started to use 30# solid core spectra for the marks. If you have the patience, but I would not say it is not a good value for monofilament as you will likely replace it in a season.

As an example:

You could use a predetermined wind-on length to establish a baseline of 0 or some depth/length of choice. From there I would wrap a mark every 50 feet up to about 400 feet. At each 100 foot interval, I use multiple marks: 200 feet = 2 marks, 300 feet = 3 marks. etc. When multiple marks are used, I space them a minimum of a foot apart such the you can feel them passing by in case you don't see them visually. ie. night time fishing.

This can take a little time to do and you need have an electric drill, spool and line counter to make it happen in an easy way.

Since I do my own wind-ons from time to time, I use the Jerry Brown glue and activator for glue dots to hold the ends. If you opted to, you could double the the half hitching line, starting with a capture loop, stitch stitch and just end without glueing. That should still hold for quite awhile without any glue whatsoever.

Good idea though, on knowing where you are at.

[LedgeCrawler]

Thanks for the ideas.

I guess the JB glue would be better.

[ameristrat]

I've used the wax thread and glue method although use glue and then clear "hard-as-nails" nail polish to keep it strong. Works well...

[DonK]

What about good 'ol Sharpie markers? maybe a series of marks to be able to determine depth: one mark at 100', 2 at 200' etc.

I have heard that the alcohol base of of sharpies won't hurt mono, but isn't too durable...except on hands, 2 year old children, college roomates, and pets....

[LedgeCrawler]

Sharpie would definitely be the easiest way, but not sure I'd be able to see it at night when putting out a spread.

[RiskTaker]

Originally Posted by LedgeCrawler

Sharpie would definitely be the easiest way, but not sure I'd be able to see it at night when putting out a spread.

Yep, that is exactly the point.

Sharpie permanent markers will work fine but I have seen others that have done it that way and they seem to wash out over time and they get harder and harder to see, even with a light on your reel. But granted, it is a lot easier.

Half hitched marks do take a while to get done, so they would be best for those that demand that level of performance AND have the patience to do it. It takes me 15 marks to do a good job. Personally, I would only want to do it with braided line because you can re-splice easily, to resynchronize your existing line marks if you get cut off within a hundred feet or so, to conserve some of that work you had done previously. If you are using longline clips for any of your tie-off points, ie. lead weight or (balloon/thing-a-ma-bobber), for those spots it would be best to use a waxline mark with a captive loop. A non-captive waxline loop works fine for your Electrome devices with a longline clip. You just have to make sure you are not buying the cheapy versions with weak/loose LL clips. I have seen varying quality in LL clips even with the LP electrolume products over the seasons. Inspect your spring tension if you prefer this style.

End results: even with your eyes closed, you could tell how much line is paid out, or know exactly where you are on the retrieve. Your thumb will know by feeling the appropriate sequence of bumps compared to you last mark, encountered.

P.S. - DonK, sharpies work great on your expensive chart maps: they never seem to fade from those.

[LedgeCrawler]

Good info Risk.

But I don't think I'm looking to get as technical as you do.

I just need to put one mark at 300ft.

I ended up just paying out 300ft of line and using the JB glue system to glue some wraps of power pro around the mainline.

I don't think it will hold up for very long, but as you say, I won't be using the mono for more than 1 season anyway.

[DonK]

RT:P.S. - DonK, sharpies work great on your expensive chart maps: they never seem to fade from those.

we got a couple of white-boards around the office that don't erase so good either!

Ought-ta start a thread of the worst places to write with a permanent marker!