Shimano 3500B & Braid

I need a little advice from 3500B users. How do they handle braid of around 20lb? Are they plagued with wind knots etc? If there are issues is there a particular braid that behaves better than others.

Thanks in advance!

Hi T.R.M.
I can't really answer your question as I don't own the reel you're asking about but this will bounce the thread back to the top.

I do have a Shimano but with fighting drag not baitfeeder, I use for feeder fishing and it handles perfectly using PowerPro braid, I've been fortunate in not experienced wind knots.

I'm a complete newcomer to braid but last week I had an afternoon spinning in a big onshore blow using a Daiwa 3500 and 20lb Berekely Fireline braid. Never had a single wind knot or tangle of any kind and the braid behaved beautifully.

On the strength of that alone I'm a convert.I was expecting trouble but got absolutely none and this was belting a plug into a crosswind.

Them that know say to avoid wind knots/tangles dont crank the bail arm shut...put it in manually. I do that naturally anyway so whether that made or makes a difference I dont know. All I know is that me and my mate both used braid that day for the first time,neither of us had any problems and both of us were hugely impressed with the stuff. I was expecting springy...it wasn't.I was expecting tangles...it didn't.

I have a pair, both loaded with 20lb Powerpro. Excellent combination, made for each other.

geoffmaynard said:

I have a pair, both loaded with 20lb Powerpro. Excellent combination, made for each other.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the vote of confidence chaps!, I’ve been advised elsewhere to significantly under fill the spool. And as Skippy points out, close the bail manually.

I’ve really fallen in love with this reel, been using it all summer, it’s been a sheer delight. I’m going to buy a few more from a guy in Malaysia for other tasks. Possibly even put one away. A terrible shame it’s been discontinued.

I underfilled the spool a bit compared to what I'd do with mono but I didn't think it was "significantly" underfilled...just not quite full. Maybe I did all the right things by accident ?

Mine are full - but I'm not throwing lures with them.