Managing Your Line

If you go fishing regularly, it is best to put some effort to clean & maintain your fishing line so that it is in tip top condition when you hit your favourite spots on the next trip. Most anglers that I know of would rather discard their line & spool in new lines but for me, being an angler on a budget, I'd rather keep my lines in good condition.

Why do we need to clean our lines? Have you ever experienced holding a line & it feels sticky? That is because, fishing lines are tossed into all kinds of water conditions. Your lines are soaked in waters that could be greasy, oily & muddy. Over time, they tend to accumulate plenty of dirt & this will hamper your casting distance & accuracy. Dirty line would also damage your spool, guide rings & reel to a certain extent.

First thing to do is to de-spool your line onto a large plastic spool. Using a large spool makes stripping line much faster. By loading line onto a larger spool, it would also lessen the memory of mono lines which has been curled up onto a tiny spool on the reel. Sort of like straightening it a little.

Next is to boil up some hot water & adding some expired tea into it. Why use tea? This was taught to me by an old angler who reckons tea has properties to remove oil. Boil water, mix in a few tea bags & pour the content into a bucket. Make sure the water is not boiling hot or else you would damage any mono line/leader. Soak the spool for about 30 mins. The hot water (not boiling hot!) would also soften up any mono lines & straighten it a little.

Now that the line has been washed clean, it is time to re-spool onto the reel. Always remember to keep line tight when spooling. Use a piece of rag cloth to tighten the line with the assistance of another person or use your toes to hold it tight & reel it in slowly. Do it slowly so that you could observe the line if there are any parts that is frail or damaged, adjust the line entry so that you get an even laying. For braided line, it is imperative that the line is stacked tidy onto the spool. This will minimize birds nest & actually cast further.

Finished spooling! Nice tidy line. Gives me the confidence of knowing that my lines are stacked nicely, evenly, tidily when I cast. You won't know when the next trip comes, or a buddy calls at the last minute to go fishin. At least you know the reel is ready for action.

Check your leader & knots. Here I'm using an FG knot to join braid to mono leader. Check your connections to the swivel too. Make sure you have confidence with it, or else, tie it again. That's all folks. Happy fishing!

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