Putting line on your reel, or spooling the reel, can be one of the most difficult things for beginner anglers to get the hang of. With too loose of a knot, the knot can slip, making it difficult to get the reel spooled. For beginner anglers struggling to get the hang of knot tying and re-spooling, this video is for you.

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Video transcript:

Alex Epperson:
Guys, I think this is probably the most daunting task when it comes to being an angler and that is spooling a real with new fishing line, but let me show you one of the easiest ways to do it and, well, at least how I do it and how I think it's easy. Let's jump into this video.

Alex Epperson:
What's up guys. Welcome back to the Monster Bass Channel. If you do not know who I am, I'm Oklahoma's worst angler, Alex Epperson. And as I told you guys today, we're going to be going over just how I spool up a bait casting reel and I also brought in a spinning reel because sometimes people use these. I mean, I use one, so they can be very daunting themselves. It seems pretty straightforward and easy, but they can actually be pretty tough and I'm going to go into that a little bit and show you exactly why I'm respooling this reel today.

Alex Epperson:
Now, there are some very specific things that you're going to want, you're going to want, not so much me, but you're going to want when it comes to spooling up a bait casting reel and a spinning reel. You're obviously going to need your favorite fishing line. Okay. Make sure you got your fishing line with you, you're going to need that. You're going to need some kind of snips, scissors, something that you can get really close down to the spool, so when it comes time to clip off that tag end, you can get really close that knot right there and have as little bit of tag on that as possible. Some kind of backing.

Alex Epperson:
Now, not a necessity, not a necessity by any means, but backing does help. I've got electrical tape right here. We got our line. I've got something to hold the line. Some of you guys may have a spooling tool. I have one around here somewhere. I don't know where it's at. This is just a regular, plain old box. You can put your fishing line in and line comes right out these little holes right here. It makes it super easy. You're going to want a hammer and the hammer is to break the reel for when you cannot continue to get the right knot on there. Kidding, you don't want the hammer. Don't have the hammer at all. Of course, you're going to need your reels.

Alex Epperson:
We got the line out of the box and now what I'm going to do, I'm going to put it in this little plain old box, like I said right here, I'm going to set that spool in there and then this line literally just comes up right out of these little holes right here. Line it up with which one you need it on. And voila, just like that, you've got something to hold the line and you can pull that tag end out and right there. Now, the only downside to this thing is it does not really give much tension and we're going to get into tension in just a little bit, but we've got the line out. It's ready to go.

Alex Epperson:
And now, there's a couple different ways that you can go about doing this. You can take the side plate off. So we're going to take the side plate off our reel right here. You can pull the spool out and you can put your little bit of backing onto the spool. Now, one way that you can do it, like I said, you can put the backing on first. Or in the past, I have done this, I have used electrical tape. I've used scotch tape too, electrical tape is a little bit better. It doesn't really leave much of a residue on the spool and it gives it a little more texture and a little more backing. What the backing is meant to do... Sorry. The backing is meant to give that line something to bite into because on a spool like this, like an SLX DC, it is completely smooth and there's nothing for that line to go into like a groove.

Alex Epperson:
Now, you take this spool right here. This is the new Okuma Hakai reel and this spool actually has a groove right in the center there that you can put that line down into and it keeps it centered. I still want the backing. I still want the backing. So you can tie the line on there, put the backing over the knot, barely over the knot. I'm going to do it both ways. So I'm going to show you guys both ways that you can do this or you can put the backing down and then tie your knot onto it, but we're going to do it both ways. I'm going to put the backing down and then I'm going to show you guys the differences from putting the backing down first or tying the knot and then putting the backing on it.

Alex Epperson:
Now, one thing about this, once you tie your knot on there, onto that backing, you want to be sure to pull that line that is on the spool and then try and slide that knot down. Now, I use a very rudimentary knot. I mean, they, there's all kinds of dos and don'ts and knots to tie and what knots to tie and all that, mine's very simple and it is simply a square knot with one extra over under. That's it. One square knot with one extra over under on top of it because a square knot will slip off of there, but it is literally over under, over under and then one other over under and I bring the tag through the loop of that extra over under and that's it.

Alex Epperson:
I'm going to pull that line taut. I'm going to slide that as tight down on the spool as I can get it here, then I'm going to take my scissors, my snips, grab that tag end that's right there, grab that tag in and snip that as close to the knot as I can without clipping your knot because then you got to retie all over again. Now, we've got the line on there. Now, when I'm reeling, I'm going to add a little bit of tension right here, so I'm going to pull back on this line a little bit. And if you guys can see, I'm going to try and get this to where you can see it here. So when I'm pulling on that, even with the tension on there, that backing is allowing that line to grab hold of that spool and do it just like that. It's starting to go onto the spool like it needs to, the backing allows it to get enough bite and enough tension and enough friction to where that line is not going to be slipping on the spool.

Alex Epperson:
One quick thing before I cut to the next segment, it is one of the biggest mistakes made when spooling a reel, overfilling your spool. Overfilling, underfilling not near as bad, underfilling can actually change up the speed of the reel, but overfilling can be an issue because then that line can come off to the side. It can cause a lot of backlash issues, a lot of stuff that you don't want, so don't overfill the spool. All right. So we've got our line spooled up. I'm going to show you guys something. If you are not reeling this or you're not spooling this with a rod, this is where it's okay to overfill the spool just a little bit. You see that spool is overfilled just a hair.

Alex Epperson:
Now, I overfilled that spool just a little bit because I know when I start to put this through that rod, it's going to be going through at least a seven foot rod. So I'm going to be pulling at least 14 foot off of this reel, seven foot up seven foot back. So when I put that on that rod, that reel is not going to be overfilled, it's going to be the perfect amount that you need on there. Again, the only time that it's okay to overspool it is if you were spooling a reel that is not on a rod. All right. So we got our bait casters spooled up.

Alex Epperson:
Now, the one thing that I did forget to mention, one of the most important things when it comes to a bait caster, is when you're taking the line off of that spool and putting it onto the spool of the reel, you want to be sure that it is coming off the top of that spool because you real is reeling it in this way. You want in the same direction the entire way. With floral carbon monofilament, you can get a little bit of memory in there. You don't want to have the line coming off the bottom of the spool because what you're going to deal with there is a completely different direction of the line. You don't want it coming off this way and going back that way. Braid, not as much of an issue, but we're going to talk about the spinning reel really quick and I'm going to show you guys because I had this issue right here with not getting the correct knot tightness or backing on your spinning reel.

Alex Epperson:
Now, you may have a spinning reel that has the little teeth in the middle of that spool and it says braid ready. Don't rely on that. Do not rely on that because what you can deal with is this right here. See that spool completely spinning. I'm not going to be pulling any drag off of this and that spool is coming completely clean. Pulling right off, no drag. If you guys don't believe me about the drag, I'll back the drag off here. There's your drag. I cranked that drag down and guess what? That line's still coming off. It's still coming off because that spool is not tight. I didn't put backing on this reel at all. So same concept as the bait caster, put backing down. Put backing down. The spinner reels, super easy.

Alex Epperson:
Now, I'm not going to bore you guys with spooling this guy up or anything like that, but the main thing is don't let spooling a reel just intimidate you, don't let it be a daunting task. It is very easy to do. You can do it a lot of different ways. You can put a pin, a pencil through the eye of that spool. You can buy a spooling tool. They're very inexpensive. You can get a little plain old box like that to help store the line in there, whatever it may be, but the main things are good line, obviously, have a fishing reel, obviously, get some backing. Get some backing and find a way to put a little bit of tension on that reel.

Alex Epperson:
Now, as soon as I'm done spooling up a reel, I'm not going to go right out and cast it. I'm not going to do that at all. What I'm going to do is I'm going to go out into the yard or the room that I'm in or anything like that, I'm going to depress that clutch, I'm going to have some kind of lure tied onto it as well, but I'm going to depress that clutch, let that lure fall, reel it back up. Let it fall, reel it back up. Help that line, kind of settle into the spool, then go somewhere where you can do a couple pitches with it and then a couple roll casts just to really get that line to settle into the spool.

Alex Epperson:
Line conditioner helps. I wouldn't say it's a necessity, it does help quite a bit though. But I hope you guys enjoy this video. If you're not subscribed to Monster Bass, click on that red button right there. If you're not over on my channel, head over. There's a description or a link in the description to my channel. Oklahoma's worst angler signing off. I'll see you guys later.