How to Spool a Baitcasting Reel

How to Spool a Baitcasting Reel Spooling a baitcaster fishing reel correctly is important to prevent line twists and maintenance issues down the line. Fortunately learning to spool a reel is a simple and straightforward process that only takes a few minutes.What You’ll Need to Do Before You Start.

Gather the following gear:     

Rod Reel.

Line A tool to cut line. I personally use nail clippers because they are small, sharp, and easy to use with only one hand A lure, hook, or weight to tie off at the end of the line when you’re done to prevent it from backing out of the tip guide.

Figure out the Following:  

Which direction your reel turn Know which type of reel you have. Baitcaster, Spinning, Spincasting, Fly, etc. This tutorial is specifically spooling a baitcaster .

Baitcasting vs Spinning While the concept of spooling a reel is effectively the same across every type of reel, there are a few minor differences in the approach.

If you have a baitcaster reel , you’ll need to feed the line through the line guide (tiny hole in the front of the reel) before you tie the line around the reel spool.

If you have a spinning reel, you’ll need to be sure you have the line on the correct side of the bail. The easiest way to do this is to open the bail before you tie the line around the spool. Check out our instructions for how to spool a spinning rod here.

The Knot The arbor knot is what we recommend for tying the line around the spool. The arbor knot is the best type of fishing knot for this use.

It’s a super simple knot consisting of only two overhand knots. The hardest part is that you’ll need to tighten the inside knot slow enough to allow the line to slip while tightening enough to get some friction.

Maintaining Tension The single most important thing you can do when spooling a reel is to maintain tension while reeling in the new line. Doing this incorrectly will lead to loose loops around your spool which can cause several major problems.

The first issue is that you’ll get inconsistent casts as you’re reel will try to unravel at different speeds as the lure flies through the air. You’ll lose control of how far you can cast and end up with some “jerkiness” to you cast which results in a loss of accuracy. And to make matters worse baitcaster, this opens you up to a birds nest which is a major pain to deal with.

The second major issue is that if your loose loop is below several layers of fishing line, you can get some binding or kinks in the line which can weaken your line and make it prone to breaking.

This can cost you fish and lures.