TackleTour

Anyone have input to a quality line spooling station other than the cheap Berkley. Even a home made would be great, saw foot pedal operated sewing machine motors on that auction site for about $30 and thought it would be nice if it could be incorporated into making a power spooling station....ideas?

Started this thread in Shop Talk and also wanted to post it here:

Anyone have input to a quality line spooling station other than the cheap Berkley. Even a home made would be great, saw foot pedal operated sewing machine motors on that auction site for about $30 and thought it would be nice if it could be incorporated into making a power spooling station....ideas?

My Berkley spooling station has been doing the job for me for years. I use a "C" clamp to clamp it to my work bench and it has spooled a ton of line over the years. On the jumbo spools with large holes I use rubber washers to take up the space. I also use the plastic station spool devices on a small metal rod I put in my drill for putting line on empty spools from reels for use at a later date.

For line removal I use a drill and a coat hanger. Works and its fast.

that "cheap" berkeley spooling station that you can pick up for about 30 bucks may be a piece of junk but man have i gotten my moneys worth out of the one i purchased a few yrs back. no earth shattering technology here....no need to read an instruction manual....just a basic, simple, piece of plastic that helps eliminate the problems i always encountered trying to fill my spools before i had it. especially if i couldnt find a sucker to stand there helping me by applying the pressure as i wound the line onto my spool. braid complicates this matter even more because if it doenst lay down tight to the spool the it will end up pinching back on the rest of the spool when pressure is applied later and it causes a mess. seems simple enough though that you couild probably make something on your own. kinda surprising that their arent any (or at least not many) high quality options for a spooling station. its almost like berkeley been holding down a monopoly of sorts with that crummy plastic piece and have not had to face the competition of many other spooling stations. a cheap one here or there i do see but nothing that looks worth picking up and tossing then old faithful berkeley.

There are high quality units available but be prepared, they are not cheap. Offshore and fly fishermen are using units like this since loading large amounts of braid is a pain. Check out Triangle Sports.

for my purposes, ill stick with my berkeley and save the big money for other tackle like rods and reels. an expensive spooling station would be nice but it's a luxury that wouldnt be at the top of my luxury list.

I would like to know as well as I am feeling guilty bringing all my reels to bass pro shop to have spooled.

With spinning reels I can see taking them to get spooled. It's easy for the people at a tackle store to do it and honestly I kind of enjoy it when I do it so don't feel bad about showing up with a half dozen reel spools, some places don't charge and some do so I can understand wanting to do it.

Taking line off I always prefer to do it by hand when I am not doing it for a customer. It isn't hard and takes about two minutes. You never have to worry about some kid losing their grip of your spool either. I have done it and it scares the crap out of ya.

With a baitcasting reel I just hold the spool with my toes and have the reel going right to my hands. I can adjust the line lay by chnging the angle that the line is coming into the reel and it only takes a minute or two.

The Berkley unit works great for baitcasting reels IMO. I'm not ready to accept that it's a good practice to load a spinning reel by "retrieving" it off a rotating spool--even with braid. But, while not designed for the purpose, at least the Berkley unit is able to hold a spool in a stable, stationary position while you reel line off it for proper filling of a spinning reel. I use an old leather glove to add tension.

VRG wrote:The Berkley unit works great for baitcasting reels IMO. I'm not ready to accept that it's a good practice to load a spinning reel by "retrieving" it off a rotating spool--even with braid. But, while not designed for the purpose, at least the Berkley unit is able to hold a spool in a stable, stationary position while you reel line off it for proper filling of a spinning reel. I use an old leather glove to add tension.

you can adjust the spool station to have the line spool facing towards the reel when doing spinning reel

Have you looked into these? Both are pretty affordable.

http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/American ... PULSP.html

http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/EZ_Line_ ... ZCLSD.html

VRG wrote:The Berkley unit works great for baitcasting reels IMO. I'm not ready to accept that it's a good practice to load a spinning reel by "retrieving" it off a rotating spool--even with braid. But, while not designed for the purpose, at least the Berkley unit is able to hold a spool in a stable, stationary position while you reel line off it for proper filling of a spinning reel. I use an old leather glove to add tension.

I've been using the Daiwa method, the rotating spool as opposed to the flat facing spool, for about 8 years now and I have zero complaints.

When using a spooling station for spinning reels, and the spool spins while filling it up.... do you want the line coming off of the top of the spool when winding it up, or from the bottom?

I just got the $15 EZ Spooling station from TW that I installed on my freshly built mancave/fishing room. I used to work at BPS using their Osprey Line station, but this isn't the fancy electrical spooling station, only one that offers tension against the spool. I will be standing 10' away with the rod and reel in my hand reeling the line onto the reel like I was fishing, facing the spooling station... Thanks.

EJP1234 wrote:When using a spooling station for spinning reels, and the spool spins while filling it up.... do you want the line coming off of the top of the spool when winding it up, or from the bottom?

I just got the $15 EZ Spooling station from TW that I installed on my freshly built mancave/fishing room. I used to work at BPS using their Osprey Line station, but this isn't the fancy electrical spooling station, only one that offers tension against the spool. I will be standing 10' away with the rod and reel in my hand reeling the line onto the reel like I was fishing, facing the spooling station... Thanks.

Daiwa recommends under the spool.