How To Spool Braided Line On A Spinning Reel (Without Line Twists or Loops)
- By: Joseph Simonds
- on
- Found In: *Tackle & Gear, Braid, Fishing Tips, Line, Reels
Just imagine spotting a huge school of redfish just 30 feet from the bow of the boat that you are standing on.
From what you can see with your polarized glasses, the school appears to have at least 15 over slot monster redfish all looking for some food.
And you have just the perfect bait for them.
Your “go to” redfish-slaying assassin of an artificial jig ready is to cast, and you are ready to land a monster red.
You even have a brand new spinning reel that has only been cast five times, you just put brand new line one, you have the drag set perfectly, and even your mono leader is brand spanking new.
The moment is here…
You are about to break in that brand new spinning reel with a HUGE redfish.
You are already envisioning your friend’s jealous face as they scroll through their Instagram feed and see you holding your monster red.
You flip the bail to cast to the perfect spot a few yards away from the school of fish, and all of a sudden you notice that your brand new line has a loopy line twist.
You frantically try to straighten out the line and fix the twists, and after a couple of minutes of working your fishing line magic, the line appears to be straight.
But you look around for the pod of redfish, and they are nowhere to be found.
You missed your chance.
You blew it.
All because you didn’t know how to spool braided line on a spinning reel correctly.
Don’t be that angler!
Tips on how to spool braided line on a spinning reel
I won’t bore you with every single step on here, as the video (below) does a phenomenal job of showing you exactly how to spool braided line on a spinning reel.
But I will give you a handful of pointers that have served us well.
- Always use a wet cloth to run the line through while spooling
- Keep the line tight in your hands using the cloth the ENTIRE process. If you give up pressure for even a second, it could result in your line not sticking to the spool the way you want it to
- Always remember to flip the bail before you tie the knot on the spool
- Try to shoot for 1/8 of an inch left on your spinning reel (between the end of the line and the end of the spool) for maximum casting and performance
How To Spool Your Spinning Reel With Braided Line [VIDEO]
Bonus Tip – On your first trip on the water after spooling, we highly recommend dragging your line behind your boat/kayak so any twists you may have can be cleared… click here for details.
Conclusion
There are countless ways to lose or miss a fish.
And most of the variables that cause you to lose a fish are mostly out of your control.
But controlling your spinning reel line doesn’t have to be one of them.
So don’t ever let a knot, twist, or loop in your spinning reel line be the cause of your lost fish.
Learning how to properly spool a braided line on a spinning reel without line twists, loops, or knots should help you avoid that variable going forward.
Related Post: “Inshore Fishing 101: The Ultimate Inshore Fishing Guide” (see the full post here now)
P.S. – Do you have any other tips that we left out in regards to spooling braided line on a spinning reel? If so, post them below in the comment section. We would love to hear from you. Pow!
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Nice
I’ve always had problems with line twist when spooling a reel, no matter what method is used. Spooling off the top, label up or down, spooling off a ‘pencil’ top or bottom, I always get line twists. I could never accurately determine the correct length of mono backing. This last time I experimented with a method which definitely removes the twists from both ends of the line and reverses the line so I can load the correct amount of backing and braid. It casts great with zero twists and no wind knots.
I’m an inexperienced fisherman, so I apologize if this is already obvious to everyone.
First, load the braid and mono on the reel backwards so the reel is loaded with the correct amount of braid and backing. This avoids the mess of having estimated too much mono which doesn’t leave enough room for the braid or too little mono leaving a big gap on the reel. With the correct amount of mono backing, later replacement of the braid is easy.
I have the desired braid length measured out on the street by my house, from a mailbox to a little notch in the asphalt. 75 yards is good for me because that’s plenty for what I can cast, you young guys will want more. Tape the start of the braid to the empty spool. Tape is easier to do, and easier to remove later. Lay the rod / reel with the bail closed by the mailbox and walk back rolling the braid right out of the box with the lid closed to the desired length. Wrap the other end of the braid around something heavy, like a wrench, cut the line. Go back to the rod, reel it up with tension.
Then tie the braid to the mono backing with an FG knot, trim and reel on the mono until the reel is full with the desired gap. Secure the end (this is when the mono end wants to explode into a mess if there is no tension).
Cut 2 small blocks of wood with a ¼” hole at one end. These will be used to pull the line in the current to untwist and reverse the line in two steps. You’ll need something large enough to pull the line with conviction particularly at the beginning so the line doesn’t bird nest. It also needs to be heavy enough to overcome the wind if you’re doing this from a bridge. I used a 2×2 about 6 inches long with a ¼” hole near one end.
I did the line untwisting from a bridge over a tidal pass during a strong tide change. I had to watch for other fisherman casting across my line, using a trolling boat would be easier. Thread the mono thru the first piece of wood, hold the end of the mono and lower the wood block into the current to drag line off spool. Leave the bail closed with a light drag setting and pull the line off by hand for the first 30 yards so there is enough tension to avoid line twists making a bird nest. After the current drag on the line is strong, let go of the end of the mono, open the bail and let all of the mono and most of the braid be pulled into the current to untwist. The wood scrap will be lost, rotting ‘back to nature’. Hold the braid end at the spool securely when getting close to the tape. Allow several minutes to untwist the mono end of the line. Reel it all back in using a wet rag for tension.
Attach the 2nd piece of wood to the mono end and prepare the arbor slip knot on the end of the mono which will be used later on the spool. Holding the mono end, again lower the wood block into the current to drag line off spool. Make certain the end of the mono is secure. When most of the braid has pulled off the spool remove the tape on the spool. Let all the braid be pulled into the current, untwisting the braid end. The 2nd piece of wood will also be lost. Take the mono end back thru the big rod guide and secure the mono arbor knot to the spool. Reel it all back in with a wet rag for tension.
Sorry for the long explanation, but it’s really not that complicated. The new line is now untwisted from both ends and the spool is accurately filled with the desired amounts of backing and braid.
I’ve often just reversed the braid on the reel, providing me with a “new” line to be casting. Do you see any problems with this?
Luke – Just curious- When tying the 75 yard line to line, why didn’t you use an FG knot instead of a double uni?
Hi Luke,
What size mono do you recommend for doing this? Do you recommend matching the mono poundage to the braid?
nevermind got it
Great advice. Two additions you might consider –
1) walking out the line and reeling it back in takes out a lot of the initial twist and then you don’t have to do it on the water.
2) braid is great, but it’s expensive. If you haven’t lost a lot of terminal footage, but it’s starting to wear out – you can reverse that first 75 yards by pulling it off and retying so the old terminal part is now in the back, and the fresh stuff that was at the 75 yard mark is on the terminal end.
Luke, I just purchased a Pfluger President and the box states that you are able to spool braid directly to this reel.
What are your thoughts on this? Have you tried it?
Assuming you don’t wish to add the mono as a failsafe warning track, would you rely on a direct to spool braid, or would you still start with mono on the Pflugerville President?
I followed your instructions however I still got line twist. I tried the opposite direction coming off the line spool as well as holding it vertical.
No matter what I did I got bad line twist from the point where I was pinching the line all the way onto the reel spool. When pulling the line off the reel it was twisted all the way.
With the bail arm open, pulling the line off didnt seem to have the line twist so though this resolved it as when you cast you have the bail arm open however after my last fishing session, casting didnt resolve the issue, the line twist is still there.
I have taken pics of the line twist.
This is after I spool the way the video shows.
On my heavier tackle reels I like to tie the line off to something outside and walk all the line out( I use the base of my car antenna). I crank the drag down and reel all the line up while walking back(my neighbors think im nuts). I think the tighter the better. If its too loose in the spool and your fighting a big fish if you crank the drag all the way down the line can get pulled into a loose spool and get weird.
Here’s a really simple tip that takes no extra effort or time at all… When laying your rod & reel down on any surface, always put the handle side down. This method keeps the vital reel components up off the surface and protected from dirt/sand, scratches, dings, etc.
I can hardly believe that most all fishers never put their reels down this way??? Just makes sense & such an easy habit… Eliminates damaging the spool, bail, body and most importantly the spool lip.
Tight lines >—- ( * > Salt Strong
PS: Real Magic… Love that $tuff!
Nice