Spooling Up

Who and How do you spool up. If you pickTackle shop let us know who is doing it right and who is not. I can't believe some of the spool jobs I have got from some shops, don't they train employees to tie knots and use the machine? If you spool yourself ,how do you do it and why, mistakes you have made and tips that work. I think more fish especially large ones are lost do to bad, improper line and bad knots than for any other reason.

For SoCal gamefish, i.e. tuna, yellowtail, white sea bass - I get all my line put on in Southern California at a place called Fishermans Warehouse in Huntington Beach or at any of the landings in San Diego.  When those fish are my targets, I want the freshest line, not something that has been sitting around collecting dust.

For rockfish/lingcod, steelhead, stripers, salmon - I just spool line myself with the tried and true method of a pencil through the spool.

You have to watch when they spool baitcasting/conventional reels that they put it on evenly or you'll get an uneven spool, which really messes up ur casting distance and isn't noticeable until the first cast.
Also be sure, they spool you the right way, so when you reel, ur actually reeling in line.

I just spool line myself with the tried and true method of a pencil through the spool.

Word.

MolBasser

What about spinning reels if you use the pencil method you are putting twist on the line. I always put the spool flat on the ground and make sure it comes off the spool the same way it goes on the reel.

ditto for spinning reels

ditto for spinning reels

Word.

MolBasser

I chose me but I work at a tackle shop so I wasn't sure what to chose.  Winding line I have seen alot of bad jobs done by other shops.  The most common mestake i see is no backing under spectra.  If you have a mitchell 300 make sure that the person winding the line knows that it has to be wound in reverse. PLEASE PLEASE NEVER TAKE YOUR REELS TO BIG 5

the guys at the san jose fisherman's warehouse wind up all the spectra for me.  it has to go on tight!  i do all the topshots.  that way there's no one else to blame for a mishap.  for mono, i have 3 pound spools of everything.  for local fishing, i respool after EVERY trip.  yup, you read that right.  mono is cheap.  you don't want to risk the fish of a lifetime to save a buck with used monofilament. 

my dad would never change his line and he was constantly losing fish.  i finally banned his gear from my boat.   

Three people spool my reels. Me, myself and I.

the guys at the san jose fisherman's warehouse wind up all the spectra for me.  it has to go on tight!  i do all the topshots.  that way there's no one else to blame for a mishap.  for mono, i have 3 pound spools of everything.  for local fishing, i respool after EVERY trip.  yup, you read that right.  mono is cheap.  you don't want to risk the fish of a lifetime to save a buck with used monofilament. 

my dad would never change his line and he was constantly losing fish.  i finally banned his gear from my boat.   

Do your respool the ENTIRE spool every trip?  Wow, that borders on the neurotic....   I would think that well cared for mono should last the season with proper trimming back from abrasion resistance.  I could consider the top 100 yds on bass reels every 3 or so trips, but not the whole spool.  How much of that spool actually even sees the sun?

MolBasser

it gives me an opportunity to rinse off the spool a well.  can't do that with any of my spectra'd reels.

I spool with the pencil method for revolving spool reels but put the spool down flat like mickfish
for spinning reels because that's how vic dunaway tells me to do it in 'bait, rigs and tackle'.

If I fished for big fish with big reels I'd probably have it done professionally at fisherman's warehouse in san jose.

but having fresh line in the garage and being able to respool when you want without a trip to the tackle store is
pretty nice.

A good place for cheap line (mostly mono) is http://www.ffo-tackle.com. As far as I can tell it's quality as I have not lost
a fish due to line failure from line I have bought from them so far although it is overstock so it didn't sell
for some reason. their inventory changes fairly rapidly. if you don't like what you see, check back again next week!

So far that place is fun, they always send some free plastic bait gift (yep, mooch, sometimes GULP!)
with your order.

What do you guys do with your old line?

I go to Hi's in SF for my bluewater junk, and do the rest myself.  Although I wound my last load of spectra for baja on at mark Shimizu's house...he has a nicer winder than Outdoor Pro and definitely knows how to do it.  Mark, as always, did an awesome job. 

I'm with Alan Tani - FW in San Jose does a great job spooling. Made the mistake of going to 2 Sportmarts (San Mateo and Daly City) cause it was close by - never went back there again