HOME SPOOLING!!!
By Montana Grant

Posted: June 23, 2022

Fishing line needs to be properly loaded onto a fishing reel. Some reels come preloaded while others need to be Home Spooled. This means that there are some tricks to spooling line onto your reels.

Monofilament is the most popular fishing line that Home Spoolers use. Quality line is where you need to begin. Cheapo line will produce cheapo results. Quality line will be closer to the pound test that is labeled. Cheapo line can vary by a few pounds every yard or so. 

Braided line is also very popular. This line is way stronger and has little memory from being wound.

Line tangles more easily when it is old and dry, has too much memory, is cheapo line to begin with, or ignored. Always keep an eye on your line while fishing. Catch that loop or small tangle before it becomes a Birds nest. Any knot or abrasion in the line, will eventually cost you a fish, or at the very least your rig. 

Fish with the lightest line that you are comfortable with. The finer the line, the less the fish can see. The downside is that the line is more fragile. Therefore, the reel has an adjustable drag to compensate for excessive strain on the line. My largest Rainbow trout was 32 ½ inches and 12 1/2 pounds on 2 lb. test Golden Stren mono.

Monofilament will have memory, or curls when wound onto a small spool. This means that you may need to straighten the loops from the line. You can do this by adding tension to the line as you rewind. You can also hook the line to a stump, backup 20 or so yards, and pretend you are hooking a fish. The tugs and tension will remove the loops/ memory. Less memory means fewer tangles.

Colored line makes fishing and Home Spooling better. Stren, Trilene, and other lines come in green and yellow/golden. Now the Home Spooler and fisherman can see the line. When fishing, use a small barrel swivel or blood knot to add fluorocarbon, clear tippet to the colored line. Colored line allows you to see tangles when they are smaller. You can also see where you cast.

You can also use line conditioners to protect your line and keep it strong. Spray these conditioners onto your reel spools and see the difference. Generally, I change line annually. If you don’t, the line will fail when you least want it to. Keep your line in the dark. Heat and sunlight will ruin your line.

When loading your line, keep the new line container label side up. This will prevent most memory issues. Larger diameter line reels will also have less memory. Keep consistent pressure on the line as you wind it onto the reel. Normally, I keep the reel on the lower half of the rod and only thread the line through the lowest, largest guide. Set the reels anti reverse to prevent and chance of cranking backwards.

Many anglers load too much or too little line onto their spools. You want the center of the spool to be the high point and the spool edges to be about 1/8th of an inch lower. When replacing old line, you don’t always need to replace all of it. Line wrapped on the inner spool will be in better shape. You could reverse the line or throw away the outer half and blood knot to newer line. 

To keep the line from unspooling place the line under the spools line holder clip. You can also use a rubber band, cut from an old bicycle tire, to hold the line in place.

Line care will catch more fish!

Montana Grant

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