Solo Spooling
ALL fishos know how frustrating it can be when trying to spool a reel up by yourself. Generally speaking, it’s a two-person job – one winds the line on the reel, the other stands there holding a pencil or similar object through the spool. And if that person is a non-fisho – for example, your wife or girlfriend – they tend to get pretty bored pretty quick, making the spooling process fraught with danger!
Luckily, tackle distributor Spiro Demopoulos has come to the rescue with the nifty Bee’s Knees Line Spooler. This Australian designed and manufactured device makes solo spooling a breeze. Spiro recently sent a demo unit in for us to use and test. Like many innovative ideas, the Bee’s Knees Reel Spooler is actually relatively simple. It features an aluminium stand (which can be bolted or clamped to a suitable flat surface), a fixed spindle, a threaded shaft, a removable spindle and a tightening knob.
The spindles and knob are made from machined alloy and stainless steel components with the spindles featuring a smooth-running bearing and Carbontex drag system allowing the spool to turn smoothly under even considerable load. You slide the spool of line onto the shaft up against the fixed spindle, thread the removable spindle down on the opposite side and use the knob to generate the tension needed to spool the reel.
I used braided line in my tests and had the tension up quite high in order to get the line loaded on my reels as tight as possible. According to the product specs, the Bee’s Knees spooler can handle drag up to 15kg.
Once the spool is in place and tightened appropriately, you thread the line through your rod runners and onto the reel spool as normal. Then you simply wind until the reel is filled. The pressure of the spindles on both sides of the spool makes it a cinch to respool. I used a large 600m spool and much smaller 120m spool and found the Bee’s Knees spooler was equally efficient with both sizes. You could easily use this device to fill an 80W with 37kg mono and then spool up a 1000 sized threadline with 4lb braid.
The device appears to be well made with very fine tolerances. It worked as well under heavy pressure when spooling with 80lb braid as it did with much lighter lines.
The Bee’s Knees Reel Spooler can handle spools up to 200mm long and 300mm in diameter. You can spool anything from a game reel to a bream-sized threadline!
Accessories include a “base station” allowing the unit to be easily removed from a work bench or wall and a “boat adaptor” which inserts into a rod holder and allows you to respool while on the water.
All up, I found the Bee’s Knees Reel Spooler to be very cool and innovative product which all fishos will appreciate. Highly recommended! RRP is $129.
See www.demopimports.com.au for more details and to order online.
