​​How to Put Line on a Fishing Reel

If you ever wonder how to put line on fishing reel, you’ve come to the right place. This is a quick guide to help you understand the basics and have you confidently put the line in the reel on your next fishing trip.

There are several things that you need to factor in so that you can be successful in your task. These factors range from knowing exactly which reel you’re using and the line type you have.

Putting Fishing Line onto a Reel

Many beginners learning the fishing ropes ponder on how to put a line on a fishing reel. Before understanding how to do this, it’s a great idea to understand exactly why you need to learn this skill before a fishing trip.

Why Are New Lines Needed?

Fishing lines tend to experience a lot of wear and tear over the course of a fishing trip or two. It’s important that you consider how the integrity of the line is impacted by the type of use that it’s subjected to over the course of time, along with exactly how much use it is put through.

If you’re thinking of using your previously used line on another fishing trip, it’s wise to reconsider, especially due to the following factors.

• Impact of Storage: Line strength deteriorates over time, especially after storage where their coiled appearance becomes permanent due to line memory.
• Regular Reeling and Casting: Frequent use tends to weaken line strength due to the various line twists that may occur during the process.
• Weakening by Water Absorption: Lines that have been made from materials such as nylon monofilament have gyroscopic tendencies that allow it to absorb moisture from their surroundings. Moisture-laden lines are excellent for fishing, but when stored they often become dried and brittle. These lines are affected by extreme temperatures
• Direct UV Exposure: Direct sunlight and exposure to UV rays are some of the prime reasons for weakening lines, so lines that have been stored in sunlit corners are generally at a higher risk.
• During Fishing: While catching fish, the line experiences frequent wear and tear, especially fuel to the stretching from the pressure of a caught fish.

There are many reasons that can lead to weakening your line, so it’s essential that you know exactly when to change it successfully.

Preparing to Put a Line on a Reel 

Here’s a series of quick steps that you can follow that can help you prepare to insert a new line in your reel. 

1. Pick the Right Amount of Line: Knowing how much line is needed for a reel is one of the most important things to figure out. Having too much line in a reel can lead to over spooling that can be disastrous during a fishing trip as it might fall off the spool altogether. Having too little line is also troublesome as it can seriously hinder your attempts at fishing over greater distances. Keep in mind that reels nowadays come with a line capacity that is clearly demarcated on the packaging. Following these guidelines will help you ensure that you don’t run the risk of over or under spooling
2. Make Sure You Have the Right Equipment at Hand: This is one of the more obvious steps. In order to know exactly how to put a line on a drag on fishing reel, it’s crucial that you have the following items: reel, rod butt, sharp cutting tool, fish hook remover, and of course, a spool of line on your fishing backpack. Some people also keep some warm water at hand.
3. Your Equipment Should Be Harmonious: It’s important that you make sure that your line and reel match in terms of functionality. For example, braided lines generally work best with budget spinning reels. 

Now that you have made the preparations you can successfully move towards the next round of understanding the best way of putting a line on a fishing reel.

Putting Line on a Fishing Reel

If you keep these steps in mind while putting the fishing line onto a reel, your task at hand will become marginally easier. 

1. Remove the Old Line from the Reel: For those who are using reels from their last fishing trip, to better grasp how to put a line on a fishing reel, they first need to prepare their equipment by removing the old line. 
2. Soak the New Line in Warm Water: Keep in mind that this is an optional step, meant only to cleanse your line of the factory smell and dirt, to make fish more comfortable around it. 
3. Attach to the Butt of the Fishing Rod: Use the ring to thread in the new line
4. Tie the Line to the Reel Spool: It’s recommended to use the Arbor knot to tie the fresh line spool onto the reel. Make sure you flip the reel bail arm on and off to facilitate this particular process.
5. Keep the Line in Tension: Position the rod against the line to feel a little tension. If you decide to use a warm water bucket, make sure the line is still in it during this step. 
6. Mobilize Reel Handle Rotation: Your next step should be to circulate the reel handle roughly 10 times. This would make the line wrap methodologically around the spool. 
7. Test and Retest: Remove the tension from the line for a little moment just to see how the line reacts. If there’s any sort of twist, you have to redo the last step.
8. Adjust Line: Circulate the reel handle several times to check the lay of the line, and then continue to reel until the line becomes an even spool. Make sure you don’t add too much line to your spool.

Conclusion

In order to understand how to put a line on a fishing reel, keep in mind that you must familiarize yourself with your fishing equipment.

You should also be able to demonstrate a sound knowledge of the do’s and don’ts of dealing with lines and fishing reels.