Derek Gibson
Well-known member
How much line do you need on your reel. With the exception of extreme range fishing, do we really need more than one hundred yards of line for most forms of fishing.
''How much line''
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mikench
Well-known member
The answer to your second question is undoubtedly no. 100 meters must be all you really need and reels like the Drennen cater for this. In my experience( limited) line lay is much neater with reduced capacity spools.
I watched an old episode of Thinking Tackle the other night and saw the guest presenter cast a rig at least 100 plus meters to a far distant spot and then put his rod on the rest. He then walked around the lake to an adjacent bank and put in some ground bait in the spot he had cast to. This was a distance of 10 meters! How does that work! I think carp fisherman are crackers!
Reels holding 3 miles of line and weighing like a bag of spuds are all part of the image necessitating casting to infinity; all very impressive but largely unnecessary I would have thought!
I watched an old episode of Thinking Tackle the other night and saw the guest presenter cast a rig at least 100 plus meters to a far distant spot and then put his rod on the rest. He then walked around the lake to an adjacent bank and put in some ground bait in the spot he had cast to. This was a distance of 10 meters! How does that work! I think carp fisherman are crackers!
Reels holding 3 miles of line and weighing like a bag of spuds are all part of the image necessitating casting to infinity; all very impressive but largely unnecessary I would have thought!
Bob Hornegold
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50 yards on my Pins and replaced regularly, filled to the brim on the fixed spools, but half of that could be backing ?
Bob
Bob
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I usually need over a hundred yards on mine Bob as I often trott 90 to 100 yds. If i'm not trotting those very long trotts I still like to have more than enough line on my reel to allow for a breakage, removing lengths of damaged line etc etc.
Same on a fixed spool reel, even if fishing the margins, I always prefer to have more line on the spool than I actually need regardless of the distance i'm fishing.
sumtime
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I'd need a pair of binoculars for that distance.
some days it's easy to see the float at that range and on others it's impimpossible to se it at half that range (fishing the same run), it must be down to the light conditons on the day, and obviously the water surface. It's great hitting fish at those ranges .
sam vimes
Well-known member
Much depends on your fishing, but I'd say that most people wouldn't require much more than 100 yards of line. I often long trot with either pins or fixed spool reels. I invariably want at least 100 yards of line because of this. I also fish a big, deep, open, gravel pit. I often fish quite light for bits and encounter the odd decent fish when doing so. I'd prefer to have at least 100 yards for that too.
However, the reality is that I rarely see my backing, or get close to being spooled with a shallow spool, though it has happened, even with one of my bigger reels. It must be said, I don't really have any reels with disproportionately huge line capacities for their intended use. The ones I did have were weeded out long ago and I'm fairly careful when picking up new reels.
However, the reality is that I rarely see my backing, or get close to being spooled with a shallow spool, though it has happened, even with one of my bigger reels. It must be said, I don't really have any reels with disproportionately huge line capacities for their intended use. The ones I did have were weeded out long ago and I'm fairly careful when picking up new reels.
rayner
Well-known member
When I used to fish the Trent I preferred my centre pins, line on them was only 25mtr. If need be it didn't take more than a few mins to load new.
Fixed spool these days with only short 30mtr casts max I only load 50mtrs.
First job for me when buying a new reel is to my 50mtrs of line then fill the spool with fly backing line, then it's a case of transferring the full spool onto the spare spool. Every time I refill with new line all that's needed is to top up the spool and I know it's got my 50mtrs of line.
My collection of pins are just now ornaments on a shelf in my room, there's only me to see them but that's OK they are mine and only memory reminders.
Fixed spool these days with only short 30mtr casts max I only load 50mtrs.
First job for me when buying a new reel is to my 50mtrs of line then fill the spool with fly backing line, then it's a case of transferring the full spool onto the spare spool. Every time I refill with new line all that's needed is to top up the spool and I know it's got my 50mtrs of line.
My collection of pins are just now ornaments on a shelf in my room, there's only me to see them but that's OK they are mine and only memory reminders.
Bob Hornegold
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tigger,
You have to see where I'm fishing now, you could fit the pond in three time with 100 yards !!
If I'm trotting, as tigger said it would go up to 100 yds
Bob
lambert1
Well-known member
There are a lot of lines out there and 100m is a good way to test them out as some are quite expensive. I recently got a Drennan after discussing with others on this forum and with a generous 3 spools, it means I can give consideration to different makes, to see which suits me best. I wish I had Tigger's eyesight though
robtherake
Well-known member
Bulk line - even the good brands - is so cheap that it's not worth bothering with backing. For fixed-spool floatfishing, though, I like the superb line lay that a shallow match spool permits, with 100m of lines up to 5 or 6lbs.
All my reels are stored in the dark, BTW, and some lines (on the reels that only see occasional use) are 5 or more years old, get tested before each use and are still absolutely sound after all that time.
Although I accept that line release on a pin (for trotting) is better with a shorter length of line, the centrepins I use for margin work with heavy lines probably end up with closer to 100m. Why, I don't know, because if I'm honest, even on light gear I've never had a running fish take more than 40 or so yards of line, let alone on a 6ft long 3lb test margin rod and 15lb mono. Granted, I've never landed a carp bigger than the high teens, but that little outfit stops them in not much more than 10 yards.
All my reels are stored in the dark, BTW, and some lines (on the reels that only see occasional use) are 5 or more years old, get tested before each use and are still absolutely sound after all that time.
Although I accept that line release on a pin (for trotting) is better with a shorter length of line, the centrepins I use for margin work with heavy lines probably end up with closer to 100m. Why, I don't know, because if I'm honest, even on light gear I've never had a running fish take more than 40 or so yards of line, let alone on a 6ft long 3lb test margin rod and 15lb mono. Granted, I've never landed a carp bigger than the high teens, but that little outfit stops them in not much more than 10 yards.
steve2
Well-known member
I estimate that removed 300m of 3-4 lb line from a second hand Trudex I bought recently. He had just put new line on top of old.
Replaced it with 50m.
Replaced it with 50m.
rayner
Well-known member
My main reason for loading shorter than normal lines on my reels is I only make short casts and fish to a clip.
Thinking back I've only had a couple of brake offs because a fish has run to the clip refusing to stop. I buy bulk spools of Maxima for all my reels in 5lb and 6lb and they cope with everything I fish for. Hook lengths are all that changes from .12 up to .20 for feeder fishing.
Using just 50mtrs on my reels means I can comfortably change 4 times a year so my lines (all always) in top notch and I get 6 respools from a bulk spool.
edit
all always should obviously read are always.
Thinking back I've only had a couple of brake offs because a fish has run to the clip refusing to stop. I buy bulk spools of Maxima for all my reels in 5lb and 6lb and they cope with everything I fish for. Hook lengths are all that changes from .12 up to .20 for feeder fishing.
Using just 50mtrs on my reels means I can comfortably change 4 times a year so my lines (all always) in top notch and I get 6 respools from a bulk spool.
edit
all always should obviously read are always.
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Filled a Drennan FD 4000 with 100 yds of 5lb Maxima last week, went at the weekend and thought theres way too much line on this so I wound half of it back on my FD 3000 reel. Perfect.
Im only float fishing and casting a dizzy 5 yards most of the time. I think its just habit and not having such a full spool stops a lot of reel tangles.
On these points anyone getting a lot of reel tangles on the FD's ?
Im only float fishing and casting a dizzy 5 yards most of the time. I think its just habit and not having such a full spool stops a lot of reel tangles.
On these points anyone getting a lot of reel tangles on the FD's ?
mightyboosh
Well-known member
For normal coarse fishing, surely 50 metres is enough, maybe twice that for distance casting and three to four times that for extreme distance carp fishing.
As a lad fishing in the UK, I liked having a lot of line on my specimen reels just in case I hooked the big one! In reality, if a fish takes 100 metres of line in a freshwater environment, it's probably going to end up in a snag and you'll never see it anyway!
As a lad fishing in the UK, I liked having a lot of line on my specimen reels just in case I hooked the big one! In reality, if a fish takes 100 metres of line in a freshwater environment, it's probably going to end up in a snag and you'll never see it anyway!