Line Winding/Un-winding Trick – Sufix Spools

The dilemma of fishing several species, especially with leadcore, is the constant spooling, stripping, winding, and un-winding. I’ve lost and ruined my fair share of barely used spools of line, simply because I didn’t find a good method (that was also fast) for transferring and storage.

A quick look at the inside of the Sufix spools I had on-hand revealed they’re hexagonal. 9/16″ to be exact. Out to the workbench for a 9/16″ bolt and a cordless drill, and I had the slickest spool transfer setup yet.

It’s not rocket science, and I’m sure plenty of you have been doing this for some-time, but it was a great way to keep several spools of segmented leadcore ready and on-hand to use at any time. So right now, I buy the bulk spools, and then segment them to have 3 different spools ready and waiting to put on my reels:

-Full Core

-3 colors

-4 colors

This obviously works for any of their products, so it’s a great way to buy line in-bulk, yet have just what you need ready and waiting to wind-on for your fishing trips.

Joel

I made a universal tool that works well for this application.
Also gave one to Gary Sanders recently so maybe if he see’s this he will chime in as to how well it works.

The tool I made fits in your drill chuck. (just like yours Joel) The one major difference is that this tool will work on any spool of line and it’s made to automatically center the spool so that it runs true when winding line off your reel.

Granted, not everyone has a machine shop at there ready so, you may want to go with Joels idea above instead as it certainly is easier to make.

I’ll try to post a picture tonight.

Very cool, I’d love to see it. These are the kind of small time and money savers that make a big difference. Plus, I’ve fished in your boat Joel, so I know that you’re a wealth of knowledge when it comes to customized tweaks!

Joel

@Joel Nelson – do you think this same method would work for pulling braid off a spinning reel? I was thinking I could set the drag real light and wind it off, but I am afraid of what might happen to the drag if I do it to many times.

A bigger concern with the spinning reels is line twist introduced when re-spooling. Pro-shops like Thorne brothers wind-on line to spinning reel spools from the same direction as it comes off of the bulk spool of fishing line.

This one might take some testing, but you’d be surprised how little tension you need on the drag for casting reels to keep a nice and tight, even wind.

Joel

I also use this trick to get my line counters perfectly calibrated.

Take an empty LC reel, reel on your desired leader length, then your desired mainline (or leadcore) length, and then reel on backing until it looks full. Test 100 feet against 100 feet on a tape measure. With leadcore I actually like to see more like 97 feet on the counter against 100 tape feet to compensate for the fact that my backing is smaller diameter than my LC line. Use the drill to spool onto empty spool #1, then onto empty spool #2, then reel back onto the LC reel. You now have a perfectly calibrated reel.

Pain in the [censored]? Sort of, but I think it’s worth it.

Joel,I have your solution but I am on vacation,will be back on Sunday,That is.. if you still need help by then.

Jeff

PS you have a PM That is the best I can do being away from home

The tool Boog made works in the same fashion the Joel posted with the bolt, but it is a “universal” adapter with two way adjustment that will fit just about any spool regardless of center hole diameter as well as width of the spool. I changed out two spools of lead core from the standard Cortland to the Sufix 832 and it worked perfectly on both spools with different diameter holes as well as widths. Thanks for the reminder, I have two more reels to change out. Thanks Boog!!!

Gary,

Your welcome!

I’m glad it worked as well for you as it did for me.

Joel N. – Sorry if my earlier reply stole your thunder. Quite often I just post the first thing that comes to mind and think about it later. I used to use a bolt, washer & nut and agree, it’ll get you thru a pinch, but that method does not work the best.

Your solution was ingenious & yet extremely simple. The best idea’s usually are the simplest ones.

Again, my apologies for hi-jacking your post!

Quote:

---

do you think this same method would work for pulling braid off a spinning reel?

---

I take the rod down to the park, open the bail and walk the line off. After clipping the line from the reel’s spool, I walk back to the other end, re-tie, and re-fill the reel. This puts “new” line at the working end when I’m done re-winding. If you are going to wind your brai onto another spool, simply stay where you are after clipping the line from the reel and tie the tag end to the empty spool you want to store it on. When you put the line back on your reel it’ll be the fresh end.

Joel,
Not to be critical, but the bolt is a 3/8″ diameter and measure’s 9/16″ across the flat of the hex head, just in case anyone was looking for a 9/16″ bolt and couldn’t find one. This is a great idea! For years I have been using a cordless drill with a 1/4″ carriage bolt with washers and a hex nut, however my spool usually wobbles on the carrage bolt as its diameter is significantly smaller than the spool diameter. I’ll be switch to your method with Sufix spools going forward. Thanks for sharing.

Quote:

---

Gary,

Your welcome!
I’m glad it worked as well for you as it did for me.

Joel N. – Sorry if my earlier reply stole your thunder. Quite often I just post the first thing that comes to mind and think about it later. I used to use a bolt, washer & nut and agree, it’ll get you thru a pinch, but that method does not work the best.

Your solution was ingenious & yet extremely simple. The best idea’s usually are the simplest ones.

Again, my apologies for hi-jacking your post!

---

No problem at all guys, sharing tips/tricks like this is what it’s all about. Rarely is there only one way, or one good way to get the same job done. Thanks for your contributions all, Tom, Trumar, Gary, etc.

Joel

Quote:

---

Joel,
Not to be critical, but the bolt is a 3/8″ diameter and measure’s 9/16″ across the flat of the hex head, just in case anyone was looking for a 9/16″ bolt and couldn’t find one. This is a great idea! For years I have been using a cordless drill with a 1/4″ carriage bolt with washers and a hex nut, however my spool usually wobbles on the carrage bolt as its diameter is significantly smaller than the spool diameter. I’ll be switch to your method with Sufix spools going forward. Thanks for sharing.

---

That’s not being critical at all, and you’re right, the point is that the hex-head needs to be 9/16’s. A longer length, and smaller diameter bolt would be nice to fit more easily inside of the drill.

Works slick, never hand-wind again.

Joel