The Spoonpluggers Forum

I am having a difficult time right now not being able to fish. One thing I've been doing to pass time is reading all the old posts on the forum. Pretty sick, but I've learned quite a few things. And when I came across this post it really made my day:

From John Bales, back in 2005, on the 101 forum, discussing worn out wire line:

"If you use wire a lot you will notice it getting work hardened and especially when there is some slack between the rod tip and the lure. You can cut some off a little at a time or when the top half gets work hardened, tie it to the mailbox and walk around the garage a few times and reverse the line so that the un-used softer line is now at the top. This gives you twice the amount of usage. When you see the line starting to do a lot of curling you had better do something because you will start losing lures. John"

It is great advice and I've never thought of it. BUT I also had a hearty laugh thinking about what my neighbors will think when they walk past the house and see me wrapping my garage up in wire. Will be a great way to get through a cold and icy Saturday in the next few weeks. lol. Thanks John.







TN Dave Post subject: Re: Wire LinePosted: Thu Jan 26, 2012 10:33 am


Brett,

Don't be concerned about the neighbors. Most of us have been in similar situaitons. I well remember standing out in my back yard casting to the pine trees. I was trying to learn how to use an Ambassadeur baitcasting reel. The kids thought it was funny; but I did, finally, learn how to use the Ambassadeur and that practice has been very helpfull over the years.

The method I use requires two empty spools, a variable speed drill, a bolt the size of the hole in the spools, a wing nut, and two large washers. Put one washer on the bolt. Put the bolt through one of the empty spools. Slide the other washer over the bolt, tighten it down with the wing nut. Insert the bolt in the electric drill. Keep the reel on the rod, secure the rod(maybe a rod holder) or have a second person hold it, connect the wire from the reel to the hub of the spool. Make sure you go to the top of the spool, i.e. top of the reel to top of the spool. Take a few turns on the spool so the wire won't slip. Set just enough drag on the reel so it doesn't run free. Start the drill; run the wire onto the spool. Move the spool back and forth to load the spool fairly evenly, and don't try to go too fast until you get the hang of it or you'll regret it. Remove the bolt and slide the first spool on a dowel, pencil, etc. Rig the second spool with the bolt, washers, and wing nut. Run the wire onto the second spool. Re-attach the wire to the reel and spool it back on the reel. Sounds like a lot of work, but it goes fast once you get the hang of it; and you don't have to run around the garage(especially when you have an attached garage), worry about the neighbors, or have someone get tangled in the wire.

I use the same method, i.e. bolt through the spool, to fill spinning reels. Just go from the top of the filler spool to the top of the reel spool. Helps if filler spool is on a dowel, pencil, etc, and second person holds it between his thumbs to keep it from running free. Works fast, especially if you're filling more than one spinning reel to fill, and absolutely no twist.

I had a device to do that stuff, it was two magnetic tape reels mounted in tandem on a stand. The reels were about 1 inch wide inside and about 1.5 inch hub and 5 inch max dia. Cranked by hand you could empty a reel quickly while thumbing it. I originally made it to put backing under flyline or wire line without having to guess at the amount. Just wind the flyline on the flyreel, tie on the backing properly and fill the reel with backing just short of the frame. Then spin off all onto one tape reel , spin off again onto the 2nd tape reel and tie the backing onto the flyreel and wind on firmly and you had a perfectly full reel. Sure beat peeling it all of onto a pile or stretching across snowbanks in the yard. Lost the original when I moved and just recently made a new one, made some wooden reels spools using a wood lathe.

I just us a second empty reel. Fill the second reel with backing,
reel the old line onto it, and you are good to go.
No trees,mailboxes and garages to deal with this way.