I did a search on the subject and came up empty. How do you folks store your fly lines off your reel? I’ve always been told not to store the line on the reel…to remove it if it won’t be used for a while. I’m heading up to the Adirondacks early tomorrow a.m. for my last trip of the year. I’ll be storing my equipment 'till ice-out in April. How do you store the fly line. I’ve heard things ranging from wrapping it around large coffee cans to using those large diameter spools the offshore trollers use to store their rigged lures. All ideas are appreciated. Thanks.
I think storing it on nice big coffee cans or extension cord holders is the best idea to minimize coils but I just leave mine on the reels like Normand and always have with no issues.
I fish 12 months a year but the 2-3 weights and even some of the 4 weights definitely don’t get much use during the winter. Those reels and their lines sit for a few months and reappear in the spring just fine.
If you don’t want the coils next Spring then put them on anything large and round. A good idea might be to nail or screw the coffee cans onto a 2X4 or piece of plywood and hang it on the wall, then loosely coil your lines on them. Store your reel inside the can and everything is in one place next Spring.
Hey, that sounds like a pretty neat trick… Glad I thought of that!
While it’s true that lines stored around a large cylinder will have less coils, you have to remove each line, wrap it around the cylinder and put it back on the reel in the spring. More effort than I want to use especially when the line can be easily stretched out come spring. I just leave the lines on the reels. Oh IMPORTANT: Just make sure that the lines are clean, dry and the reels are in some type of container before putting them away for the off-season.
I make sure mine are clean and dry and leave them on the reels. It doesn’t take much to remove the “coils” in the spring…a couple of fish normally does the trick. I’ve done it for 26 years with no negative effect. Regards.
This costs about $20.00 for two of them and is super simple takes only about 5 minutes to make. I use it to wind all my lines on in the fall. I made two of them. I can get 6 lines all wound on it side by side seperated by an inch or so.
It keeps all 6 lines from coiling and in the spring is uber easy to re wind them back on the spools.
:lol:
Plus if you get a line that is quite dirty or has been in the salt water it is very easy to hose them off.
Bonus if you don’t know how much backing to put on a reel wind the fly line on first then the backing till the spool is filled the way you like it. Then use this neat winder to wind the backing off then the fly line off, now wind the backing on the reel first Knot the flyline to the backing and you now have a perfectly lined spool.
I just take the reels off the rods, put the reels in an open cardboard box, and let 'em sit until the spring…
THEN, I clean the lines and go fishing. Coiling has never been a problem, I stretch the lines EVERY day before making the first cast…
Maybe I’m missing out, as my fly lines generally only last seven to ten seasons with this method.
I DO actaully clean the reels every couple of years (drop them, lines and all, into a sink of soapy water and scrub them with a stiff brush…), although I wipe the dust off more often, maybe once a year.
Up to you, of course. I’m WAY too lazy to spend more than a couple minutes a year on this kind of stuff…
Thanks for all the replies…seems like there are two different groups…those that do and those that don’t. I like the idea of using the electrical cord winder. Can’t get much cheaper than that. Well,it’s off to the Adirondacks for my last trip of the year. Be back Sunday. Thanks again.
I try to remember to clean my lines at the end of the season, and then when I reel the line back on after cleaning, I try to wind it on a little looser than usual.
But then, when is the end of the season? Seems like there is always one more nice day.
I also clean the lines when the tips stop floating… ok most of the time. :?
A portable line winder like that offered by Anglers’ Art is inexpensive and makes coiling lines a simple chore. I have more lines than I have reels to put them on and, as a product reviewer for a fly fishing magazine, I have new ones coming in all the time. I wind mine in 4" to 5" coils, secure them with a couple of pipe cleaners, hang a tag with pertinent information on them and store them in plastic baggies. The coiled lines can be put back on the line winder, attached to the backing on the reel and wound onto the reel in just a couple of minutes.
IMO If your fishing with real silk lines then your should take the lines off the reels and store them in large loose coils. I like the idea of using a coffee can or oatmeal box and storing the reel in the box. I would clean and redress the line before storage.
For pvc lines I just clean them and store them on the reels. It might take a few extra minutes to stretch the line the first time out next spring. You should be stretching your line and treating it if nessary before every fishing day anyway. I have some lines that are over 10 years old.
Again be careful of what you treat your lines with some companies recommend nothing more than a wash with mild soap others, i.e. Cortland give you the treatment when you buy the line. Use the wrong treatment and you will shorten the life of your line.
It?s fairly simple to separate the two halves of the reel at the legs with some sort of long?nosed pliers and/or some prying with a screwdriver, etc, . . . or just hand it to the grandkids. I then trimmed the rim of the spool opposite the handle a little smaller than the outer edge of the holes so the foam stands slightly higher than the new diameter.
I filed the ?ears? off the little arrow?shaped connections so I could disassemble, reassemble the halves without much fuss.
The foam compresses, allows easy removal of the coiled line.
The line comes off in a loose ~14" loop
And in about two shakes the spool is back together and ready to go again; and as Gnu Bee mentioned, there?s room to do half a dozen lines at a time
I was somewhat conservative with rim diameter on this first iteration, will almost certainly trim the diameter another ?" ? ?" so the foam will stand even higher above the rim, make it easier yet to remove a spooled line. The wife?s tape measure says each cranks recovers ~28" of line, and as is, it took less than 30 seconds to spool and remove the line shown.
Hope this didn?t get anybody too discombobulated; if so, sing out and I?ll try to do better
WOW!!!
Reading this post, I actually LEARNED something!!!
That, THERE ARE people, that don’t fish all year long and actually put away their fly gear for periods of time!?!
Who’d a thunkied it? Of course, MY only thought is, "If you’re NOT fly fishing for months on end, what in the word does one DO, during that off time?
You can tie flies, at night, or do gear maintenance as well, true. But that still leaves “daylight hours” to deal with. So, if you don’t fish, say from the middle of November, to around mid April, what do you do instead??
“Not, fly fishing, for MONTHS” is just a concept that makes wanting to take medications seem like a good idea!??!
Also, that line winder and drier are, both, super interesting concoctions, very simple and neat ideas!
I made one similar to your chord storage winder, but I’m not important enough to have special site just to post pictures, to be able to upload from.
