A fly fisherman and his dog in northern Minnesota.

Maybe you don’t know everything either?

By Skip Clement

I hadn’t set up a fly reel “at home” in decades, but that does not mean I hadn’t acquired reels in that same time frame or completed that task hundreds of times. I’d either had my reels rigged by a fly shop that I bought them from or was accommodated by them even if I’d acquired the reel from other sources.

The point being, it’s a pain in the arse to spool up a fly reel without the help of a mechanical winder, and having to spool up a dozen at my [disorganized] tying desk required logistics – moving things around, putting things away, and so on.

I fussed and fumed – then went online, and Voilà, Intheriffle.com‘s James Spicer, came through 

I add Spicer’s video because of his shortcuts, which I did not know and saved a ton of time—making my production almost as fast as having a shop bench and mechanical winder. Not really, but it was fast and made stacking space easy.

If you are not familiar with the importance of evenly winding on the backing and fly line and applying enough pressure to pack the lines down tight, pay close attention at the beginning of the video.