When to Respool?

[H2O Mellon]

Would you guys start respooling your reels now eventhough they wouldnt be used until the Spring? For instance, I'm nored to death on most night since my wifes on 3rd shift & in order not to kill any of my 3 kids I have to do something constructive as far as catfishing goes, so I was going to start respooling my reels, would anyone advise NOT doing this yet & if so Why?

[Dano]

Its going to be a long boreing winter. How many times are you going to respool before spring. LOL.

[H2O Mellon]

I'v got a lot of reels to respool. I've amde 70#'s of sinckers or so lately, so I need more lead. I figured by the time spring rolls areound the EPA will be at my hosue citing me to be a danger to the public for having so many lead sinkers!

[MadKater]

i dont see what it would hurt,as a matter of fact i was thinking of re spooling all of my outfits pretty soon,i plan on getting some more fishing in before the ice hits but im sure it wont hurt anything to respool and let it si tuntil spring.

[DRC]

i'm no expert but i wouldn't waste line if it was fairly new still
i may cut a few feet from the ends checking for knicks and bad kinks.
if your a persistant big fish catcher i guess it would be in your best intrest to have new line on so your certain you dont lose a trophey but i would wait till your about to go if you dont fish late fall and winter wait till end of winter and get fresh line and be ready for spring.
maybe you could clean your reels and sharpen hooks now.
if you use braid line i think it has a longer shelf life so to speak.

[Catcaller]

My advice is to keep on fishing. It's too early to quit right now. We catch blues, channel, walleye, crappie, perch, large and smallmouth bass all the way into December. With the mild temps we get anymore the fishing season never really ends. There's still trout to catch even when after the freeze. There's nothing I'd rather catch than cats...but when they stop biting...I spread out and try other species.

[flathunter]

You can respool the ones you are not going to use till spring..I am gonna put newline on all mine over my christmas break..Now a spinning reel no way would I respool it now and wait till spring to use it....And get that red junk off of there :rolleyes:

[flathunter]

I also change line on all my reels at least twice a year.

[TIM HAGAN]

May for the summer fishing and then again in Nov for the winter fishing. And if it would get down below half way I would respool then. I also clean the line after 3 or 4 fishing trips And the rods after every trip.

[BIG-G]

I would have to say Bryan that it depends on your budget. LOL! Like Darryl said I to inspect the line after each trip and look for nicks and what not on the last 20 yards or so.
If ya are usein spinnin reels and have been trimmin or losein alot of line then respoolin is a must. Do to the fact that the spool has to be loaded really well for the reel to cast like it should.
Also with the lines that are available today is replacing a couple of hundred yards really all that necessary?
I don't know what kinda line you are usein,but I'm sure ya have one that you are happy with its performance and durability. Me personally I swear by Berkley Big Game.
Make sure ya are buyin the big old bulk spools if you intend to do as much respoolin as you say.
BOTTOM LINE. IF ITS FOR SANITY PURPOSES RESPOOL AS MUCH AS YA LIKE! LOL!

[H2O Mellon]

I use Red Cujin & Berkley Big Game. As you can tell my buddy Flathunter really likes the Red Caujin line! :p

[jim]

As an avid spinfisherman I am curious as to why you wouldn't re-spool now.Unless I'm mistaken the line is currently on a spool so what differance would it make to sit on your spinning reel spool until spring?Now if you used braid you wouldn't have to worry about re-spooling so much but if you are bored I don't see why not.The alternative would be all the time you would have on death row for killing the kids so it might be better to be occupied.LOL One little trick I learned from somwhere is to the first time you go out fishing stream the line behind the boat then reel it in with tension and you will eliminate line twist.Sounds like work but it is worth it.Tim also gave a good hint which is to buy some line cleaner and use it a couple of time a year depending on how much you fish.PS GET RID OF THAT RED STUFF!!!!!

[Hootowlc3]

Mellon, I would wait until just before my first fishing trip. I have trouble with line memory when it sits on the small spool of a reel for so long. If it is on a large spool kept in the dark , not as much memory. Take all the line off your reels clean them and loosen the drag, put them in a bag and clean your rods. Only takes a few minutes to spool up in spring.

[jtrew]

If you're planning on changing over to a new type line, and don't fish as much during cold weather, that could be a good time to change it over. But, here are some things to think about. If you didn't have to continually cut 2' or 3' of worn line off, you probably still have plenty of line on the reel. That's another reason I usually attach a big swivel to the end of my mainline, then have a 3'-5' of mono leader. Nevertheless, as you cast out, reel in, and so forth, you are generally using about half your line. All you really need to do is turn the line around and use the mostly unused part. The easiest way I've found to do this is to get 2 sections of dowel or broomstick, each 12"-18" long. Drill a hole in each end just a little smaller than the diameter of a large nail. Drive a nail in each end about halfway. then cut off the head. Use one of the nails to put the stick in your drill, then use the drill to pull off the line. Remove that stick and put the other stick in the drill; use the drill to pull the line from the first stick to the second stick. Having a nail in each end makes it easy to hold the sticks in your two hands, or hold it between your feet. Now reattach the line to the reel and wind the line back onto the reel spool--reversed.

I know braided line is expensive, but it has no memory to interfere with your casting. Currently, I only have braided superline on one spinning reel, but it works so much better than mono that I plan to switch all of my spinning reels over as finances allow.

[H2O Mellon]

I dont have any spinning reels (but do have one comming for a BOC trade). I am not a fan of braids, I've trie dthe expensive dracon braid that cost $30 per spool, Power Pro, Spider Wire, Spider Wire Stealth, Gorilla Braid & more, but alwasy seem to have it fray as I fish rocky areas, so i stick w/ mono.

[JAYNC]

I normally re-spool my reels about 3-4 times a year, but this is for only 4 reels and about 1000 yards of line. I fish in heavy structure and have a lot of snags.

[BIG-G]

Jim. Excellent point. I've done that many times and man its a workout with just a few ounces of lead on the line. LOL!

Jerry.I like it! LOL! There is so much line that never sees the lite of day. LOL! Won't take any time at all either to do it.

[Pennsylvaniacatchaser]

I spend a lot of my spare time during the winter months taking my reels apart, removing the old grease, putting in fresh grease, cleaning and lubing all moving parts, putting on fresh line, cleaning the cork handles on my rods, cleaning and organizing the tackle box, any repairs the boat may need, make plenty of sinkers & jigs. Next up is getting my Steelhead gear ready for upcoming trips to the Lake Erie Tributaries. Then it will be time to break out the ice fishing gear. Gotta keep outdoors or I'll go nuts! :rolleyes:

[s_self88]

I'm really paranoid about my line. I usually respool about every month that i am fishing, or when i see kinks or feel memory in the line.

[Rainman4u2]

I usually clean off the line from one spool, and fill backwards on to a reel that has all of the line taken off of it. This way I can re-use the line for a second year. If you think about it, the bottom 10-20 yards out of 140 or so might be slightly nicked, but the rest of the line should be fine. I only do this with braided line, and will not do it with mono. I only have to buy 3-4 spools at 150yds/spool a year doing this, and I have never had a problem with line breakage. As for mono, it gets stripped every year and replaced.

Ray

[H2O Mellon]

I've cleaned up 6 rods & 6 reels this weekend. Put on new line. I feel like I wasted a lot of money on at least 3 of the reels after the 1st 10-20 yards (as as been pointed out) the line hadnt been touched! But oh well, better safe than sorry , I guess. I'll probally finish the rest of them up this week.

[flathunter]

Bryan buddy, one thing is for sure..You dont put any stress on your line by catching fish!!!! :D

[jim]

WOW that one hurt!!!!!!If we find you tied up on the bank with lots of old mono we will know what happened particularly if you are staked out over an ant bed!!!!

[bluehunter]

For me its generally when I start to see twist developing on my line. A few good fishing trips of catching cats normally gets the line this way. I base mine on the amount of fish it caught, its abraison due to rocks, snags, and how well I can cast with it. Normally when it becomes harder to cast due to twists and starts developing knots in my reel. its time for a change.