I have expressed my satisfaction with the Berkley Line Winding tool for years. Mine was part of a box lot I bought at a garage sale but they are sold online for $19.99 I believe. Ever since I stopped at that sale my reel life has been a breeze and my backings and fly lines are loaded and unloaded in a very professional manner.
Just the other day I found myself with this set up.
What you see there is my Hardy Ultralite Disc and a Sage Spectrum Max along with a bunch of lines I intended to swap out and load. Now that is enough to keep you busy if your plan is to have your wife holding spools on a pencil or pen while you load your reels. However, if you have one of these nifty little platforms it becomes something you can enjoy doing.
Almost any size spool of backing will fit and fly line cassettes that come with your new lines all fit as well.
Two little set screw adjusters hold the spools and you adjust the payout tension by compressing those little Poly springs then set the screws. They also allow you to center different size spools for good loading alignment.
I keep my fly tying scissors and that nail knot tool handy while doing these jobs. I've been using nail knots between backing and lines ever since I loaded my first reel and never had a failure.
Here's a 100 yard spool of RIO 30 pound Dacron in that pretty yellow centered and with just the right amount of consistant tension being applied by the keepers.
Results?
I know, I know, you can do that by wrapping the line around a doorknob and then just hollding the reel and winding it on right? Been there done that and this seems better to me
Of course the 540 grain Super Scandi with 100 feet of integrated shooting line loaded just as smoothly........... To unload reels I place an empty cassette on the bar and clamp it just tight enough to prevent wobble then I use a wooden chopstick to spin the cassette with the reels drag set at zero.
The Hardy Ultralite Disc? I unloaded a RIO In Touch Salmo / Steelhead #8 from it and then loaded the RIO single hand Spey floater in its place. The whole project done under half an hour and I somehow wish it had taken longer because it was so much fun........ Pretty nasty weather the past few days and I won't fish for a while so it's tinker time here.
Here's another little ditty that has helped out a bunch with knowing exactly what I have when it comes to lines.
I have a whole bunch of single hand lines from 3 to 7 weights that need identified and you can expect a line sale once I have them sorted
Just the other day I found myself with this set up.
What you see there is my Hardy Ultralite Disc and a Sage Spectrum Max along with a bunch of lines I intended to swap out and load. Now that is enough to keep you busy if your plan is to have your wife holding spools on a pencil or pen while you load your reels. However, if you have one of these nifty little platforms it becomes something you can enjoy doing.
Almost any size spool of backing will fit and fly line cassettes that come with your new lines all fit as well.
Two little set screw adjusters hold the spools and you adjust the payout tension by compressing those little Poly springs then set the screws. They also allow you to center different size spools for good loading alignment.
I keep my fly tying scissors and that nail knot tool handy while doing these jobs. I've been using nail knots between backing and lines ever since I loaded my first reel and never had a failure.
Here's a 100 yard spool of RIO 30 pound Dacron in that pretty yellow centered and with just the right amount of consistant tension being applied by the keepers.
Results?
I know, I know, you can do that by wrapping the line around a doorknob and then just hollding the reel and winding it on right? Been there done that and this seems better to me
Of course the 540 grain Super Scandi with 100 feet of integrated shooting line loaded just as smoothly........... To unload reels I place an empty cassette on the bar and clamp it just tight enough to prevent wobble then I use a wooden chopstick to spin the cassette with the reels drag set at zero.
The Hardy Ultralite Disc? I unloaded a RIO In Touch Salmo / Steelhead #8 from it and then loaded the RIO single hand Spey floater in its place. The whole project done under half an hour and I somehow wish it had taken longer because it was so much fun........ Pretty nasty weather the past few days and I won't fish for a while so it's tinker time here.
Here's another little ditty that has helped out a bunch with knowing exactly what I have when it comes to lines.
I have a whole bunch of single hand lines from 3 to 7 weights that need identified and you can expect a line sale once I have them sorted