Stocking Stuffer Despooler

[kyreels]

I would wager that every Reel Talk member has some kind of process to remove fishing line from reels. It is one of the most tedious parts of our hobby. I have not always removed line in the past, but the more reels we see with corrosion on the spool spindle, the more I want to remove it on every reel. I have built some jigs to do this with a power drill, but my various attempts using wood spools and different steel drill parts (like a reamer) worked only so-so. Better than manually stripping, but not nifty.



I recently ran across this commercial item on Amazon from KastKing, and it looked like it would fit the bill. I am pleased at how it works. If you have built some jigs yourself, you probably know that the cylinder needs to be conical or sloped so that the line can easily be removed. Also, you need some kind of removable plate that will hold the line when unspooling and can be easily removed to store or recycle the line. This one works great and is recommended.




What do you use? Anyone made an interesting device?

[Eric J]

Brilliant! I think old lines (silk not nylon) look good on old reels, but like you I want to see if the spindle is ok. I’ll unspool with another reel, clean the spool, then put it back. A real pain. I like this idea. Thanks!

[RonG]

I like your design Matt.

[Paul Roberts]

Nifty.

[mark bumgarner]

Like Eric, I spool onto another reel, clean spool then respool old nylon but I can see this being a big help taking line off my regularly used reels! Love time and labor saving gadgets!

[leland99]

My method is to put the reel in my right hand, disengage the reel, grab the line with my left hand, and then spread my arms to pull the line off the reel. Next, bring my hands together, grab the line again with my left hand, and then spread my arms again. Repeat until all line is removed from the spool. Then I spend five more minutes gathering old line off the floor. It's slow, but I figure I get some exercise while working on a reel. But now I have to say, that orange cone thingy has caught my eye!!

[Jason]

That's a great idea. I've sold some of my old lines on ebay and was surprised how much interest there was. Since then I've been saving some but they always end up in a tangled mess. Today I made these little spools on the 3d printer that just need a 1/4-20 bolt as the arbor. Now I'm making some narrow spools to hold fly lines and backing. If I want to throw the line away, I can take one of the sides off and the line will slide off into the trash.

[kyreels]

It's slow, but I figure I get some exercise while working on a reel.

Agree, but when you have 5-10 reels you want to sell the manual method is too slow.

I made these little spools on the 3d printer that just need a 1/4-20 bolt as the arbor.

Those are very cool. Wish I had a dozen of those in various sizes. Over the years, I have thrown away too many valuable lines. The advantage of the plastic spools is that you could indeed keep a few of the more interesting lines. Good idea. Did you find the pattern online or did you just design it yourself?

[Jason]

I originally designed these as spare ATH spools to be turned in aluminum but modified them to accept a bolt. I'll send you some next week.

[Steve]

I use a variation of Bryce's method, holding the reel in my left hand and stripping line with my right. Whether to keep it or not depends mostly on the degree of rot and how bad it smells. One improvement I made in the procedure is to drop the line directly into a wastebasket, thereby eliminating the lumbar agony of having to pick it off the floor.