A browse through the fishing catalogs turned up a ‘Portable Line Spooling
Station’ from Berkley. The price seemed a bit steep ($29.99), but I went
ahead and bought it.
The
item is made of high impact molded plastic. The metal reel bar appears to be
chrome plated and will probably be prone to rust as the reel tension screws
are tightened into the rod to hold the reel in place.
A very nice feature is the reel holder that is built
into the system. The reel holding screw mechanism is plastic, so it is rust
resistant. This makes it very easy to fill a number of reels.
It also comes with a battery powered line stripper. The
usefulness of this device is in question for the Muskie angler due to the way
we reuse line.
The major hiccup is the tensioning mechanism. It isn’t
easy to put a good amount of tension on the spool; allowing for a tight pack
of the line on the reel. Also, you really need to tighten the tension holding
screws down so they do not slip as you pack the reel with line.
The device does work, however, I am skeptical as to
whether it has any longevity to it given the way Muskie anglers tend to use
equipment other than their boats and tackle. Knowing what I know now about the
device, I do not think I would buy it at the $29.99 price tag…a more
reasonable price is around $17.00 or $18.00.
Oh yes, the instruction card that comes with it is
terrible. It uses pictures only rather than illustrations and explanations.
For most anglers the illustrations for
use and setup are not very helpful.
It should also be noted
that the spooler WILL NOT work with a 1500 yard
spool of line.
