Line on a spinning reel

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braptor
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Line on a spinning reel

Post by braptor » Fri Dec 23, 2022 4:37 pm

Does the amount of line you put on a spinning reel make any difference in casting ability on a spinning reel like it does on a baitcasting reel? Or do you just fill 'er up? It seems like most Varivas line comes in 140/150 meter spools so seems like maybe its optimal to put ~75 meters on..?

All of my BFS/UL experience is with baitcasting reels so apologies if this seems like an overly noob question.

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Re: Line on a spinning reel

Post by hoohoorjoo » Fri Dec 23, 2022 4:47 pm

Unless you're using light braid, the spool will tell you when it's full. Flip the bail when you get near full. If coils of line jump off, it's overly full. Pull it back off slowly until it doesn't loop and jump off the spool.
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Re: Line on a spinning reel

Post by SteveSchmelzle » Sun Dec 25, 2022 6:46 am

yes, 100% for sure, the more full the spool is (but not overfilled) the better and further the spinning reel will cast.
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braptor
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Re: Line on a spinning reel

Post by braptor » Mon Dec 26, 2022 9:00 am

thanks.

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Re: Line on a spinning reel

Post by Hobie-Wan Kenobi » Mon Dec 26, 2022 1:29 pm

If you are worried about wasting line on the spool, use some cheap line as a backer and only use 75m or whatever half of your spool of new line is.
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Re: Line on a spinning reel

Post by DirtyD64 » Mon Dec 26, 2022 6:01 pm

What Steve said is true. You do reach a point where too full hurts you and 75% full and 100% full cast roughly the same. I filled an old Stradic with extremely thin Sufix Nanobraid 6lb, and it didn't fill the reel enough. I should have known better with the diameter so small, the spool ate all 150 yards and had room to spare. I have always heard around 1/8" from the lip of the spool is full. Not sure how accurate that is, but it works for me. I ended up putting some old 10lb braid behind my Nanobraid and it VASTLY helped casting distance.

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Re: Line on a spinning reel

Post by slipperybob » Mon Dec 26, 2022 7:20 pm

Depends on actual gear and actual weight of lure being cast. There's a scenario where one would start to feel some slight resistance while the spool is sort of underfill on the long cast.
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Re: Line on a spinning reel

Post by SteveSchmelzle » Wed Dec 28, 2022 12:45 pm

I always find it amusing to read people put backing, or tape, or other things to reduce teh amount of line on the reel.

I've run out of fingers and toes counting the number of times I've almost been spooled. I guess that's part of fishing water that have many different species.

The idea of putting "less" line on a reel than maximum is a foreign concept.

This goes the same for baitcasters, spinning reels, or open faced trolling reels.
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Re: Line on a spinning reel

Post by Randingo » Wed Jan 25, 2023 9:32 pm

You've mostly gotten the answer to the question you asked, but I’ll chime in. First, yes, a full spool casts better as long as it's not overfilled, in which case, you leave yourself open to line issues. But if you're new to spinning tackle, let me save you a ton of aggravation on the water with a simple tip. Never turn the reel handle to close the bail; always close it by hand. And then give the line in front of the reel a gentle tug to make sure there are no loose coils of line before you start reeling. This will eliminate the vast majority of problems created by line twist. And if you do look at the spool of your reel and see a loose loop or two, don’t open the bail! Instead, pull out the line under drag tension until there are no more loops to be seen. Finally, if you are having line twist related issues, cut everything off the line and let it go downstream (or pull it behind your boat) for a minute or two and then wind it back in under tension. This takes most of the twist out of your line.

Why do I keep talking about twist in the line? Because the spool is at 90° to the direction of the retrieve, every rotation of the bail puts a quarter turn of twist in the line. In a perfect world, every cast would then remove that twist, but that's not how it works in practice. But if you take nothing else away from this post, remember to close the bail by hand. Oh, and don't reel while a fish is taking line on a run...

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Re: Line on a spinning reel

Post by braptor » Sat Jan 28, 2023 8:50 pm

Thanks for the info.

I'm not new to spinning reels, just more new to trying to trying to cast 1 gram size lures and get every last bit of performance out of it.

And after teaching my son how to fish, yes closing the bail before retrieving is a must. I do it subconsciously, but its not natural to him yet. I've spent more time than I'd like having to fix that mess...parenting...

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Re: Line on a spinning reel

Post by Randingo » Sat Jan 28, 2023 9:26 pm

I hope I didn't go too far with my post, but I have friends who have fished spinning tackle their entire lives who either don't realize or don't care about any of the things I mentioned. It would be sad if it weren't so annoying...

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Re: Line on a spinning reel

Post by ultralight » Tue Feb 07, 2023 9:23 am

With BFS baitcasting, less line allows longer cast because it results in lower spinning mass on the spool.

Spinning is the opposite. You want to fill as much as possible without it birdnesting. The stiffer and thicker the line, the more this matters. Thus, this matters less with thin braided lines because it is so limp and light. In my case, I overfill my spool all the way so that the line is at the same height at the edge of the spool. I don't have any problem because I am very conscious about controlling the line when I am reeling in. By this I mean that my line is under tension all the time when I reel in.

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Re: Line on a spinning reel

Post by Senkobass1 » Tue Feb 07, 2023 2:32 pm

I use thinner varivas braid (5-7lb) on all my ultralight trout reels. Since the Daiwa ultralight reels (exist 2000D) are so deep, instead of getting a shallow spool (for now) I just fill up my reel with cheaper mono and use it as an arbor and fill it to the indicator on the middle of the reel, and spool my braid from there. It goes to the edge most of the time and I feel like the reel being filled to the brim helps with the casting distance.

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Re: Line on a spinning reel

Post by SteveSchmelzle » Fri Feb 24, 2023 4:36 pm

but why do you fill with cheaper mono?

what does it save, compared to braid. A few dollars?

I've read this before...using mono to save money....from guys spending hundreds and hundreds on their rods and reels.

so very strange.
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Re: Line on a spinning reel

Post by reason162 » Fri Feb 24, 2023 7:30 pm

SteveSchmelzle wrote:
Fri Feb 24, 2023 4:36 pm
but why do you fill with cheaper mono?
Why not? Only the first 75 yards (100 to be generous) ever sees the light of day. A 200yd spool of braid can fill 2 spinning reels that way.

If I hook into a non-target species, I break it off and keep fishing. My time on the water is too valuable to f around with a 30lb catfish for 20 minutes.

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