Uneven Spooling on Spinning Reel

[fin]

 

Any ideas on what is causing this? 20# braid with 10# mono leader. I let out all the line and rewound it 3-4 times, keeping line tight the whole time. I tried holding rod straight up one time, and pointing rod at the line one time. It comes out the same every time no matter what I do. Looks good at first as I start to rewind it, but towards the end it piles up towards the front.

 

You can see my leader knot right at the front edge, and when it ends up there, the line gets hung on it and won’t come off the spool. I could shorten my leader to less than the length from the tip of the rod to the spool, or I could trim the tag a little closer, but I wouldn’t have to do either of those if it was spooling right.

 

I read something about adding/removing washers? Is that the problem here?

 

This is cheap braid - that stuff marketed for catfishing. I’ll never buy that junk again. All kinds of problems with it.

[MN Fisher]

Looks like the spool sits too low - put a shim washer under it...not in the drag-stack, under the spool itself.

[fin]

6 minutes ago, MN Fisher said:

Looks like the spool sits too low - put a shim washer under it...not in the drag-stack, under the spool itself.

Like one of those plastic or nylon or whatever they are? I could take one out of an old reel.

[MN Fisher]

Just now, fin said:

Like one of those plastic or nylon or whatever they are? I could take one out of an old reel.

Yep - that'll work...or just stop into the local hardware store for a new one.

[cyclops2]

Is there a bulky plastic piece of filler under that line ? How many casting trips... Fishing days does the reel have ? Back off all the drag. Try to rock the spool in all directions. Does it have ANY loosness ?

[fin]

5 minutes ago, cyclops2 said:

Is there a bulky plastic piece of filler under that line ?

Nope.

5 minutes ago, cyclops2 said:

How many casting trips... Fishing days does the reel have ?

Probably like 600 or so.

6 minutes ago, cyclops2 said:

Back off all the drag. Try to rock the spool in all directions. Does it have ANY loosness ?

Well yeah, but wouldn't any reel have looseness if you back off the drag all the way?

 

 

[cyclops2]

In and out sliding of the spool is not wear. Normal due to drag being loose.

 

I am after up & down....Left and right .  Looseness  

 

DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

 

How old & how long has this been building up ?

[fin]

2 hours ago, cyclops2 said:

In and out sliding of the spool is not wear. Normal due to drag being loose.

 

I am after up & down....Left and right .  Looseness  

 

DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

 

How old & how long has this been building up ?

No side to side wobble.

 

I haven't been paying close attention to how it was spooled, I just noticed it when I started having problems with the knot catching. It may have been like that for a long time.

 

I'll try the washer tomorrow and see if that does the trick.

[Reel]

I don't know what brand of reel you have but if it's a Shimano spinning reel, there are little round shims in the box to help you get an even winding line if need be. 

[RDB]

I agree with the answers above…it has to do with spool travel and spending too much time down.  You may be able to use a shim from an old reel.  You don’t need to wait for warm weather.  Get an old spool and a drill to remove your line, then re-spool.

[thediscochef]

3 hours ago, fin said:

It is a Daiwa, but I don't think it has ABS. It's a 2500D-XH Regal LT. It's been a great reel. Casts a mile, even with the junk braid I have on it.

 

The way the line is spooled on that reel is a little different. You can see a gap at the bottom, and I'm not seeing that on mine.

 

Why do you prefer the spooling on the one on the left? I guess for the reasons mentioned in the ad?

 

I'm just waiting for it to warm up enough to get out there and try the shim.

 

I have 3 of the regal 3000cxh and a 2500xh. they do have the ABS spool shape.Your reel looks just like mine. The line is supposed to cross itself on the spool - it keeps you from getting a tension snag if you snap your line. The tapered wind pattern keeps you from getting knots in the guides during casting. You may want to remove some line, maaaaybe add one small spool shim, and you'll be fine. Don't worry about it all going on straight, it's not supposed to be that way on daiwa reels. All mine look like that.

[JustJames]

17 hours ago, fin said:

 

You can see my leader knot right at the front edge, and when it ends up there, the line gets hung on it and won’t come off the spool. I could shorten my leader to less than the length from the tip of the rod to the spool, or I could trim the tag a little closer, but I wouldn’t have to do either of those if it was spooling right.I

 

This might be another problem. Daiwa have cross-wrap technology meaning line lay in spool crossing each other. Your connection knot might be in a way on some cast? 

[cyclops2]

I never allow any knots to reach any spool or tip guide .  August and I sometimes add a SHORT length of clear 4 # leader. The splice knot is always left outside of the top guide. Stops any type of problem on the spool. By August ALL fish are well fed & harder to catch on a BARE LURE.  Early morning & after sundown days.

[bulldog1935]

This ebay search found a long list - see if any part numbers match your reel schematic parts list. 

 

This is the shim washer stack on a big Tica surf reel (who also make many Daiwa reels)

[fin]

2 hours ago, thediscochef said:

You may want to remove some line, maaaaybe add one small spool shim, and you'll be fine. Don't worry about it all going on straight, it's not supposed to be that way on daiwa reels.

Yeah, removing some line to get the knot down below the edge was another thing I was thinking about, but I kind of hate to remove some of the length. I will though, if the shim I put in there doesn't work. Heading out to try it now.

[bulldog1935]

The best way to shim is start from scratch - using the shallow surf braid spool as example. 

You shim and start over until 5 or 10 wraps gives you even distribution on the spool length - not crowding top or bottom of the spool. 

 

This is 300 yds of 35-lb X-braid (PE#1.5)

 

Every time I load a new Shimano spool, I have to shim the reel - the Shimano shim washers compress pretty quickly. 

Tica and Daiwa both use larger diameter shims, which compress slower. 

[cyclops2]

Fantastic photos of the line on the spool !!!!!  It really shows someone tried to get more EFFICIENT casting unwinding. Bigger at the back smaller at the front. Less dragging FRICTION  across the fully loaded  spool as the line is being pulled out.

 

My old 300 reels have never needed centering shims or bail arm bending. 

[mrpao]

I have found that with just about all of my daiwa reels need a shim or two for even line lay. It's pretty much automatic now- whenever I get a new daiwa spinning reel, I go ahead and add a shim before I put any line on it.

Usually when my shimano spinning reels, no shims are ever needed. Every once I awhile i will have to add a shim to a shimano, but its not common.

[fin]

I took a washer (shim?) off an old Shimano reel that is worn out. It was like paper-thin and didn't make any visual difference in the way it spooled. If that is the solution, I'm going to have to use a thicker washer.

 

I watched as I turned the handle very slowly and the line wrapped around the spool. It's going all the way to the top and bottom.

 

It was still catching on the knot, so I trimmed the mono tag down to nothing, which solved the catching problem, but I don't think that's a good long term habit to get into. I like to have a little insurance in case my knot is not 100% tight.

 

I think I'll try a thicker washer, and if that doesn't work, I'll trim a few feet off the braid.

[gim]

How did you originally put the line on the spool? Perhaps you initially applied it unevenly, which would cause continued uneven spooling from that point forward.

[Delaware Valley Tackle]

The first answer from MN fisher is all you need

 

[MN Fisher]

5 hours ago, fin said:

I watched as I turned the handle very slowly and the line wrapped around the spool. It's going all the way to the top and bottom.

Did it seem to hesitate at the top where-as when it hit bottom it immediately started traveling up again? It can be subtle, but that's a sign that a shim is needed.

 

5 hours ago, fin said:

It was still catching on the knot, so I trimmed the mono tag down to nothing, which solved the catching problem, but I don't think that's a good long term habit to get into. I like to have a little insurance in case my knot is not 100% tight.

What knot are you using?

[PressuredFishing]

Have had this issue with chinesium spinning reels from KK and piscifun, sent them back for full refunds, wish I could help but I'm lost as well

[fin]

11 hours ago, Delaware Valley Tackle said:

The first answer from MN fisher is all you need

Maybe, but I welcome all the comments. Honestly, I was surprised to get so many replies. I was also surprised that this issue hasn't come up much before. I did a search and almost all were related to baitcasters.

 

11 hours ago, MN Fisher said:

Did it seem to hesitate at the top where-as when it hit bottom it immediately started traveling up again? It can be subtle, but that's a sign that a shim is needed.

Yep. It wrapped several times right at the top, but at the bottom, not even once.

 

11 hours ago, MN Fisher said:

What knot are you using?

Alberto. I know there are 'better' knots, but I ain't changin'.

 

15 hours ago, gimruis said:

How did you originally put the line on the spool? Perhaps you initially applied it unevenly, which would cause continued uneven spooling from that point forward.

I've let all the line out and rewound many times over the past couple days.

[MN Fisher]

27 minutes ago, fin said:

Yep. It wrapped several times right at the top, but at the bottom, not even once.

Yep - shim needed...that's a classic sign.

 

27 minutes ago, fin said:

Alberto. I know there are 'better' knots, but I ain't changin'.

While I have a preference for the FG - the Alberto and Albright are also good leader knots.

 

Put a drop of super-glue on the knot then trim the tag as close as possible...that'll help.