Why didn’t we think of that? Photos: Mike Sanders.
Today we present you with a super simple, yet super useful tip shown to us by long time Deneki pal, Michael Gracie.. When changing out fly lines (or storing them for the off-season), use the fly line spool as a line winder!
It’s always nice to store fly lines on a spool whenever possible. Storing lines in large free coils works great to reduce memory in the line, but rigging them back up can be a pain in the butt. Here’s a simple way to wind line onto an old fly line spool quickly, while still storing them in loose ‘memory resistant’ coils.
Step 1: Wrap the tip of the fly line around the spool (Airflo or Scientific Angler spools work best here) and cover itself with a few wraps to keep the line from slipping.Step 2: Insert two sharpie markers into the outer holes on opposite sides of the spool as shown. Any pen, pencil, or the like could be used here, but we found sharpies hold the spool tight to keep it from slipping.Step 3: Rotate the markers to ‘wind’ the line on.Step 4: Once the full line is wound on, remove the markers from the spool. Notice the gaps left in the line where the markers were removed. This causes the coils of line to be stored loosely around the spool resulting in less line memory. The line can now be stored away on the spool as is, or the spool can be snapped open leaving a neatly coiled fly line.
On your next fishing trip, consider packing along an extra line spool, they make great line winders in a pinch!
