How much / what weight backing, for a wide-use 8 weight?

On Thu, 1 Dec 2005, wrote:

use for, well, basically everything else I come across: stripers or
bluefish out at Montauk (or even from the piers here in NYC), small
barracudas and what have you down in the Keys, the occasional Salmon
trip (for example, out at the Salmon River in Pulaski NY), and Steelies
wherever.

I was looking at getting the Orvis Battenkill Mid Arbor IV reel, which
is listed for 7/8 weights... only, I see that when using an 8-weight
line, I'd only get about 100 yards of 20lb dacron backing.

I've read so much bad stuff about Gel spun being dangerous, and in fact
I already have the bad habit of letting my finger touch the line
occasionally, so I'm thinking I should stick with Dacron. But my
questions a

Is 20# heavy enough for the uses I mentioned (as opposed to 30lb)?
And, is 100 yards enough?

I think 20#/100 yards is fine for salmon and steelhead in New York rivers.
Once a fish is 130 yards away from me on the river I would attempt to just
simply break it off. The only place this might not apply is some very
large waters like the the Niagara River.

For sal****er I would recommend 30# for a simple reason that 20# tippet is
not out of the question for certain sal****er fishing situations.

I have used GSP backing for sal****er fishing but not for very speedy fish
(I think bluefish and stripers would be OK though albacore might be
troublesome - I just don't know). But you should realize that people fish
for tuna using conventional gear and GSP lines. This heavyweight
sal****er gear does not have a level wind mechanism; anglers wind on the
line evenly using their fingers. I wear a finger wrap called Flex Wrap to
protect my fingers whether using GSP or not when fishing the salt because
even the fly line cuts into my fingers from the repetitive stripping that
is required.

For GSP I have used PowerPro because it has a coating that is smooth (less
abrasive on than some other types of GSP lines). If you want to cover all
your bases, I'd second Tripper's recommendation to get a reel that holds
200+ yards of 30# backing. For inshore sal****er I think even 100 yards
is OK. I say buy the reel that is best suited for the type of fishing you
do most often. For those more exotic venues get a guide and use his
equipment.

Mu