Spooling hollowcore on big game reels

[FatTuna]

So this past year I purchased six big game reels. Four 80Ws and two 50Ws. Two of them I had spooled up at a local shop. My thought was, why mess around with this braid. It needs to be packed tight. I don't want to risk having it bind up on the reel and losing a fish. Even worse, if it binds up, someone could get hurt or the rod could get pulled overboard.

At first I was content with the two done at the tackle shop. That was until I decided to pull off the topshots. These two reels were not fished this past season. They were my backup reels. I decided to redo the heads and go with something a little lighter. The hollowcore underneath the mono looks like a bad pack to me.......

The next set of reels I bought from a local guy. He assured me they were professionally packed by machine at a local shop. I don't think he was lying. He seemed like an honest guy. He claimed he fished those reels for one season and said he caught a few small sharks. After removing the used topshots, I got into the hollowcore. It was a mess. All wavy and digging into itself. It clearly needs to be redone. It might actually even be trashed as I don't know how bad it is down deeper.

Third set of reels I just bought. Pair of 50Ws. Guy I bought them from said he purchased the reels but tuna fishing wasn't for him. Went for a few boat rides and never hooked up. He said they were spooled up by machine at a local tackle shop but he did the heads/splice himself. Hollowcore is brand new. Seeing as he had little experience offshore fishing, I decided to pull the topshots off to check the braid and splice. Hollowcore is a bit wavy.  

Here are some pictures. What do you guys think? Am I being too anal or do all of these reels need to be respooled? If so, how can I repack them properly. It seems like the guys at the tackle shop can't even get it tight enough with a machine........ I'm starting to question whether hollowcore is even worth the hassle. I might just switch over to all dacron.

[alantani]

any chance you're in northern california?

[FatTuna]

Unfortunately, I live in Massachusetts but thanks for the offer Alan.

[Keta]

Push the line on the spool with your thumb, if it has any give it is too loose.  Jerry Brown suggests spooling at 10lb.

[FatTuna]

Thanks Keta. I'll try the thumb test.

Btw, those spools you gave me are really coming in handy. I built a little device to use them with. I just pulled a bunch of old dacron off some old reels. Worked great. Thanks for those.

[Tightlines667]

That stuff looks loose to me.  

If it was me, I would pull the holocore onto an empty reel.  Then set the drag at aroumd 10-12lbs, and respool it back on the reel under pressure.  I do have a spooling machine though.  Tape the arbor with athletic or breathable tape, wax the spool with canuba, tie an arbor knot, spool them up, and re-splice with a whipped fingercuff.  I am actually going to try knot conjections this year on my solid braid to mono connections on 9/0s.  Those splices take some time with the heavy stuff.  

You could bring them to a local shop that deals with braid.

Good luck!

John

[FatTuna]

Thanks John.

It looks loose to me too.

I already pulled the line off one.

Sounds like I need to invest in a spooling machine.

Anyone have any recommendations on an affordable machine.

[Bryan Young]

I also do a feel test.  If it's rock hard the braid in on tight.  If slightly spongy, re-spool. 

I have been re-spooling after every trip to make sure that the braid is tight.  You don't need to go all the way to the bottom, but what has been peeled off while fishing plus another 100 yards or so.

[Tightlines667]

Thanks John.

....

Sounds like I need to invest in a spooling machine.

Anyone have any recommendations on an affordable machine.

I bought a used machine that was built in small numbers back in the 80s/early 90s in San Diego for spooling big senators on long range boats for about $650.  Most new machines will easily cost twice that.  Many members here, have come up with creative designs that they built themselves for much less.  Search the forum, and have a look around.

Here's one of my favorites...

http://alantani.com/index.php?topic=11452.msg110815#msg110815

[FatTuna]

Tiddlebasher's winder is ingenious. I love it.

Looks like it's time to hit the drawing board.

I like Bryan's suggestion about repacking after each trip. I'm sure after you have a pulled hook, all the line packs back on loose.

My thought was to bring a heavy drail weight on board. Send out the reels at the end of the day with the weight on the end. As the boat is slowing heading towards port, crank them back in under pressure.

I definitely need a method for doing it at home too though.

[alantani]

10 pounds is the very minimum.  put together some sort of brake system for a bulk spool and crank by hand.

[Reinaard van der Vossen]

From the pictures they seemtoo loose.

I would say even that for those reels (50's and 80's ) 10lb drag fro spooling is not even enough.

I have only a limited number of reels so a spooling machine was out of the question and I did them by hand. First spooling the braid on an old empty reel, put the drag I wanted and than spool the new reel all by hand (which is a real though job)

The first time I spooled with not enough tension and the line dug iinto the spool during a drill. Leraned it the hard way that the braid must be really packed tight.

I now spool with 20 lb tension at least and preferably more

[Keta]

Btw, those spools you gave me are really coming in handy. I built a little device to use them with. I just pulled a bunch of old dacron off some old reels. Worked great. Thanks for those.

Good.

[FatTuna]

From the pictures they seemtoo loose.

I would say even that for those reels (50's and 80's ) 10lb drag fro spooling is not even enough.

I have only a limited number of reels so a spooling machine was out of the question and I did them by hand. First spooling the braid on an old empty reel, put the drag I wanted and than spool the new reel all by hand (which is a real though job)

The first time I spooled with not enough tension and the line dug iinto the spool during a drill. Leraned it the hard way that the braid must be really packed tight.

I now spool with 20 lb tension at least and preferably more

It really is a bit of work cranking the line in under tension. I did two 130s for a friend not too long ago. We loaded them with 200lb dacron. It's almost as much work as fighting a fish. We just did it by hand with gloves and a through bolt. Wasn't really an ideal great method.

I've tried doing the reel to reel. That works. Maybe I'll mount a pair of rod holders in my garage somewhere and try that.

[day0ne]

My thought was to bring a heavy drail weight on board. Send out the reels at the end of the day with the weight on the end. As the boat is slowing heading towards port, crank them back in under pressure.
.

If you let line out behind a moving boat, don't put anything other than maybe a swivel on it. You'll never get the line back otherwise. The line itself will put a tremendous drag on it. Also consider that you are winding up a lot of saltwater with it.

I started with a Sato winder kit from ebay  (http://satocrimpandwinder.com/linewinder.htm ) and modified it with a tension device from Busted Fishing's Bee's Knee's Reel Spooler line (http://www.bustedfishing.com/#!/Reel-Spooler-products/c/7152160/offset=0&sort=normal ) that is also available on ebay I believe. South Chatham Tackle on ebay ( http://stores.ebay.com/South-Chatham-Tackle?_trksid=p2047675.l2563) or (http://southchathamtackle.com/) has some interesting units also. BTW, most of the parts you need for a Sato winder can be purchased with their upgrade kit that upgrades their older winder kits to the newer. It's missing one aluminum block. This only applies if you are using the Bee's Knee's  tension device.

However there is a large problem and it is probably your problem right now. An 80W takes a very powerful winder to spool a reel correctly, and most tackle shops aren't equipped with one. I've never tried it so I don't know if a Sato will work on an 80W. I've heard that they will. I guess it depends on drill motor.