Line loading

Yesterday I noticed that I had a lot of line twist on my feeder reel, so today's job was to load fresh line. The first task was to remove the twisted nylon. I bought a battery operated Berkley line stripper many years ago, and this has proved an invaluable tool stripping 100yds of line in no time at all - and without any effort.

With the old line removed the next task is to load the fresh line. To hold the spool I use another Berkley product, a Dog Bone Spooler. And odd name, but the photo below might explain how it came about. This is a spring-loaded spool holder that you grip between your ankles as you wind the line onto the reel.

Dog Bone Spooler and bulk spool of line

Ordinarily this is used with the reel on a rod butt. As you can see in the next photo I have modified a rod butt to make this easier. The length of handle has been shortened to a minimum and a single leg ring taped on in a position that puts it directly above my feet when sat winding the reel.

Berkley line stripper, and modified rod butt

The set up in use

The second reel seat is there to take another reel when swapping line from one reel to another, for example when reversing braid to extend it's working life - either by swapping it between spools or onto a different reel. When using the butt section with a multiplier the ring is taped to its very end so the line doesn't touch the blank. One day I might get round to whipping two rings permanently in place - or maybe fitting roller guides.

This butt section makes life a lot easier and a couple of people who have seen it have asked me to make them one. I made a better looking job on those than my own developmental prototype.

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