Published Apr 19. 2006 - 18 years ago
Updated or edited Aug 8. 2015

How to store my flylines?

Hi All,
I would like to hear your ideas about how to store my flylines!
I do not like to keep them on the reel. They do not stretch nicely after a while.
I tried keeping them upon the original plastic spool, but the same problem appears.
I tried different ways, but always end up with a hell of a mess. And it takes me about half an hour to get the line back upon the reel.
Hope you understand my question; my English is rather poor.

Martin Joergensen's picture

Re: How to store my flylines?...

[quote:87a66345b3="Hanzie"]I would like to hear your ideas about how to store my flylines!.[/quote:87a66345b3]

Hanzie,

Big coils is your solution. Don't spool the lines on any type of spool, but wind them in large coils on some kind of winder. I use a wooden yarn winder, normally used for unwinding yarn for knitting. Such a contraption is fine for fly lines, and allows me to make large, loose coils with a diameter of at least 30-40 centimeters or a foot and then some.

An image to show the apparatus and some coils in the background:
[img:87a66345b3]http://globalflyfisher.com/blog/images/8678.jpg[/img:87a66345b3]

I secure the coils with bits of wire or pipe cleaners and store them in large ziplock bags.

When I want them back on the reel I unwind them using the winder in reverse: Unpack the line, put it on the winder, remove the wraps and spool it onto the reel. It is VERY important to use the winder because winding by hand almost certainly will put twist in your lines, which you don't want, and unwinding by hand will almost certainly create the largest bird's nest imagineable.

I also stretch old lines by tying them onto a window hinge in one end of the house and pulling them to the other end and back. Leave the line there overnight, and you have a line almost straight as a ruler.

Martin

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