Splitting Line

Curious as to any creative ideas for this:

Say I’ve got a 300 yard spool of line that I want to split evenly between two reels. What’s a good way of doing this? I figure that I can either stretch it all out in a big field and make the cut or since they are identical reels, spool it all on one, count the number of handle turns, then divide it in half that way. Neither method sounds like a great option to me.

4500 inches is equal to 150yds so divide 4500 by the amount of line the spool retrieves for one turn (in inches) of your reel and that would be close enough for me. And this should keep your line clean. Most reels will have the retreival rate on them. ie 6.3/1

Rapala clip on line counter

Pulling 75 arm’s length off of the spool would be the easiest way.

Unless you’re way over 6′ tall…..

When connected with a few wraps measure how much line is gained after one full revolution of the reel handle. The amount of line will increase per revolution as the spool fills however but not very much.
For instance…..I just checked a larger spinning reel used for cat. Can get 2ft. of line gain per revolution. This always puts me in the ball park when splitting.Not exact but close.
Or you could entertain the neighbors and stretch it across a field Dedication at it’s finest

Why not just pack one spool totally full, unroll the remaining line off of the factory spool, tie to the other reel, then pull off the first reel until they look even.

I don’t like the idea of using the ratio or inches of retrieve of the reels. These are big casting reels–empty, the spools are about 1/2″, full, maybe 1 1/4″, so the circumference of the spool grows from 1.6″ to 3.9″ as it fills. Doesn’t seem very accurate (and I am totally anal retentive ).

I just figured out a solution. I will cut a piece of cardboard at 18″ and wrap line around that. 1 complete wrap will be 1 yard. Wrap it 150 times and you get 150 yards. Plus, it should be easy to spool off of the cardboard.

Thanks for all your thoughts!

Like the cardboard 18″ = a yard.

I would much prefer a full spool to a partially full spool. Line is one of the cheaper components in the equation. Why not fill one reel completely, and buy another spool to fill the other reel completely?

If you are doing any casting/retrieving at all, the full spool will perform much better……..

Or……..partially fill each spool with electrical tape, so they hold less than 150 yds……..then you get the benefit of a completely full spool without filling the bottom half of the spool with line that’ll never see daylight anyways…..

Tim

Tim

I do fill them completely, but there is no sense putting 300 yards of Power Pro on when most of it will never see the light of day. My normal routine is to wind 100-150 yards on the spool, tie the Power Pro to mono, and fill it completely. Then I wind it on another reel so the mono serves as backing, the Power Pro is on the outside, and the spool is 100% full

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will cut a piece of cardboard at 18″ and wrap line around that. 1 complete wrap will be 1 yard. Wrap it 150 times and you get 150 yards. Plus, it should be easy to spool off of the cardboard

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If you hold your carboard still and wrap your line with your other hand you will get twists in the line same happens when wrapping rope between hand and elbow. To keep the twist out you will need to flip the carboard end for end as you put the line on it and take it off the same way.

Good point. Not really an issue with a baitcaster and Power Pro, but maybe I will rig some device up to eliminate this. I will post a picture of said device

I had this very issue last summer. Hopefully you have a line counter reel of some sort, it’s really an easy way to do it. I put the whole spool on the line counter reel, that way I knew exactly what the number would be when I had all the line on there. Then I just divided it in two and away I went. Worked real well for me.

your carboard idea sounds simple and effective. you might try to take that piece of card board and make a big spool of it too. easier to take off that way, but then every two revolutions would equal one yard. that’s a lot of winding. your tape line would be your marker line too. still think i’d walk it off though. less room for error (tangles). get a buddy tie one end to his leg and have him hold the spool. then you take the middle and start walking….

Now that you guys have gotten me thinking, it should be just as easy to find a drum to wrap it around (5 gallon bucket, perhaps). I can determine the circumference with the diameter and then just figure how many revolutions equals 150 yards.

Stretching it across a field still sounds fun, though

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Curious as to any creative ideas for this:

Say I’ve got a 300 yard spool of line that I want to split evenly between two reels. What’s a good way of doing this? I figure that I can either stretch it all out in a big field and make the cut or since they are identical reels, spool it all on one, count the number of handle turns, then divide it in half that way. Neither method sounds like a great option to me.

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This is the exact reason I purchased a lindwinder machine, NO guess work