How Often Do You Change Line?

[J Francho]

FWIW, I've noticed another benefit to KVD L+L, it really seems to help braid keep its color.

I've touted this for years, but it seems to fall on deaf ears. Good point!

[Hyrule Bass]

Wow, some of you really seem to love to WASTE line, then probably complain about the price of it later on. Ive had mono on some of my reels for 4 years and its still as good as new. Line doesnt just all of a sudden go bad the minute you spool it up. it doesnt go bad because its been used a few times. i refuse to respool a reel because a few feet of line got ran over some rocks, or just because it got wet. cut off the abrased portion of line and keep on moving. when the spool gets low then i change line, or if a certain line isnt working too great on a reel, ill change the line. or if i just really want to try some new line ive never tried before. yeah then i will waste a bit of line. i've never had my line dry rot or fade from use or even being spooled up over several years(stored inside). i just think its ridiculous to change lines every two trips, even if youve caught nothing or caught something. But hey, its your money. As for me, most sizes of mono i have, ive had spools of for 3-5 years and there is nothing wrong with them, ive rarely bought line in the last 3 years. and havent had a fish break my line since i hooked a 40+lb flathead on 8lb mono 5-6 years ago

[B@ssCrzy]

Wow, some of you really seem to love to WASTE line, then probably complain about the price of it later on. Ive had mono on some of my reels for 4 years and its still as good as new. Line doesnt just all of a sudden go bad the minute you spool it up. it doesnt go bad because its been used a few times. i refuse to respool a reel because a few feet of line got ran over some rocks, or just because it got wet. cut off the abrased portion of line and keep on moving. when the spool gets low then i change line, or if a certain line isnt working too great on a reel, ill change the line. or if i just really want to try some new line ive never tried before. yeah then i will waste a bit of line. i've never had my line dry rot or fade from use or even being spooled up over several years(stored inside). i just think its ridiculous to change lines every two trips, even if youve caught nothing or caught something. But hey, its your money. As for me, most sizes of mono i have, ive had spools of for 3-5 years and there is nothing wrong with them, ive rarely bought line in the last 3 years. and havent had a fish break my line since i hooked a 40+lb flathead on 8lb mono 5-6 years ago

I agree with you that I don't see a need to change mono line every two weeks, but I have also seen line that is 3-4 years old be much weaker than newer line. 8-9 years ago my wife and I were fishing on a sunken island when we came into a school of 3-4 lb smallmouth. I hooked 3 with no breakoffs, and she hooked 3 but only brought in 1 and had two break-offs. The only difference was that I had just re-spooled. Drag was set light after the first breakoff and still broke another one off. After that I make sure every spring to re-spool. To me it's not worth risking a fish of a life time for $10-$20 per year.

[POPRG]

And you don't have to strip off the entire spool..leave it 1/3-1/2 full and just re-spool when it gets low.

[NCLifetimer]

I use backer and about 50-60 yards of flouro on top on most of my rigs. The top line gets changed whenever it gets low to the point where casting is affected, or i start casting out the backer. Usually about 2 months with the occassion backlash/hang factored in.

[SirSnookalot]

but I have also seen line that is 3-4 years old be much weaker than newer line.

I needed to respool a convention offshore reel, all I had at home was a 595 yd spool of 25# big game, sitting in my hot Florida garage for 5-6 years. I was hesitant, but the line has been just fine, many cobia caught.

No set pattern to my everyday reels, they all have braid and I never use backing. I've added a bit of line to my freshwater reels every 3-4 months, my saltwater reels get a complete respool when needed. Some combos require a respool much more often, those would be ones where I'm using spoons, fishing over rocks and coral and beaches, certain species are rougher on line too. The combos that are fished in more open water last a good deal time. Offshore, you never know, the line holds up, but I've been spooled about 5 times in the last 2 months.

[BASS-Master01]

I change it to much. In tournaments I changed it every time I went out. Most of the time if I'm fishing a lot I change about every 3 to 4 weeks.

[Triton21]

When I was tournament fishing I re-spooled the night before the tournament, if it was a 2 or 3 day tournament I re-spooled the night before every day fishing. New line is cheap compared to losing a lunker that would put in me in 1st place. If fun fishing or pre-fishing I don't re-spool until necessary.

Kelley

[POPRG]

No set pattern to my everyday reels, they all have braid and I never use backing.

Hey SirSnookalot,

How do you keep the all braid reels from not spinning around the spool arbor? Just wondering because i did that once in my "early braid days" and thought i bought a defective reel!

The line would keep spinning on the spool every time i set up on a fish, and i thought i had a busted drag..i always run at least a few turns of backing/mono on my fresh & saltwater reels.

[SirSnookalot]

I have never experienced braided line from spinning around the spool, when I read that other people do I'm in bewilderment, it just shouldn't happen. This is the wrong way but I'm mentioning it because I had no problem. I have $30 shakespere for my grandson, I was using it myself the other day and I noticed I just tied the braid to the spool with zero problems, I may have been lucky but the line has been on there a long time and it's fine.

The right way is either using backing or tape on the spool, then tie your knot over the tape, it will not slip. If it does slip you need a better tied knot or a different kind of knot as it is not cinching tight. I use masking tape, some use electrical tape, electrical tape is easier than masking to remove from the spool. I posted a video on how to spool up a spinning reel a few days ago, I'll post it again. This is a very easy video to follow, I think it is explained well too. I use braid all the way, but really for most freshwater fishing it really isn't needed, you aren't using that much line.