How Much Fishing Line on a Reel? How to Get it Right & What to Avoid

After securing the knot by pulling it tight, trim the tag end so that ¼ inch of line remains above the second knot . Using too much line will ensure your problems like having to stop midway on your fishing experience to fix what’s not functioning. The most annoying trouble you can encounter is wind knots; you know those knots or tangles in the wind. The fishing lines most probable to get wind knots are the braided lines. For spinning reels and spin cast reels, I tell people to set the reel on a table top or the floor and pull line off of it. If the line is coming off the spool counter clockwise it is right.

If this happens most likely you will be cutting free, if it hasn’t snapped already. It causes trouble, knots, lost rigs, broken guides, snapped rod tips, and downtime from fishing. There’s no shortage of reasons to keep a few spinning reels in the boat. Perhaps you haven’t yet mastered a baitcasting reel or maybe the fishing conditions require you to downsize your bait selection to try to finesse a bite. Either way, despite the ease of use on a spinning reel, there are some common problems that even the most experienced anglers encounter when using them. Some of these problems can be lessened – if not avoided all together – by properly spooling line onto the reel.

I’m new to fishing, so these videos are a huge help for me. You only need enough distance to get the specific bail to it’s desired location. I did the math on a Daiwa BG 2500 using Trilene 14lbs backing and PowerPro 10lbs main line. Figured out all the line lengths using values from the manufacturer’s advertised diameters and the proportions of capacity of 150 tds of PowerPro 10lbs mainline. The backing worked out to 42 yds of 14lbs Trilene backing to fill the reel with 150yds of 10lbs PowerPro.

I prefer that the line come off the spool counter-clockwise. The reason for this is because when you cast a spinning reel like my Abu Garcia Cardinal 804, the line comes off clockwise. By having the line come off the line spool counter-clockwise, it helps tame some of the line twist. Keeping tension on the line, I begin to wind the reel handle and fill the reel spool.

Avoid problems when casting your line by making sure your line doesn’t extend over the lip. As you’re adding the line, don’t forget to keep it evenly tightened and as you load it, keep the feed across the spool surface evenly too. However overfilling a reel is just as bad as not putting enough line on the reel.

You can bind fluorocarbon or monofilament with the spool, but the braided line may slip too much when linked to the spool. In this case, you may need some backing to protect your reel from slippage. At first, you need to put a proper amount of line on your fishing reel. You also have to put an adequate amount of line so that you can keep your gear working correctly and avoid a mess when casting. Putting the line on a spinning reel is pretty much easy, so I highly recommend you to know about it and do this yourself. If you learn how to re-spool this equipment, this excellent skill will save your money as well.

I put monofilament or fluorocarbon backing — old line — on my reels before I spool the braid. It keeps the braid from slipping and cutting into itself so much and it saves expensive line. We all know that good braid like the Seaguar I use isn’t cheap. But there’s no reason to spend more on it than necessary. By knowing how much line to put on your spinning reel, can help you in your casting distance. Remember, by putting too much line on, you are increasing your chances of wind knots.

The only thing is that you’re going to hook panfish and small brook trout. Keep the line below the lip, otherwise you will get problems while casting the line. Figures of between 20% and 30% stretch are quoted for monofilament lines…so for 30-m of line you could be looking at up to around 9m of stretch…

Get the knot as tight as you can make it, then trim off the end of the line before going fishing. Wind the line by hand or by using the spooling machine. Get it as tight over the fly line as you can make it. It’ll protect your fly line and make it more visible to the fish.

Website | + posts

Dion Liriano is a 51-year-old American zookeeper who has retired from the business. He was once a highly successful director of the Zoo and Aquarium, but he has since hung up his gloves and moved on to other ventures. Dion's passion for animals began at a young age, when he would help his father care for their family pets. This love grew exponentially when he started working at the zoo; Dion quickly became one of the most experienced keepers in the business. He credits his success to the relationships he built with both staff and animals over the years.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *