How to Load Line on a Spinning Reel
Table of contents for Total Noob Beginners Fishing Guide
- The Fishing Rod: Parts & Terms
- The Fishing Reel: Types of Fishing Reels
- Terminal Tackle: All the Stuff on the Other End Your Rod
- Fishing With Live Bait
- Fishing With Prepared Baits
- Types of Fishing Lures
- Fish Anatomy
- Understanding Fish Senses
- Which Rod and Reel Should I Buy? – Your First Fishing Rod & Reel
- Two Knots You Absolutely Need to Know
- How to Assemble a Spinning Reel and Rod
- How to Load Line on a Spinning Reel
- How to Set the Drag on a Spinning Reel
- How to Cast Your Spinning Rod
- How to Find Fish
- How to Play and Land a Fish
- How to Keep and Clean Your Fish
Loading your line correctly is of supreme importance. Do this wrong and you’ll set yourself up for a line-twist nightmare later. The line twists into coils when it should hang limp, causing your line to tangle into an ugly nest when you cast.
The easiest way to load line onto your reel is to have someone else do it for you. If you can, just let the tackle shop take care of it when you buy your line. They have a nifty machine that will do it quickly and professionally.
If, for whatever reason, you need to do this yourself, this is how its done:
- Open the bail. That’s the little wire arm on the reel that flips up and down. Up is open, down is closed. Click here to see a diagram of a spinning reel.
- Tie the line on the arbor with an arbor knot. Click here to learn to tie an arbor knot. Close the bail.
- Put the spool on the floor, label facing up. A spinning reel requires that the line be loaded onto the reel the same way it comes off the spool.
LIKE THIS:
NOT LIKE THIS:
- With your free hand, use your thumb and index finger to apply light pressure to your line as you give the handle 15 to 20 turns. Always apply light pressure on the line while loading it, otherwise the line will go on loose and tangle later.
- Stop. Check the line for line twist. Do this by letting the line go slack. If it starts twisting, flip the spool over (label down) and try again. Use the side that gives you less twist.
LINE TWIST LOOKS LIKE THIS:
- Fill your spool until it is 1/8th inch from the rim. Overfilling or underfilling your spool will create problems when you cast.
Congratulations! You’re all done. You can use a rubber band to secure your line on the spool, or wrap it around the tab in your spool (if it comes with one).
Hot Technique Alert: Have you ever heard of the fly and bubble technique? It’s an awesome and versatile fishing tactic that every spin fisherman should know… read about here.
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March 25th, 2009 at 8:07 pm
Soooo… if my line twists as it comes off the spool during a cast, does that mean it was loaded onto the spool incorrectly or that I can’t cast. The twist is in line that is several loops into the spool. what I mean is that the twist wouldn’t come off the spool until a few feet (at least) were pulled off the spool. Something like backlash on a baitcast reel.
March 29th, 2009 at 6:24 pm
Hi celticdaddio,
If your line twists as it comes off the spool during your FIRST cast, it can be because:
A) the line was loaded onto the spool improperly.
B) your outfit (line, reel, terminal tackle, rod) is somehow not balenced.
If you take off the line and respool it correctly and it still twists off the spool as you cast, then it is probably an unbalalnced outfit. Please refer to “How will you know if you are a buying a balanced outfit?” section of this post (scroll down):
Balanced Outfit
If your line twists in subsequent casts then it can be because of one or more factors. I put up a post on line twist causes here:
Line Twist
Hope that answers your question.
June 13th, 2009 at 4:33 pm
Hi, very nice post. I have been wonder’n bout this issue,so thanks for posting
April 17th, 2010 at 11:16 am
crummy
October 29th, 2010 at 7:35 pm
You you should make changes to the page subject How to Load Line on a Spinning Reel | Fishingnoob.com to something more catching for your subject you write. I loved the the writing yet.
July 8th, 2011 at 10:12 am
I have several comments about line twisting but my English is poor. Can I send them in Spanish?
July 8th, 2011 at 2:46 pm
It was done and this twice by error.
July 8th, 2011 at 5:44 pm
Hi Cesar,
Yes, sure. Your comments are welcome.
Gracias,
Nick
August 4th, 2011 at 5:54 am
Thanks for the info. Much appreciated. Good job!!