Couple of Braid "how-to" questions...

Nothing wrong with tape.  I use a mono backing - forty feet or so - because I want the stretch of mono at the reel if (as I often do - in my dreams) I ever have a fish spool me.  Personal preference on my part.

You should try the John Collins knot.  Just search it.  It's a take on the improved Albright.  By far the easiest knot for braid to mono/flouro connections I have used. Just got back form a trip to Mexico and it held up beautifully.  I was using a double uni, but this is way faster.  I use this for all my top shots bottom fishing here in the NW.

After viewing how to tie the John Collins/Alberto/Modified Albright...this will be my new go to.

Thanks for the info.

I'm still undecided. I used to tie an improved Albright. held up great. hasn't failed me on a fish...yet.  but I tied it off and started yanking. Nope, the only reason I haven't lost something is because I use light drag.

I use tape or short section of heavier mono and spool the rest with braid.  I figure I have less concern if I have more line of ever getting to the knot.

for the terminal end, I tie braid to a corkscrew swivel then attach flasher or whatever to that. 

not always but sometimes I place a small corky before I tie the swivel to the braid. downside, it's more drag.  Upside is the corky is a tad more forgiving when you crank up and hit the tip.  I also try and place one on my downrigger line for the same reason.  Seems to work....

Try a bead instead of a corky if the added drag is a concern.

I tried the Collins knot last night and it consistently failed with light lines - 12# braid to 10# fluorocarbon - but did fine with 30# braid to 25# mono.  Couldn't get it to hold together on the light lines even after tying it several times.  Maybe Fireline and STS aren't the right braid and fluorocarbon for that knot?  I'll be sticking with the Alberto knot for now.

My main reason for using a backing is that a reel holds so many yards of braid that if is not cost effective to load the entire thing up.   On the smaller reels the common 150 yard spools of braid, typically only the end 50 yards or so ever sees daylight.  At the end of each season I reverse the braid on the reel so the other end gets utilized.   On the larger reels I use 300 yard spools and do the same thing.     I also use standard dacron to fill the balance needed to have the braid out near the spools capacity point for casting, line counter and such reasons.    I only wish we had the species that made 200+ yard runs when hooked so I would be concerned if my braid to backing knot will hold.   

  I only wish we had the species that made 200+ yard runs when hooked so I would be concerned if my braid to backing knot will hold.   

Set your drag really loose I bet even a trout can take 200 yards if there's not much resistance from the drag!

Has anyone tried the Spider Hitch for this? Sorry I can't seem to cut and paste it but you can find it on netknots.com

Not sure what you're asking.  The Spider Hitch doesn't join two lines, it makes a section of doubled line like a Bimini Hitch.  I think the Bimini Hitch is faster, but I only practiced a Spider Hitch one time.

Strange, I used it to join flourocarbon leader to braid for my surf casting rigs on the Right coast.
Get back to you on this one. I got to check further......

Could be that I have it wrong - and it wouldn't be the first time.  I'm going from the "Spider Hitch" the mate on a charter boat showed me.

Congrats on the new set up.

What pound test mono backing I use depends on what purpose the mono is serving.

If using mono backing to keep the braid from slipping on the spool it doesn't matter much what lb it is because I'm only using 10 wraps.

If I'm using mono to fill space on the spool I usually go with the same lb test as the braid. 

If you want the backing amount to exactly fill the spool, here's a handy trick.  Spool your braid on first and then spool on your backing to the exact spool depth you want. Then head to the nearest football field and walk out all your line (you might need to loop around the goal posts).  Go back to the free end of your mono backing and wind it up.

That's definitely one way to do it. Another way is to get creative with something like two pencils, two short chunks of pool noodle, and one cordless drill.

Stick a pencil into the end off the noodle to make a spool. Chuck the pencil into your cordless drill and wind the line onto that spool. Make a second spoil and wind onto that. Then wind back onto your reel. Saves you a trip to the local football field.