backing question

On Sat, 13 May 2006 19:56:34 -0600, rw
wrote:

daytripper wrote:

For a 5 wt rig, 20# Micron would work just fine. Orvis might still carry it. I
especially favor Micron backing because different colors can be spliced
without using any knots,

How do you do that splice?

Micron has a "hollow" core that acts like a chinese finger. You can take
advantage of that to hide and hold onto the ends of the spliced pair.
Cortland sells a small splicing tool that no doubt comes with directions. I
use about two feet of E guitar string, doubled over. Either way, what you're
trying to do is pull the ends of the lines into their running counterparts.

Amazingly, I can't seem to Google up a write-up, so here's a quicky: Lay the
lines next to each other running in opposite directions, overlapped by about
12 inches. Use a felt-tip pen to make a mark on each line at the middle of the
overlap - at the 6 inch point. This is the point that 6 inches of the end of
one line will disappear into the running core of the other, and vice versa.

Then you stick the tool into the core roughly 6 inches "up" from the pen mark,
slide the tip of the tool down the core and then emerge at the pen mark -
making sure not to pull the other end of the tool completely into the core
(you want to maintain that point as the eventual exit). Stick the end of the
other line into the end of the tool and then pull the tool back out the way it
came, pulling the end of the other line with it into the core. Remove the tool
completely from the core, leaving the end of the line behind, fully within the
core.

Repeat the above in the other direction and you're done. Both ends will be
hidden inside the running lines, and there's no knot to hang up in your
guides. I use this on all my reels, although the only time it really ever gets
tested is on my annual bonefish trips...

/daytripper