Is There A Way to Make A Standard Baitcast Spool To A Shallow Spool?

[dennis_rf]

Back to adaptors: would cork be a suitable material? As it is a natural product it does not have even density. I’m thinking about even weight distribution and the level of machining precision manufacturers need to build spools that spin this perfectly. Or at least that’s what I imagine spools to be / need to perform

[DirtyD64]

On the subject of adaptors, do you have to be careful with them? It seems they would slip under high pressure possibly. Now if one were glued or had a tacky rubber grip I'd trust it more, just wouldn't want to damage a good spool...

[Johnny A]

Why do you want a shallow spool? Do you want to reduce the line capacity or to alter a mechanical property of the spool?

[jvelth74]

Some cases it would be nice to make shallow spool from standard spool. Currently I don't have that kind of need, because I have enough shallow spools. But maybe I will make some experiments with that cork tape anyway.

[John G]

I saw this tonight while playing on my phone. Says it's made out of hard EVA.

[DarkShadow]

I remember that Calcutta! It was the first one I ever owned, and I LOVED being able to put 200 yards of 12 pound test on that beast when only 50 or so yards actually ever saw the light of day.

Since the early 90s, I've been putting on Walmart Clearance line as backing, and only putting 50 or 60 yards of high quality line on top of that.

That makes it a 'shallow' spool for all intents and purposes, but I think the spool rotation and weight is definitely affected by all that backing, which removes the 'finesse' portion of it.

I'm glad manufacturers finally realized bass don't peel 100 yards on a run!

[SteveSchmelzle]

it would be interesting for bass fisherman to understand reels aren't made for single species.

I've lost count on the number of times I've gotten into (what would have been) backing (if I had backing).

There are many species of freshwater fish that pull drag, and require more than 50 yards (lol) of line.

But for some reason bass fisherman (more so than any other species fisherman) forget that reels are made for more species than just one.

Cutting the amount of line (by 50% or more) just to have better casting abilities is an insane process.

[John G]

When the baddest ass fish that I catch is a Largemouth Bass, 50 yards of line is more than enough. LOL

[John G]

I remember that Calcutta! It was the first one I ever owned, and I LOVED being able to put 200 yards of 12 pound test on that beast when only 50 or so yards actually ever saw the light of day.

Since the early 90s, I've been putting on Walmart Clearance line as backing, and only putting 50 or 60 yards of high quality line on top of that.

That makes it a 'shallow' spool for all intents and purposes, but I think the spool rotation and weight is definitely affected by all that backing, which removes the 'finesse' portion of it.

I'm glad manufacturers finally realized bass don't peel 100 yards on a run!

I've had the USDM early Calcutta 100 and it had a deeper spool than this JDM Calcutta 100.

[kaiser]

I know this is an odd question to ask. I remember many years ago, TT had an article to make a shallow spool from a standard casting spool. I can't find that article now,.

Is there a way to do this or is it even possible without adding too much additional weight to the spool?

I haven't read such article. But for some time ago I was planning to make shallow spool by cork tape:
rsz_cork_tape.jpg
Another solution would be same kind of fillers like was provided with old Ambassadeurs:
Fillers.jpg
Sure there are not commonly fillers available, but maybe taking measurements and 3D print of those. And I think in good cork lathe could be done spacers by cork and then splitting it by Japanese Saw.

+1 on the cork tape. I use a thicker 3mm variety from hobby lobby as it requires less layering and is lighter than multiple layers of thin cork. The adhesive is surprisingly heavy.
I tried creating an arbor out of flor grade cork, which would've been lighter, but the lack of a lathe made it difficult to get it perfectly round.

Here is a before and after of my curado 50e spool with a cork arbor.

Before
Inner Diameter: 17.6mm
Weight: 11.2g

After
Inner Diameter: 23.5mm
Weight: 12.2g

The new spool holds about 60 yards of 20lb power pro and weighs a little under 14.8g. The original weight with 20lb power pro was about 18g. Planning to switch to 15lb powerpro for more line capacity. I've found it quite helpful with casting lower weights, easily throwing lures as low as 3.5g, but I usually throw no less than 5g on that reel.

One thing to keep in mind is the outer diameter of the spool. Instead of filling spools all the way to the rim, I've found that slightly underfilled spools really aid in finesse casting due to the lower start up intertia. As more mass is located further away from the center of the spool, it takes more force to get the spool spinning.

[jvelth74]

Well done kaiser! Nice to hear such awesome results! Yes, in finesse fishing small diameter of line stack is advantage in casting because effective diameter has such big effect to starting inertia. Naturally disadvantage is lower retrieve speed, but casting performance is usually more important.

[kaiser]

I tend to reel too fast anyway, so having the lower retrieve speed helps haha.

[Lastworm]

People never know what to do with their old braid or partial spools of braid they have laying around. It’s perfect for backing on a spool to make it lighter and “shallow” once you top shot it with line you actually want to use.
Braid is lighter than mono or fluorocarbon so you have less rotational mass on the spool, meaning it’s faster and casts easier.

[Ghost]

Lastworm, is there a particular braid pound I should use for backing on my Calcutta 51?

[Lastworm]

It won’t really matter as you’re just using it as backing, the chances of you hooking something that would get you down to the backing braid would be pretty slim.

I’d just use any old braid or combination of braids you have laying around. Another alternative is to buy some cheap no name braid on eBay, again you’re not really using it to fish with, it’s purely backing and would likely never even see the light of day.