A Line Winder As Good As Any

Have you ever had an occasion when the new line on one of your baitcasters just didn't look like it was laying right on the reel? That happened to me Sunday evening after I had come in from wrapping up the 2014 Dewey Mullins Memorial Bass Classic.

Earlier in the day, while tossing a chatterbait, I had snagged it in something on the bottom. And with the low-water conditions, I couldn't get the boat close enough to retrieve the bait. For that matter, I couldn't even have reached it with my telescoping lure retriever. Thus, I had no choice but to tighten down the tension on my 40-lb. braid and keep working until the line finally parted, leaving one of my favorite chatterbaits on the bottom.

I subsequently would learn that I had created another problem as a result of those previous actions. On the very first cast after tying on another chatterbait, the line went only a short ways before it jerked to a dead stop. A quick look revealed that, in applying all that pressure to break the braid, some had cinched down hard on itself.

It took several minutes to free this mess, but then I discovered there was yet another problem. With all the picking I had done to free the knotted line, it had frayed in a few places. This revelation proved to be the straw that broke the camel's back. I simply removed my chatterbait and tied it onto another rod. After all, you don't have to knock me in the head... or do you?

Anyway, later Sunday evening, after dinner, I respooled the reel that had had the mess--perhaps a mistake on my part, given how tired I was at the time. When I had finished, I quickly noticed that the new line didn't appear to be laying evenly or tight enough on the reel. At this point, I resolved just to stand the rod in the corner and wait until another day to fix everything.

Because I hadn't had enough time to clean up the boat Sunday afternoon, I went to the marina Monday and did it. I grabbed that rod from the corner as I went out the door because, after a good night's rest, I had a plan that I knew would fix my line problem. The same idea had worked for me a couple other times in the past.

I simply fastened the end of the line to my boat trailer and started unwinding it by walking toward the marina entrance. When I reached the end, I stopped, tightened down the drag, and started walking back toward my trailer, keeping lots of tension on the line as I did so.

Now my line looks and feels every bit as good as it does after having a tackle store do the respooling.

The main lesson I relearned from this evolution is one that has haunted me on countless other occasions: Never do anything when you're dog-tired. Wish I could say I'll remember that, but if I were a bettin' man, I'd have to bet against myself.

I received an email from my good friend, Charlie, telling me that he rewinds his reels the way I described after every trip. The only thing he does differently is to add a snap swivel to the line before he walks it out. "I put a cup hook on the stop sign in front of the house and walk it down the block," he said, adding, "I get a lot of questions about catching stop signs from the neighbors, but it works great."