I have a few reels that I am going to spool up some new line on a spinner and wanted to see what works best for most folks that don't have an electrical line spooler. I'm looking to see if I'm missing anything that could help limit the amount of memory and the occasional wind knot.
Here's what I have been doing so far.
- The line comes off the feeder spool counter clockwise.
- Drag has been tightened down.
- Tension is placed on against the feeder spool to create some resistance when retrieving the line.
Since the feeder spool is almost always larger than the receiving spool, is anyone doing anything after the line is spooled (soaking the reel's spool in warm water, stretching the newly spooled line, etc.) and has it made a difference?
I also have one of those picisfun line winders as well, that I go back and forth using occasionally. If anyone has some really good tips for using that device vs. asking a friend to hold tension on the feeder spool with a pencil, I'd appreciate hearing it.
Thanks,
Matt
Really simple, Matt —-
Trust me on this, I learned it from Keith —-
On spinning reels, always wind onto the reel in the opposite direction from the supply spool. This helps somewhat to reduce "memory coils".
Then —- never use a powered line winder on spinners —- just mount on a rod and use a little thumb/finger back pressure. Or use one of those plastic spooling devices that work pretty well.
On conventional reels, I use one of my two HD Triangle line metering machines.
I have a couple of old variable speed electric Berkeley line spoolers specifically for spinners. But it only takes a few minutes to spool a spinning reel —- and there is really not that much line to spool —- so I haven't used these for many years now.
You can get fancy and expensive —- but spooling spinners by hand will do as good a job or better than a machine.
And, one of the main problems with machine spooling spinners —- the line gets wound on too tight with graphite or plastic spools —- and they crack. Even aluminum spools, whether skirted or not, will get wound too tight —- causing line snags and issues.
I have lost count of the spools I have provided folks who had their spinning reels spooled by the kid at the sporting goods store who wanted to impress you how fast he could do the job.
Best, Fred
Loops can appear because the line sat on the spool a while, or because there are twists in the line. There's not much you can do about spool memory except to get softer line so the memory is less noticeable.
I believe at least some wind knots ae caused by twists in the line. When you hold a limp piece of line and it tries to twist back on itself, that same thing is going to happen when casting.
Remember that the line will twist as it comes off the spool and those same twists are removed when line is cranked back on the reel. I guess the optimum would be to have the same amount of twist with the line out as when the line is in; they will just be in opposite directions.
Since line neither twists nor untwists when line is pulled out against the drag, a back-and-forth battle with the fish pulling line out against the drag and then you cranking the line back onto the reel will cause excess twists to accumulate. The same thing happens if you crank the reel against a slipping drag.
If someone were to fight a fish with the drag locked down and the anti-reverse turned off while palming the backward spinning handle, no excess twists would accumulate. Never seen anyone do it that way though.
As always, keeping a taught line will avoid most of the problems. Personally, I would use a revolving spool baitcasting reel to avoid the twist issue all together. But that's different discussion.
When spooling line by having the line come off in loops from a factory spool the devil is in whether the line comes off the label side or the back side of the spool. Done properly, with a 4-inch factory spool and two-inch reel spool the line on the reel after spooling will have half as many twists as it would if the factory spool is in line and rotating as line is pulled off. If the loops are coming off the other side of the factory spool, then there will be 1.5 times more twists when you get through.
Thank you Gentlemen. Yes, the line coming off the feeder spool came off in the opposite direction the reel was winding it onto. Had really good results when I went back to Trilene XL from Sufix Elite. Had the same issue on two different reels with the same line. With the Trilene XL, it did not knot up once in two days, which is not what happened with the Sufix.