Jigmaster spools

[Legal Bill]

Hello friends.  I have two Jigmasters and I want to get the most out of them by getting a couple of extra spools for each one.  the idea is to have one spool for trolling (probably wire or lead line), one spool for jigging (assume up to 16 oz. jigs and 50 lb test braid with mono on top) and one spool for bottom fishing (probably 20 or 30 lb test mono).  The rods and reels will always be on my boat and will be available if some unexpected opportunity presents itself or to fill in any gaps in my arsenal on a particular trip.  My question is, which spool should I get for which appliction?  I see the original chrome plated spools, plastic spools and aluminum spools on e-bay.

Thanks in advance.

Bill

[harryk3616]

hi   bill      in my opinion i would stay away from the chrome spools, the chrome wears away and the spool starts turning green with corrosion, especially with wire it would wear it away real fast.  the plastic you could probably use for your bottom fishing, with wire or heavy jigs, i would recommend the stainless, some times a bit pricey , but no trouble, again that's my opinion, you'll probably get a bunch of different answers, take care , harryk

[Ron Jones]

Because you are not casting, the two metal spools are basically interchangable with the exception of wire lining. I would use the chrome brass spool or a sleeved stainless spool for that and either of the metal ones for the other work.
Ron

[Irish Jigger]

Anything spool but  plastic. One accidental drop can destroy them.

[Shark Hunter]

Aluminum for the Braid and Mono. Stainless for the wire. The wire will cut into the aluminum. Stainless spools are harder to find. The tell tale sign is the brushed metal look they have.

[Legal Bill]

I didn't even know they made a stainless spool for the Jigmaster.  Thanks.

[Surfrat]

I have one of those stainless steel jigmaster spool. I bought it a few years ago and thought it was a chrome spool but it is light and looks like one of the aluminum spool but it has a brushed silver metal look.

[VW]

Here are some pics I posted on how to identify stainless spools.  I like and use them a lot.

http://alantani.com/index.php?topic=8498.msg74671#msg74671 near bottom of page.

Sometimes in ebay pics they appear quite polished/shiny and look like chrome.  They are constructed differently, when you know what to look for they are easily identified.  I have purchased whole reels just to get a stainless spool (plus spare parts).

[Surfrat]

The wire will cut into the aluminum and damage the chrome spool. I recently bought a jigmaster with the aluminum spool and it came with mono. I asked many questions but when I received it, I took all the mono off and discovered the spool was previously used with wire and there are many nicks and scratches. I can see the bare aluminum. Crappy   I had tried 600 sandpaper to smooth the damages but it is not working. I am going to save money to buy a new aluminum spool.  Now it will be oatmeal and coffee for a month. 

[Legal Bill]

Cannot find stainless spools.  I might buy some plastics for the wire line.  I won't have to worry about electrolosis.

[bluefish69]

Plastic Spools will crack & break like Peanut Shells. We were told in the 60's don't do it & that info hasn't changed in 50 years.

Not unless you are rich & like putting wire on & off Spools

Mike

[Bryan Young]

As far as I know the stainless steel spools came on the 500 because mine has one.   I think they came out with two versions. Stainless or red aluminum.

[Legal Bill]

Ok Mike.  Thanks for talking me out of it. 

Bryan, they came from Penn in plastic, aluminum and chromed brass.  The chromed brass can take the punishment, but the difference in metals results in severe electrolysis.  Aluminim spools work better with the wire as far as corrosion, but get gouged up by the stainless wire.  I've been watching ebay for about three weeks straight and never see stainless jigmaster spools.  I think this is why a lot of people use lead core line with the Jigmasters.  The leadcore won't damage the aluminum.  But lead core does not go as deep as wire and doesn't jig as well. 

On paper, this seemed like a great way to solve the depth problem.  I was going to have a couple of spools with different lengths of wire line on dacron backing.  I was hoping to have spools with 100 and 200 feet of wire that I could change out depending on the depth.  This would allow me to try two or three different areas in a single trip.

Maybe I'll just try the chrome spools and see if I can make myself run out all the wire and rinse it off and let it dry and then reel it back in after every trip.

[Shark Hunter]

Bill, I did several searches looking for those stainless spools for you. The problem with getting them is you usually have to buy the whole reel to get one. I probably have 5 Jigmasters now and three with the ss spools, only because I looked for the reels that had them. There is some good deals to be had buying the whole reel with one. I think that's the only way.

[Legal Bill]

Thank you sir, I appreciate the effort.  I am also concerned that what someone thinks is stainless steel is really aluminum or chromed brass.  I saw a couple of ads where the seller "thought" the spool was stainless, but it clearly was not.