DIY Guide: How to Build Your Own Line Spooler
December 2021
Fishing line is the most important component of an anglers success. Worn or bad line are often the reason anglers lose big fish. It is important to properly spool your fishing line to the reel. Our article Choosing the Best Braid Fishing Line covers this topic and how to assure you have the line evenly spooled for maximum casting distance.
Why build a line spooler, can’t I just spool the line as it comes from the manufacturer? Well, you could but a line spooler allows you to be more consistent in the tension while winding on new line which will minimize twisting and maximize casting distance. This project can also function as a despooler which is awesome to quickly and easily remove old fishing line for recycling. The despooler function is a life saver especially when removing line from high capacity saltwater reels.
Project Components
The following list has the basic parts and links to related items at Home Depot, but you can find these pieces anywhere and often might have them in your workshop already.
- ½” wood boards
- 6” x 5” side panel
- 12” x 5” bottom panel
- 8” x ½” inch eye bolt
- 4 – fender washers ½”
- 1 – ½” nut (typically comes with the eye bolt)
- 1 – ½” wing nut
- 1 small spring minimum ½” center
- 2 – small wood screws
- 1 nylon spacer (optional)
- 1 C-clamp or screw down to work bench (optional)
- Regular pencil or small wood dowel (despooler)
- Electrical tape (despooler)
The price for the various components should be less than $10.
The Build Process
Tools needed:
- Wood saw
- Sandpaper
- Drill with ½” bit and 1/8” bit (for building the project and despooling)
- Bench Vise (optional)
The steps to complete this project are as follows:
- Cut the wood boards into the sizes as described above
- Drill 1/8” holes for the screws as shown below (through the side panel and into the base panel)
- Drill the ½” hole 1.5 inches from the top of the side panel and in the center
- Bend one of the fender washers to add a curve
- Use wood screws to attach the side panel to the base
- Assemble the spindle (left to right see pictures below)
- Insert the eye bold from the left outside of the panel
- Thread the bent fender washer over the bolt
- Optional – thread the nylon spacer
- Thread the fishing line spool
- Insert 2 fender washers
- Insert the spring
- Insert the last fender washer
- Insert the nut
- Insert the wing nut
How to Use the Spooler
- You might have to clamp (or screw) the line spooler to the workbench to keep it stable.
- To run the spooler, first adjust the line tension. The nut and wing nut should be set at a medium level of tension, but not too tight that the spool will not spin easily.
- Tie the end of the fishing line to your reel and begin reeling the line under tension. You might have to adjust the tension if it is not spooling smoothly.
- If you notice a lot of line twist you can remove the line spool and flip it 90 degrees and try again.
Convert Spooler to Despooler
The line spooler can be easily converted to supply de-spooling functionality. Here is how to do this:
- Create a despooler line adapter
- Cut a small wooden dowel or I used a pencil about 3” long
- Wrap one end of the dowel/pencil with electrical tape just large enough to fit in the center of the line spool you are using. Spools are not consistent so this might have to be resized for different spools.
- Remove all components to the right side of the spool. You want to be able to access the center hole in the line spool itself.
- Slide the spool so that it is halfway on the eye bolt and halfway free
How to Use the DeSpooler
- Insert the spindle into the open end of the line spool
- Put the drill into reverse
- Run the drill slowly at first and pick up speed to medium to remove the line. Be careful as the spool can catch and jump a bit, so it is best not to go too fast.
SUMMARY
Old fishing line can be a long term hazard to fish and wildlife. Please see our article How to Select the Best Fishing Line for tips on choosing a line and also how to safely dispose of used fishing line.
This is my second, do it yourself, project article and I will certainly post more soon. If you have any suggestions or projects that you are proud of, please share them. You can contact me by email at [email protected].
Tight lines … Captain P.