James RickardTime to change line?
September 14th 2008 01:09
When It comes to changing line there are no hard and fast rules! The only advice I run across with any regularity is that it should be done at least once a year. After that, it becomes a "let common sense be your guide" kind of thing!
Aside from doing the yearly thing, you have to think about your own fishing and habits. If you get to fish only once a month, you hardly need to change your line before every trip! Thinking along those lines; if you fish once a month, do you even need to change your line once a year? My answer to that is YES. Even if you catch nothing all year, there's still wear and tear on your line from constantly being wet and then drying plus the exposure to sunlight and incidentals. All these lead to line "dry rotting" on your reel. That's not to say you're going to be peeling off line and suddenly have a break in your line but, you WILL have weak spots and your line can be broken easily when you hook that big one.
Another reason to regularly change your line is the fact that it takes on characteristics of its storage unit. In most cases that's going to be your reel, and so, you're going to end up with line that wants to spiral into circles more than it wants to straighten out when you need it to straighten. That doesn't seem like much of a big deal because you weight your line but it can lead to tangles, wasted line, and aggravation!
If all of this seems trivial to you, just remember that pros change line before every tournament!
AND---I know someone is going to ask this. Yes, I'm changing line on the reels I got at the sale! Naturally, not ALL of them. I'm flip-plopping between using two of them right now so I changed the line on those and the rest are on the back shelf. BUT if I use them, the first thing I'll do is put new line on them!
Until next time--watch yourself and watch your line!
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