Uneven line lay on ultralight reel

[voxborealis]

I read through a number of threads on the forum regarding line lay on spinning reels, but did not see my exact question. I just bought a Pflueger ultralight combo (President 20 spinning reel + 4'8" two piece rod rated 2-6#), mainly for fun. I want to play around with some really light baits, maybe even flies, for pan fish. I spooled it up with some 4# copolymer and it filled up really heavy to the bottom of the spool. I know the general advice in this case is to remove one of the line lay washers so the spool will go down farther, however...when I opened the reel, there is only one plastic washer. Looking at a schematic online, it is called the "click gear washer" and sits on top of the "click gear."

 

So, here is my probably dumb question. Is it OK to remove this washer? I am thinking no: this washer presumably has a function besides spacing.

 

I ordered the combo online and so I did not receive a reel box or further instructions or spare parts.

 

[MN Fisher]

9 minutes ago, voxborealis said:

I ordered the combo online and so I did not receive a reel box or further instructions or spare parts.

Pflueger doesn't send extra parts like spacing washers with their reels.

 

I'm assuming you're talking Part# 8 from the following schematic

 

You can try to find a thinner one at the local hardware store....or even remove it as a last resort. #9 is also a washer, so it's double washered at that point....but I'm not guaranteeing the function if #8 is removed entirely.

[F14A-B]

What’s up with the line lay? Did you overfill the spool?

41 minutes ago, voxborealis said:

I read through a number of threads on the forum regarding line lay on spinning reels, but did not see my exact question. I just bought a Pflueger ultralight combo (President 20 spinning reel + 4'8" two piece rod rated 2-6#), mainly for fun. I want to play around with some really light baits, maybe even flies, for pan fish. I spooled it up with some 4# copolymer and it filled up really heavy to the bottom of the spool. I know the general advice in this case is to remove one of the line lay washers so the spool will go down farther, however...when I opened the reel, there is only one plastic washer. Looking at a schematic online, it is called the "click gear washer" and sits on top of the "click gear."

 

So, here is my probably dumb question. Is it OK to remove this washer? I am thinking no: this washer presumably has a function besides spacing.

 

I ordered the combo online and so I did not receive a reel box or further instructions or spare parts.

 

There’s not going to be much if any line lay option on an ultra light reel. 

[voxborealis]

Here is a schematic of the exact reel that I found online and here is also a picture. The only washer is a fairly thick (white) plastic one, number 9 on the schematic (hard to read, I know). Everything from 1 to 8 is part of the drag system.

 

 

[bulldog1935]

To make this discussion intelligent, show us a photo of your line lay result.  

 

You should also consider stacking lines, thicker backing, and thinner working line.  

 

 

[voxborealis]

15 minutes ago, alonerankin2 said:

What’s up with the line lay? Did you overfill the spool?

There’s not going to be much if any line lay option on an ultra light reel. 

 

I probably overfilled a bit, but I don't think that is the whole story. And yeah, on this tiny reel there is not much to be done, I suspect. I'll play around with it some on the water and see how it performs. With UL, it is not like I will bombing casts!

9 minutes ago, bulldog1935 said:

If you're getting line-lay bias to the bottom of the spool, you need More washer thickness, not less.  

 

To make this discussion intelligent, show us a photo of your line lay result.  

 

You should also consider stacking lines, thicker backing, and thinner working line.  

 

 

Here is a photo. I thought that line lay bias at the bottom = remove washers, not add. 

 

Yes, I should have put backing--TBH, given the small capacity, I was lazy and just spooled up the 4# that I bought.

 

[bulldog1935]

that's not too bad, and would be really clean with backing.  

 

Not familiar with Pflueger reels, but Shimano reels come with a bag of two thicknesses of spool-shim washers.  

[MN Fisher]

Agree with Bulldog about the lay - while it is bottom biased, it's not terrible and definitely 'usable'. Given the shallowness of the 20 size reels (500 for everyone else) I doubt that backing would solve the issue.

 

@bulldog1935 - Pflueger never came with shim washers like the Shimanos do...occasionally you'd get soft-grips to go over the handles, but that was it.

 

Oh, and raising the spool (more washers) would make it worse...he'd want to lower the spool to even out the line lay

[voxborealis]

Thanks for the advice. I had a couple hours today to test run the set-up, landed a couple of blue gills and (surprisingly) a 2lb smallmouth on a trout magnet. So the combo is certainly working!

 

[VTFan]

I bought a 13 Fishing 2500 spinning reel and spooled it with 30 lb braid with a fluro leader and it loaded heavy to the front...towards the rod tip. It only had one plastic washer and I removed it and it spooled even and I've had no problems with it, including the drag.  Just my experience.

[Bazoo]

I'm not nearly as experienced as the others here, but it seems to me that when you spool without enough tension, you get that more than if spooled with tension. I've had cases after casting in the yard where there is little tension that a spool will be like that and making a long cast and winding the line with finger tension will result in an even spool.

[F14A-B]

I’m certain that reel isn’t known for superior line lay which Shimano's are known for. Even more so it’s an ultra light reel and an inexpensive one to boot. I’m sure it will be fine, I had a shimano 500 in 90 that loaded up that way, I could still bomb it with a 5’6” rod. Generally speaking, you get more when you pay more. 😉