Tenkara and Fly Fishing

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We Jam Econo: Cheap Foam Line Spools

Like I say in the video I have to give credit where credit is due – a tenkara fishing Facebook friend of mine, Mark, posted a link to these spools with a case (Magnetic Closure Box with 8 Fishing Bobbin Spools) – which is a nice option.  But I opted to get just spools and…

Anthony Naples
1–2 minutes
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Like I say in the video I have to give credit where credit is due – a tenkara fishing Facebook friend of mine, Mark, posted a link to these spools with a case (Magnetic Closure Box with 8 Fishing Bobbin Spools) – which is a nice option.  But I opted to get just spools and skip the case (20 Ecru Foam Spools). You can also get a case with 16 spools Or you can get just 10 spools. Check out foam spools on AliExpress too.

So I was interested in getting a bunch of these because I was being overrun by unlabeled level line. Every time I go fishing I’d cut a piece off of the spool fish with it then, when I was done wrap it on the rod handle, or put it in a baggie – next time out I’d have no clue what # line it was. I never had enough spools to handle all the line weights and lengths. Sure you can get other nicer spools (and they work fine) – but they’re quite a bit more expensive – and I wanted a cheap solution to the problem.

The spools are a soft-ish foam (EVA?) and measure about 1-3/4″. I was worried that the diameter would be too small and result in annoying coils that were hard to get out of the lines – but it wasn’t a problem. The line does come off coiled but, as the video shows, it’s quite easy to remedy.

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6 responses to “We Jam Econo: Cheap Foam Line Spools”

  1. David Avatar
    David

    Good tip. I have ordered these kinds of spools twice before. On the first order the spools had one punch out plug, on the second order, about a year later, the spools had two punch out plugs. They cost $2.25 each, I think. So 20 for five bucks is a good deal, even if a few have defects. Though I still prefer to put the line I am using at the time on the larger blue spools. Most are 70cm in diameter but I have 5 that are 90cm. I can wind line on faster on the larger spools, and the larger spools have larger memory coils that seem to stretch out easier. I have also made large diameter paper line cards or spools to store excess lines on.

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    1. Anthony Naples Avatar
      Anthony Naples

      How’d the paper line cards work out?

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  2. Fred Avatar
    Fred

    What are the punch outs on the foam spools used for? Thanks. Fred

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    1. Anthony Naples Avatar
      Anthony Naples

      Fred – I’ve been using them to hold the tag ends of the line

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  3. Fred Avatar
    Fred

    Yes. That is what I thought. Thank you.

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  4. David Avatar
    David

    The paper line cards, both large and small, work fine as long as you cut an odd number of points to wind the line on, so each pass round goes on opposite sides, so the card doesn’t cup. Otherwise you need stiffer stock paper. Need a quick line card – a blow in card from a magazine is large enough and thick enough to make a small 5 point card.

    I ordered the 20 foam spools, they arrived quickly and are quite adequate. They seem to be production run defect rejects. All the ones I received only had one punch out plug. And on most of them the plug wasn’t fully cut requiring a little surgery with an x-acto knife. Only one had one side that was all one color. For $5 I can live with the defects. I would judge it takes more than $5 worth of my time to cut 20 line cards. : – 0 D

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