Shallow Spinning Spool?

[smallies24/7]

Did an Internet search and didn't find much, so figured I might as well ask. What is the benefit of a shallow spool for a spinning reel? Casting I totally get, but with a stationary spool on a spinning reel, what are the benefits?

[tbone1993]

Just so you can fill less line. Rather than having to back a 2500-3000 sized reel with braid you can just go straight fluoro and not spool on 150yd of 6lb test.

[Raul]

I own a couple of shallow spool reels, both japanese, the advantage of shallow spool reels is that the line is spooled on a larger surface creating wider loops and not as tightly coiled as in regular depth spools, the line flows better and with less resistance.

[Hogsticker]

They are designed for finesse fishing. You can use light line and not have to put on 3 million yards of it to fill the spool. The drag output is also lower being the spool is smaller with less surface area. Probably a good thing so you don't tighten the drag down, snap your light line and loose a big fish.

[NathanW]

For bass/freshwater smallgame fishing I would ask the opposite question, what are the advantages of a deep spool? None that I can think of. I catch fish in 70-80 feet of water on my revo which has the shallowest spool I own and I never run out of line. Shallow spool means less wasted line and better line management. 

[MickD]

I'm not sure why wider loops would have less air resistance. If you take it to the extreme, I would think that if you had zero diameter loops they would have the least air resistance.  

 

I'm also not sure we are all defining shallow the same way.  Does shallow mean longer along the axis but a smaller diameter?  Like most reels today are?

 

Or does it mean shallower/shorter along the axis but a larger diameter, like some of the BPS reels?

 

When spinning reels first came out they were proportioned a lot like the BPS reels and had a larger diameter than most current reels.  The larger diameter should allow a heavier pound test mono or FC to stay on the spool better since the coil diameters are larger.

 

Some guide train philosophies size the first guide based on the diameter of the reel, (half the diameter of the spool) so the smaller diameter spools would lead to a smaller ring.  This is changing since testing indicates that guide height is more important than ring diameter.

 

It is not clear to me that there are significant differences that would lead to one being clearly better than the other.

[k3bass]

I own a couple of shallow spool reels, both japanese, the advantage of shallow spool reels is that the line is spooled on a larger surface creating wider loops and not as tightly coiled as in regular depth spools, the line flows better and with less resistance.

Say what? A shallow spool is for using thin line so you don't have to use backing.

[poisonokie]

Okay, so if you look at surf casting reels or euro spec carp reels, you'll see that the spool is both shallow and long. That allows the angler to make longer casts while maintaining a respectable amount of line because friction on the lip of the spool is minimized. The downside of that setup is the mechanical disadvantage of increased torque on the reel when the spool is at the peak of its oscillation.

[S Hovanec]

Shallow spools have the same lip diameter as the standard spools of the same size, the difference id they are not as deep. As said above, they are ideal for finesse techniques where not much line is needed. No need for backing to take up the extra space of a standard spool.

It took 50 yards of 15/4 TuffLine (and a few wraps of mono to keep it from slipping) to fill this reel.

I don't know why the spool says it will hold 115 yards of 4# mono. There is no way!

[Spincastguy]

There is no difference and it’s a scam . I used both I’ll take the normal deeper spool. It’s casts farther and better.