Uneven line

[EGbassing]

I bought a new spool of 10lb. Berkeley Trilene XL mono about a month ago, and while I was spooling my new Shimano SLX with it today I noticed that the whole 100 yds. or so of line felt uneven/bumpy or something. Is that a problem, or should I not worry about it?

[ResoKP]

Normal

[LionHeart]

You mean the line is bumpy and/or uneven after being spooled? Not normal.

 

A problem?  Meh, maybe not but I'd figure out why

[jbsoonerfan]

Normal

[ResoKP]

It's 100% normal. The bumpiness is due to line crossing over each other and compressing in uneven areas due to not being level wound on the spool from the factory. It won't affect performance or result in loss of quality.

 

[EGbassing]

13 minutes ago, jbsoonerfan said:

Normal

My Red Label Flourocarbon is pretty much completely smooth though. Is it just a monofilament thing?

44 minutes ago, LionHeart said:

You mean the line is bumpy and/or uneven after being spooled? Not normal.

 

A problem?  Meh, maybe not but I'd figure out why

Yep. I got out my spool of 4 lb. Trilene XL mono and it's the same, except a little smoother. (probably because of the lighter line)

[WRB]

New line on a fresh spool shouldn't feel bumpy or lumpy as you discribe it, it should feel smooth without any defects. 

Where did you buy this?

I would run it behind the boat at slow idling speed for few minutes and wind it back onto the reel wet and it should feel smooth without any flaws as you run the line between your fingers.

Tom

[EGbassing]

48 minutes ago, WRB said:

New line on a fresh spool shouldn't feel bumpy or lumpy as you discribe it, it should feel smooth without any defects. 

Where did you buy this?

I would run it behind the boat at slow idling speed for few minutes and wind it back onto the reel wet and it should feel smooth without any flaws as you run the line between your fingers.

Tom

I got it at Cabela's. I don't have a boat but I could probably do the same thing from shore.

[WRB]

Can't do it from shore. You could rewind the line onto another reel then wet a terry towel and lay the line between the towel layers and rewind back onto the reel you want the line. The other reel needs very lith drag less then 1/2 lb so it doesn't over run during the rewinding process. Any kinks in or flat spot you feel in the line means it's flawed and shouldn't use it.

Tom

[Glaucus]

I think Tom is wrong. I've never had a spool feel completely smooth. You're getting a bunch of normals with 2 people saying otherwise. Either we all have bad line and bad reels or 2 people are wrong. 

[Bluebasser86]

Depends on the brand. I don't know about Trilene because I haven't bought any in years, but most of the line I buy is laid perfectly even, it says it right on the spool.

 

Now if the line itself feels bumpy, that's a problem I don't care what brand it is. 

[Lead Head]

I was reading it that the actual line felt bumpy, not the reel spool. I haven't used that brand in 20+ years but I would have a hard time trusting it. Maybe just do some knot testing at home before you head out on the water. I had a spool of 15# pline floroclear like that (will never buy again) and it broke at the knot on the hook set EVERY TIME. 

[EGbassing]

2 hours ago, Lead Head said:

I was reading it that the actual line felt bumpy, not the reel spool. I haven't used that brand in 20+ years but I would have a hard time trusting it. Maybe just do some knot testing at home before you head out on the water. I had a spool of 15# pline floroclear like that (will never buy again) and it broke at the knot on the hook set EVERY TIME. 

It is the actual line that feels bumpy. Is that what you're saying?

[WRB]

Have any of you ever removed mono, Copoly or FC line from your reels and noticed how deformed it gets about 75 yards down in the spool? The deformation is caused by time under pressure, the line cold flowed. 

You would be surprised what people return to stores and returns often get put back in stock, sometimes as open packages. It's possible the OP bought a return. I don't believe the original spooled line wouldn't be layered smoothly onto the filler spool from Berkley, it may happen but it's never happened to me.

Tom

 

[Jcj90]

Cast a heavy lure and rewind the line back on if that doesn’t work their may be an issue with the reel. All I use is XL and big game 

[ResoKP]

17 minutes ago, WRB said:

Have any of you ever removed mono, Copoly or FC line from your reels and noticed how deformed it gets about 75 yards down in the spool? The deformation is caused by time under pressure, the line cold flowed. 

You would be surprised what people return to stores and returns often get put back in stock, sometimes as open packages. It's possible the OP bought a return. I don't believe the original spooled line wouldn't be layered smoothly onto the filler spool from Berkley, it may happen but it's never happened to me.

Tom

 

Which is why new mono lines that are not level wound will have bumpy/lumpy feel to it... There's nothing wrong with them and you're just scaring the OP haha.

Also, I'm pretty sure BPS/Cabela's have a final sale on all fishing lines, at least the ones local to me do, so OP probably didn't buy a return either.

[EGbassing]

3 hours ago, Jcj90 said:

Cast a heavy lure and rewind the line back on if that doesn’t work their may be an issue with the reel. All I use is XL and big game 

There's nothing wrong with the reel; the actual line is just uneven. It's even on the spool.

[jbsoonerfan]

2 hours ago, EGbassing said:

There's nothing wrong with the reel; the line is just uneven.

Okay, now I am even more confused. Is the line uneven on the spool, or is the actual line bumpy? You have said both. I think many here are not sure what you are saying and you are getting mixed answers because we are thinking of something different.

[Lead Head]

Yeah, we are on the same page. Just do some knot testing at home. If the "bumpy" part of the line is getting 10lbs, roll with it. If not... I personally would replace it. 

[EGbassing]

17 minutes ago, jbsoonerfan said:

Okay, now I am even more confused. Is the line uneven on the spool, or is the actual line bumpy? You have said both. I think many here are not sure what you are saying and you are getting mixed answers because we are thinking of something different.

It's bumpy. It's not uneven on the spool.

[JustJames]

It would be a lot easier if you just snap a pic or two and show whatever you called it bumpy or uneven line. I’d bet it how you spool the line made it look bumpy not the line itself. If you don’t apply tension while spooling or hold line to just one side of course the line will not lay smooth and uneven. 

[WRB]

If the OP wound the line onto his reel incorrectly lots could go wrong, usually line twist.

How was the line wound onto your reel?

Tom

[EGbassing]

30 minutes ago, WRB said:

If the OP wound the line onto his reel incorrectly lots could go wrong, usually line twist.

How was the line wound onto your reel?

Tom

I always wind it with the line coming off the top of the reel so there's no line twist.

[jbsoonerfan]

4 minutes ago, EGbassing said:

I always wind it with the line coming off the top of the reel so there's no line twist.

Top of the reel? What in sam hill are we even talking about now? I think we have a lot of verbiage going on that we don't understand.

[WRB]

The top of the reel is probably top of line spool. Top could mean the label side of the filler spool or could be the top of the filler spool with a pencil through the center hole like wheel with the line comming off the top. ???

The most reliable way is the pencil through the center hole with the line comming off the top of the filler spool as it spins like a wheel, bait casting reels not laying flat.

So we are back to line twist as the line was spooled onto the reel.

Tom