Knapp: My best tips for spooling my fishing reels to snag that next fish
As he delivered the thick walled, 7-foot cardboard tube to my doorstep, the UPS driver asked, good-naturedly, “just how many fishing poles do you need?”
I took no offense to his observation, one rooted in a history of frequent stops of similar items, packaged in such a manner making the contents obvious.
Though the question was rhetorical, the fact is I did indeed need a couple more light power spinning rods to fulfill a growing number of guide trips targeting crappies. The next step would be pairing rods with reels and spooling said reels with fresh line.
Filling new reels with line is a process that, when done correctly, adds to efficiency when put into service and minimizes upcoming tangles. With the rods unpackaged and 1000-sized reels attached, here’s my process for doing the initial spooling.
As with nearly all of my spinning outfits, I use a braided line as the main line for my crappie outfits, either 10-pound test Sufix Nanobraid or 10-pound test Sufix 832. In either case, both are very thin in diameter, meaning it would take an excessive amount of line to properly fill the spool, even on a smallish 1000-size reel.
For that reason, I start off first with a cheap nylon monofilament as backing to take up some space. The mono not only partially fills the spool, it also provides “bite.” If one were to fill with a straight-braided line, which is quite slippery when new, it’s possible for the line to slip or rotate around the reel’s spool.
Having tried a host of ways to hold a new spool of line when winding on to the reel, I’ve come to like the “bucket method” the best. Simply toss the spool of fresh line into a bucket of warm water, then string the end of the line down to the reel’s spool. Open the bail and affix the line to the spool via an Arbor knot (many online videos demonstrate the knot).
Then simply start winding new line onto the reel. The bucket spools will spin and move as needed to play out the product. The warm water seems to soften the line so it packs better on the reel. I grasp the line — between the reel and the first guide — with a microfiber towel to apply tension to the line to keep it tight on the reel.
When the reel’s spool is roughly half full, I cut the backing line, replace the mono with braided line in the bucket and join the backing to the braid with an Albright knot. I trim the knot as close to possible so the tag ends to create a smooth transition. Then I continue winding the braided line onto the spool until it is within about 1/16 of an inch from the lip of the spool (or the bevel within the spool that’s present in some cases).
It’s a mistake to overfill a spool. The line will spill out when casting, creating snarls. Better to underfill and sacrifice some casting distance.
Once I’m satisfied that the spool is properly filled I finish things off with a 2-3 foot length of fluorocarbon as a leader, 6-or 8-pound test for crappie rods, using an Alberto knot to make the connection.
Jeff Knapp is an outdoors columnist for the Butler Eagle.
