Why so much line?

[billmac]

This is going to sound like a silly question, but why do so many reels hold so much line?  Are most fishermen using the inside 150 yards of a 250 yard spool of line?

[punch]

No haha...that's why I've started using cheap mono backing on most of my setups that use fluorocarbon. Save some money. 

[Hawkeye21]

You must not have ever used up that much line before.  Doesn't take too long after a few break offs when you have a long cast.  If you use the one real a lot and for a lot of different lures you're going to be cutting off a decent amount when retying.  Anytime you get a cut or fray in your line you should be getting rid of that section.

 

Basically, if you get out fishing enough you're going to go through a decent amount of line on a reel.

[PersicoTrotaVA]

Re tying takes a lot of line. Also I don’t like to re spool a lot so I’ll load my spool up, I keep my rods inside in the dark so I don’t worry about degradation. A spool will last me a whole fishing year. 

[billmac]

Doesn't the casting performance of a reel degrade as the spool gets emptier?

[Black Hawk Basser]

You're right, casting distance does decrease when the spool is low.  That's why I use cheap mono for backing and fill the last 75 yards or so with the good stuff.

[jbsoonerfan]

None of my reels hold 250 yards. I'm putting about 110 yards on them. If I fish with one for very long and land a number of fish I like to cut off about 20 ft or so and retie. Depending on how often I do this I can get down pretty low sometimes. When I get pretty low I will strip off and respool. Line is pretty cheap (the stuff I use) so I don't mind respooling a few times a year if need be. I would not be respooling very oten if I was using Tatsu or something like that.

[Jrob78]

18 minutes ago, billmac said:

Doesn't the casting performance of a reel degrade as the spool gets emptier?

The amount of line you take in while reeling also goes down as your spool gets lower.

[The Maestro]

Any "general purpose" reel that the average casual angler might buy would be made to hold enough line to be able to use it for trolling.  I guess the manufacturers err on the safe side and just make most of their reels like this.  When you get into the high-end/specialized reels is when you start to see shallow/smaller spools.

 

A simple solution is to use cheap backing, effectively reducing the spool capacity.

[jimmyjoe]

   1) Most don't. The line capacity of most reels is .... ahem .... optimistic. In other words, it's just advertising. Take your line and actually measure the yardage, then look at the diameter. Compare it to what the mfr lists. Yeah.

   2) Many fishermen occasionally hit into a big, tough fish. Maybe a carp, maybe a cat. The extra line is there to fight them and tire them out. If you think bass fight, light into a steelhead sometime.

   3) Some people put on higher diameter line than the size that is listed. You need extra capacity for that.   jj

[Log Catcher]

I do about the same thing @jbsoonerfan does. I will cut some some line off and retie after a while fishing. If nothing else I cut off 5' to 10' of  line after every trip. I remove all of my baits when I quit fishing so it's not a big deal. I might respool with new line 2 or 3 times a season once I get down close to my filler line.

[FryDog62]

I had a Lew’s Spinning reel once that came with like a very thick rubber band made to the width of the spool. You put that on instead of backing.  Takes up room, never slips... perfect. Wish those were more common..

[Ksam1234]

One word ! BACKLASH! Having enough line let’s you backlash properly so you can angerly cut all the line until the backlash is out and retie with confidence hah ??

[kenmitch]

2 minutes ago, Ksam1234 said:

One word ! BACKLASH! Having enough line let’s you backlash properly so you can angerly cut all the line until the backlash is out and retie with confidence hah ??

lol....Let's not forget the occasional loop knots that are created during the almost successful backlash removal. Nothing worse than picking out the backlash and creating a loop knot during the reeling back in process when we're in a hurry to cast back out.

[billmac]

Yeah, I'm sorry to say I've had, occasionally, to cut out a big chunk of line to get a backlash out.  It's funny, since I was out of fishing for a decade or so, I figured baitcasters would have progressed to be almost backlash-proof.  Evidently not.

 

[The Maestro]

1 minute ago, billmac said:

Yeah, I'm sorry to say I've had, occasionally, to cut out a big chunk of line to get a backlash out.  It's funny, since I was out of fishing for a decade or so, I figured baitcasters would have progressed to be almost backlash-proof.  Evidently not.

 

Did you ever try using a baitcaster from the late 80's - early 90's? Those were truly a nightmare compared to today's.

[billmac]

I bought my first baitcaster in the 80s, a Daiwa Millionaire.  I became very proficient with it and fell in love with baitcasters, and became even more disdainful of spinning reels.  But yeah, I had some epic backlashes.

 

** Come to think of it, I may have bought it in the late 70s.  Is that possible? Have they been around that long?

[S Hovanec]

My favorite reel is a JDM Shimano with a shallow spool.  10 yards of backing and 50 yards of braid and it's absolutely full.  For the type of fishing I do, any more is a waste.  Every couple years, I flip the line on the spool and get a couple more years out of the untouched line.

[Allen Der]

3 hours ago, FryDog62 said:

I had a Lew’s Spinning reel once that came with like a very thick rubber band made to the width of the spool. You put that on instead of backing.  Takes up room, never slips... perfect. Wish those were more common..

Pretty sure all pflueger spinning reels come with a braid ready spool now.  I still usually use mono backing to save money

[basshtx]

In the south we need that much line fishing in the gulf. A red drum or a jack cravelle would spool a small reel. I honestly don't see a bass setup needing anymore than 80-100yards of line.

[nascar2428]

Wonder if it has anything to do with profits? Most of the reel manufacturers also sell line. Daiwa sells J-braid, Shimano has Power Pro and Pure Fishing(Abu Garcia, Pfluger, Mitchell) have Berkley, Stren and Spiderwire. Just some food for thought.

[flyfisher]

i would venture a guess that spool machining is cheaper on higher capacity spools as less material is used.  

[CrankFate]

The USDM has yet to see the light and wants to be prepared for the possibility that they’re going to hook into something that is so huge it will force them to spend the rest of their lives living in shame after getting spooled.

[mrpao]

I never understood why most spool hold so much line either. Especially for bass. I understand for saltwater and bigger fish but bass reels hardly need more than 100 feet of line. 

I mainly bass fish, so big deep spools do me little good. Too me it's just a waste of line.

If I need to fish for bigger species, I have bigger reels for those.

Then again, I'm not into the super shallow JDM BFS spools either.

[Catt]

On 4/17/2019 at 2:02 PM, billmac said:

This is going to sound like a silly question, but why do so many reels hold so much line? 

 

Because fisherman have placed bass on a pedestal they don't deserve to be on!

 

Personally I don't own a 200 series reel because I don't want the line capacity or the additional weight.