changing line?

[Bladerunner]

hey guys
do you put all new line on your rigs at the beginning of the season or do you leave the same line on for 2 or 3 years?
also, what charachteristics does old line start forming? get brittle,stretch,kinky?

i was just curious, i was planning on changing my line anyways, cause first off, i have no idea what # test it is, and its been on the reel for ever..
any tips for respooling new line and keeping it tight while doing it?
i always had that trouble in the past when respooling, it would start out fine but near the end the line would get very loose looking

i look forward to the suggestions.
talk to ya all later

[madmarty]

I respool my reels about every 3 weeks. But I do fish almost every day. After a while it can get kinks in it. You usually know when you have a kink because it will backlash very easily. Also change your line when theres not much left. A reel not fully spooled doesn't cast good. When putting line on a baitcaster have someone hold a pencil through the line where it spins when reeled. Hold the line tight with your index finger and thumb in front of the reel. On a spinning reel put the line flat on tha ground where the line flows off freely.

[jglassguy]

Your probably not going to believe this, but when I fished the BASS trail I changed line every 3 weeks at the most.
Sometimes even weekly if something happened that i didnt like , like to much memory or more often than not,
in preparing for the next lake and getting a mindset for what I would be throwing..
an example, A tournament at Indian Lake is all about flipping pads, so I would tend to put more rods in the locker with heavier line, whereas If I knew we are going to a lake where I may throw crankbaits all day, I may scale down to 10 or 12 , but have 3-4 rods ready to go just with crankbaits, instead of the usual aray of worm rod, crankbait rod, spinnerbait rod, jig rod, or a short rod

For the beginner I would recommend changing line about twice a year..once before you start in spring and then about halfway through summer if you have been loosing line.
Sunlight is what weakens the line the most, and what happens to my spool on the reel is usually after I feel a
fray or nick in the line, i'll peel of several feet and retie.
After doing that week after week, ya need to add line, and I like to usually put about a full spool of line on the reel up to about 1/8th of a inch from the diameter of the reel,,too much line just shoots off and coils up in a birdsnest ....

[Rich]

Depends on the line. I've had the same braid on several reels for over three years and they are still going strong.

Mono-When I respool I only remove 2-3 cast lengths, tie on the new line and spool it up. That way I don't go through a huge amount of line. You are not going to get spooled by a bass so the vast majority of line simply acts as backing. I respool every 4-5 trips if not sooner, and only replacing 50 yards or so of line saves both time and money. If you don't respool that often, when you can feel the knot you know it is time to replace the line.

One thing I would suggest is buy line in bulk. I like green Trilene XL, so when possible I buy 1000 yd spools. I keep it in the house so it is not exposed to temperature extremes like it would be in the garage which keeps it fresh. A 1000 yd spool will last me a couple of years.

[jeffman]

REB,
Â* Â* Also wrap it in aluminum foil and keep it a basement or a cool closet, or if you have an old working refrigerator in the basement or garage, that is best.

JIM,
Â* Â* I do like REB says about only replacing part of my line. I spool off about 50 yds, (1/2 block) and wrap the spool with several wraps of black plastic electricians tape, then wind on new line to within 1/8 inch of the edge of the spool. I use Power Pro braid exclusively, so I change every couple years as REB advised. When I was throwing DAMYL mono line, I changed every spring and never had line problems. I kept my rods in my rod locker when I was not using them, out of the sun which probably helped keep the line in good shape.

JackL

[Bladerunner]

sounds good guys, thanks
i kinda had a feeling the heat and cold would shorten the life of your line..
well i just respooled with some new line, did the whole shebang, but i will def keep in mind the splicing off 50 yrds. or so when i want to add new line, thats a great tip, especially using the elec. tape to splice the 2 lines together

[mallard]

I find it depends on the quality.

Something cheap maybe lasts about a year or two, something like Trilene a few years.

[Rich]

Jack, I keep it in a closet, but haven't heard the foil tip. Have to try that.

[mike0062466]

I also use backing on my reels and fish with 50-60 yards of line. On reels I use a lot, I'll change whenever the line gets low due to frequent cutting and retying, usually once or twice a season. On reels I use just a few times per year, I've had mono on them for years and have had no problems.

When not fishing, these reels are not exposed to heat or sun. Also realize that you have received advice from a range of anglers ranging from tournament fishermen to recreational anglers. Tournament guys tend to change more often because they don't want to risk a line problem.

I don't worry about the risk, but the fact of the matter is that I don't have problems with older line.

YMMV.

[macgyver]

bigjim,

Haven't been around for awhile, so welcome if I haven't already welcomed you. Here's a link to a post that we previously discussed this.

http://www.bassfishin.com/cgi-bin/ya...38;start=14#14

The way I found it was going to the search buttom up towards the top of the page. I typed in changing line, and the changed the # of days to 365, and the # of post to 150. It brought up a lot of stuff, some, not pertaining to the question, but much of it was. It's a great feature if you use it. But you can read the above post as to my response. Hopefully this helps some.

Lizards

[redneck13]

I change mine 5 or 6 times a year.

[Rob Mak]

actually in this area i really don't need braid. once again i am braidless. the cover we have in this area is not thick mats of weeds or a pile of lilly pads -wish we have this kind of problem we don't- so basicly i an back to good old mono which i change every month or so.


zooker

[catfishtonyd]

I change the line on spinning reels whenever it gets kinky. On casting reels when I feel like it, or it gets low.

I use braid to tie the boat to the dock.

[bearpaw]

I use a Berkley line spooling station. You can keep tension on the line by tightening down on the screw knobs.
You won't need to change out flourocarbon as much as mono. But in the event that I get a kink in either type line, I change. If I use a particular reel for several days, then I usually have a backlash or two. (quiet zook) I'll normally change this line out to new line to ensure that no bad spots are present.
It's amazing what you can get over the computor with merely a small piece of plastic.
Just ordered 4000 yds. of Stren flouro.
No congrats necc. just maybe a "what the heck were you thinking" will do !

[macgyver]

[quote author=bassnman30 link=board=news;num=1116089680;start=0#13 date=05/22/05 at 18:30:29]I use a Berkley line spooling station. You can keep tension on the line by tightening down on the screw knobs.
[/quote]

It's one of my favorite purchases over the last few years. It works great, and not that exspensive either.

Lizards

[bronzebackguy]

i change line quite a bit, the reason is a fish alot of lakes with rocks so my line gets scruffed up pretty bad and breaks real easy