Anglers everywhere are getting excited about going fishing. In fact, many anglers have already hit the ponds, lakes and rivers in search of something willing to eat their bait.
Another open water fishing season is here. If you want to enjoy your fishing even more this season, there are several things you can do, but perhaps the most important thing is to start the open water season with fresh line. Fresh line will help you enjoy your fishing and catch more fish. Here’s how.
Line that has been on a reel for an extended period of time probably isn’t in ideal fishing form. It may not cast well due to memory. Memory is when line remembers the shape it has been in. If line has been wrapped around the spool of a reel for a long time, it might not want to straighten out as much as necessary when you are casting. Casting distance and ease is not as good with line that has memory. Most modern lines have been formulated to reduce memory, but most still have some.
It could be that, due to use, you don’t have as much line on the reel as you need for best performance. In a day of fishing, you’ll probably re-tie several times, which reduces the amount of line on your reel, and you might get snagged a time or two or ten, and that will also reduce the amount of line on your reel. Additionally, you should cut some line off regularly just to make sure there are no nicks caused by rocks or logs or whatever. Multiply these things by several fishing trips, and the reduction of line on your reel becomes apparent. Reels with an inadequate amount of line don’t perform as well as reels with the proper amount of line.
However, adding line to your reel doesn’t mean you need to strip all the line off the reel and start over. For most fishing applications, we’re only casting or letting out maybe twenty or thirty yards of line. What many anglers do is simply tie a forty or fifty yard length of fresh line to the line that’s already on the reel. By doing so, you’re insuring that your line that’s being used is fresh. You can re-tie many times and even lose some line to snags and still have plenty of fresh line. I tie the new line to the old line with a Uni-Knot or Blood Knot. This is a strong knot that’s easy to tie. When casting, that knot shouldn’t come off the spool. When it does, it’s time to add more line. Simply cut the line at the knot and add more. By doing so, you’ve got fresh line all the time at a minimal cost.
When you’re spooling up this year, consider the type of fishing you’ll be doing to determine the line to be used. I use mostly monofilament line. Trilene XT and Sensation are my favorites for jigging and rigging walleyes and throwing jigworms for bass.
Trilene XL is outstanding for panfish and for slip-bobbering for walleyes.
If you want a sensitive line that doesn’t stretch, is tough and provides great hooksets, take a look at FireLine.
If you want to start your fishing season off the right way, make sure you’re tying your lure to fresh line. You’ll be able to handle the line better, and the line will be able to handle the fish better, and that’s a good thing.
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