Spooling a conventional with braid and no spooler....

[SoCalAngler]

I worked in a tackle shop and have spooled 100's if not 1000's of reels. Lighter spectra say 65 and below 5-7 lbs of drag is all that's needed and lines 80 to 200 lb 10 to 12 lbs. Spectra will only compress in diameter so much, so any more drag applied when spooling just makes for more work for the spooling machine or the person doing the winding.

Most of the shops around here do the spooling free when you buy the spectra from them, though buying in bulk can save you money, but now that leaves the spooling to you. If I knew the people or they bought enough stuff at the shop I worked at and they brought a reel or two to be spooled with their own spectra I did it for free, but if they brought several reels and their own spectra...well lets just say they needed to spend a good amount on our other stuff to get the free spooling.

[Nasty Wendy]

Great info.  I may attempt to build a line winder now.  It won't be soon though.  A thread isn't highjacked until the topic is changed so there was absolutely no highjacking going on.  Thanks for the idea Tiddlerbasher.

AND I love that level winder.

[xaf]

What a dummy I am. >: (  Dayone, You are right about putting tension on the spool and not the line it self. It absolutely makes sense.  I don't know why I never thought of that.

[day0ne]

What a dummy I am. >: (  Dayone, You are right about putting tension on the spool and not the line it self. It absolutely makes sense.  I don't know why I never thought of that.

I learned the hard way.

[Nasty Wendy]

Well I did pay my local shop $8 to spool it.  I plan on taking it out this weekend.

[Gfish]

My first try at this question got sent as pm probably to Nasty Wendy. Oops! Still learnin'... What's a diffrence when it comes to drag tension relative to different line types? Drag tension for say, 65 lb. spectra,then how much for a 50lb. Top-shot a mono. An I gotta 6/0   Senator w/ 300yds. a 50 lb. Dacron, what kinda tension should I'a spooled that with? When I say drag tension, I'm talkin' initially spoolin' these different line types on to the reel. I ask 'cause it seems like  mono would be less, 'cause of the stretch factor. Also, can you bust a spool by building up too much pressure w/ a lotta drag tension?
Gfish

[Tiddlerbasher]

In answer to Gfish- have a look at Jerry Brown's recommendation:

http://www.bhptackle.com/pages.php?pageid=36

For Spectra (and similar braids) - 10lbs drag - for any braid over 20lb breaking strain - 5-6lb for anything under.
For Dacron - 4-5 lbs
For mono - minimal (just enough to keep the server spool from over running and remove all slack)

And yes - too much tension on mono can crush or push out the sides of a spool.

[GClev]

Here's a purposefully low tech method for installing, removing, washing Spectra at home.  


Two sets of fence posts set 49 yards apart.  Put a 5-gallon bucket over each set (only one shown in the photo).