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Do Fishing Reels Come with Line?

The most important element of your fishing equipment is the fishing line. Even in a survival situation, to catch a fish, all you would need a fishing line & hook. Let’s get an in-depth look at the fishing line and its properties.

Do fishing reels come with line?

No, fishing reels don’t come with a fishing line. One might find fishing reels and rod combinations available on the market, but neither the rod nor the fishing reels will come with pre-attached fishing lines. There are various kinds of lines manufactured focussing on different styles of fishing.

It’s very rare to find a fishing line pre-attached to a reel. You can choose your line according to your preferences and budget. It’s a good practice to not make dedicated lines for specific fishing reels.

How much line to put on a reel?

To know the exact amount of line to put on your fishing reel, all you need is some basic calculation. 

Getting the data

On most reel manufacturer’s web pages, you can find the specifications chart for each of the reels. They make this chart to provide specific information for each size of that particular reel model. However, the important information for this purpose is line per handle turn and line capacity

Once you have located your reel and size, write down the corresponding values and units for line per handle turn and line capacity. 

Converting the units

Next, you want to convert the line capacity into the same units as the line per handle turn. You can do this with the help of a unit converting app or typing the desired conversion into Google. 

Calculation

Now that both values are in the same units. You can properly divide the line capacity by the line per handle turn to obtain the number of handles turns required to spool on that exact amount of line, and that’s it. 

So let’s say you have a reel; you go to the manufacturer’s website and see that your reel model is rated to hold 120 yards of 10-pound line, and it retrieves 35 inches of line per crank. Now convert 120 yards to inches, which gives me 4320 inches.

Then divide 4320 by 35, and you will get  123.4 or round up to 124 handle turns to spool 120 yards of the 10-pound line on the reel. 

This is a great thing to know because it allows you to keep track of exactly how much line you are spooling onto your reels. It will also help solve the guessing game problem that fishermen have gone on enduring for so many years.

How to put fishing line on a closed reel?

To put a fishing line on a closed reel, you can follow 3 simple steps 

Remove the nose cone

The first thing you need to do is remove the nose cone.  Just turn it clockwise & the nose cone will come right off. Now you’ve exposed the spool.

Now one thing important to remember on a closed reel or a spin cast reel noticed pick-up pins. Always look for a reel that has a dual pick-up pin. 

Getting it lined up

Once the nose cone is off, you are ready to put on the new line. You will need to just take a little bit of line.  It’s always best to spool a reel when it’s on a rod; It gives you something to hold onto. 

Run the line through the first guide just to begin, and then run the line through the nose cone hole. That’s a good way to get good direction. 

Its spooling time

To attach the reel, you can just tie a very simple overhand knot & a slipknot. Now you will have a  big loop which Is going to just slide over the top of the spool, and you are going to pull that down. Now put the nose cone back on. 

You are ready to start spoiling the line. Now, you would need tension; If you don’t have tension on the spool or the line, it’s gonna be quite time-consuming. You can kind of pinch that line between your fingers and start the spooling. Don’t overfill the reel.

How to put fishing line on a baitcasting reel?

Getting the loop

You want to take your line and put it through the eyelet on the rod. Go all the way down, and when you go to put it on the reel, look for a little slot or hole. The line should feed through there.

You can either take the line and loop it around down below it, it’s a little harder to do.  Instead, you can go ahead and stick the line in one of the holes.

Most bait casters have these little holes on the body. Another alternative is you can just tear a piece of tape and stick it on there.  Now spin the reel; you would have your line all the way through ready for looping. Tie a knot, and you are all set for spooling.

Spool it correctly

If your line is too slippery, you can always put a tape on the reel; it will give the necessary friction for the line to stay in one place. Now while spooling, try to keep as much tension on the line as possible. It will surely give an efficient spooling experience.

Well, after you’re done spooling the line on, don’t forget that you have to leave a little gap right at the end there. Now you just need to attach a hook and bait at the end of the line and get into the water.

How to put monofilament line on a spinning reel?

Preparing the line

First, you would need a bucket full of soapy water. Put your monofilament line on the bucket and let it soak for a bit. Keep the line soaked and pick one end of the line on your hand. Put the line through the eyelet of the fishing rod.

Tying the knot

Now tie a surgeon’s loop at the end, it’s simple, and get the job done. For getting a better experience, you can use an arbor knot. With an arbor knot, you won’t have to worry about losing your line. Get the proper loop out of your line and put it on the spool.

Spool it, don’t overdo it

To get the line to grip the spool, put it on backward. Be gentle and steady while spinning the reel. To check if the line is going on straight or not, pull a little bit of line out of the water and slack in it. If it doesn’t coil up, then it’s going on straight. 

If you ask how far should you go to the edge? Then it’s recommended to go between casting distance and lack of tangles. You really want your line to just shy of the rim. If you fill your line all the way to the rim, it will increase the risk of tangles. And now you are ready for fishing.

How to put braided line on a spinning reel?

If you’re putting on mono or Fluorocarbon, you have to worry about line twists, but the beauty of braided lines is you don’t have to worry about line twists. So it doesn’t really matter how it comes off the spool. It doesn’t really matter which direction you lay the line flat or stand it up vertically.

To spool braid onto your spinning reels. This is actually a very simple process to spool it on.

Understanding the braided line characteristics

You need to know that the braided line tends to slip, and it does not grip into your spool.  The Braid line will not grip into the reel grooves the way mono or fluorocarbon will. So you have to find a way to attach it.

So there’s a couple of different methods that people use. The most popular one is by first spooling mono around the spool and just kind of putting a little layer of mono on there and then attaching your braids. It will work just fine.

You can use electrical tape. Shave off the edge of your electrical tape, make sure the slice actually fits on your spool.  The most that you probably need to wrap around is two wraps. Now you are all set to attach the fishing line.

Select your knot

All you need to do is wrap the line around the spool. You could tie a tight arbor knot or overhand knots. I highly recommend using a uni knot.  It’s easy, and it also works fine for attaching a line to a reel.

Do fishing rods come with a line?

No, fishing rods don’t come with a fishing line. You will find a good quality fishing rod available on the market but you might have to buy both the line & the reel separately.

This is actually a good thing as you can customize your fishing equipment according to your preferences.

Are fishing lines expensive?

The fishing line price will vary depending on the fishing style you choose. You might find a fishing line at only $1 or you can buy an expensive one at $500. However, you can find a decent quality line in the $20 to $50 price range.

How much does fishing line cost?

It’s gonna cost you up to 30 to 75 cents per yard on both fluorocarbon & monofilament fishing lines. On a braided line, it will cost you up to 5 to 18 cents per yard.

How often should you replace fishing line?

Let’s consider three different scenarios where you might change your line more often or less often depending on how you are fishing. 

So the first scenario, you go out fishing on your weekend, three to four times a month sometimes more sometimes less. In this case, the braided line should last about a year and your mono should last about six months before you want to change it out. Now, this isn’t a rule that is set in stone, you should still be looking at your line condition. 

Next scenario where you’re fishing in the tournament, where there’s a lot of money on the line. And this is a great time to be buying multiple lines. you’re going to be wanting to change your line out more often. 

The next case is you on a charter boat and you’re fishing a lot more than the average person. In this case, you would be changing your monofilament line every three months and braided line every 6 months. Exposure to sunlight affects monofilament longevity. 

What size line for spinning reel?

When It comes to finding the best

line size to your spinning reel, you can rely on these numbers

  • For thousands size reels, you can attach a 3lb of mono or 5lb of braided line.
  • For two thousand size reel, it’s best to go with 6 lb of mono or  6 to 9 lb of braided line
  • For a three thousand size reel going with 7lb of mono or 7 to 15lb of braided line is recommended.
  • For a four thousand size reel, you can rely on 8lb of mono or 10 to 20lb of braided line.
  • For a five thousand size reel, it’s better to go with an 11 to 14lb of mono or 11 to 24 lb of braided line.

I hope you got the proper gist about the fishing line, which one to pick, the cost, and other information. All the best, wish you a great fishing experience.

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