Open face reel

Question
I have a question involving this reel. I used this type of reel years ago and learned how to cast it well however I never had to spool this type of reel myslef. I have recently taken up fishing again and have purchased an open face reel.
I need to know step-by-step how to spool it with line and how I set it up so that its ready to cast. If I can get to that point the rest should come back to me.
Thank you for your time
Blake

Answer
Blake; There are a  couple of factors which must be taken into account.  One of these is how much line are you going to be actually using while fishing.  If you are fishing in fresh water for most species one would go after with a spinning outfit you probably do not need more than 75 yards of actual usable line for working with. More later.
If you are fishing salt water for a fish like bonefish which can take 100 yards of line off your reel then a different situation exists.  
Let's take the second situation first.  In this case you need to fill the reel spool with all the line it will hold up to about 1/8 inch of the lip of the spool.

With the fresh water situation start with some old line or some cheap line of about the same size as your good line. Thread this line through the guides starting at the tip top.
Tie a knot in the end then tie a slip knot making a loop.  Open the bail and put the loop over the spool and pull the line tight on the spool. Now start lay the spool on the deck and begin cranking, holding the line between the thumb and index finger of the right hand (assuming you are right handed and crank the reel with your left hand).  When the spool is about half full stop and cut the line about the tip of the rod.  Now start throwing half hitches in the line around the spool.  Pull these tight and finally tuck the tag end under about four or five turns of line on the spool.  Next tie a knot in the end of the good line just as you did with the other one.  Now the slip knot over the spool.  Before tightening this slip loop make sure the reel spool is extended as far forward as it will go. Pull the slip loop tight as near the back of the spool as possible.  Keeping tension on the line close the bail and begin cranking keeping the rod tip high.  Make about ten cranks with the spool of line lying on the deck.    Keeping tension on the line with finger and thumb as before, drop the rod tip nearly to the deck.  If the line tends to curl around itself lift the rod tip back up, keep tension on the line at all times.  Now turn the spool of line over on the deck and begin cranking again.  Fill the spool to within about 1/8 inch of the lip of the spool.  If you overfill it the line will fall off while casting and cause a bird nest.  If there isn't enough line on the spool the outfit will not cast well.
Now tie the end of the line to a small scales that measures in pounds.  Attach the other end of the scales to something to hold it.  Now step away about 10-15 feet and put a bend in your rod like a large fish might do.  The drag should be loose when you start.  Gradually tighten the drag while putting increased pressure on your scales.
The drag is set properly when the line still comes off the spool when the scales reads between 50% and 75% of the breaking strength of the line. (I prefer a bit tighter  % for myself preferring to backreel rather than depend on a drag.  It takes experience to do this so a beginner should start on the low percentage end and gradually increase it over the years.

Every spinning line will twist after a few hours of use.  I have found that one way of preventing this from happening every few days I use a little trick I learned somewhere years ago.  Before making that run for the landing heading home, cut the lure off the line and let the line out behind the boat to run free in the water as you return home.  Just before you get to the landing slow down and using your thumb and finger keep tension on that line as it comes in.  In a 5 -10 minute run virtually all of the twists will be gone, the line will be nice and clean and ready to go fishing next time.

That is about all I can think of except for your "good" line use a high quality line but that back up line can be some of that $.59 stuff as all it is doing is acting as filler.  Oh yes, as time goes by you will lose some line from your good line.  If it gets too low below the lip of the spool it will start casting badly.  To take care of this take some of the cheap line and tie it to the end of your line and crank on enough to fill the spool again.  Use a blood knot to tie the two lines together.  Now tie the end of the cheap line to the boat and start letting the line come off your spool into the water.  When you come to the end of the good line cut it from the spool. Now tie the other end which is tied to the boat onto the spool just as we did before.  Crank it in under tension and you have a full reel filled with the other (unused) end of your good line.  This way you get best use of both ends of a piece of quality line.  When this gets too low I cut all of the line off except that first backing and put it in the garbage (never the water) and put on new good line.

Well that's it.  I hope this has helped you get yourself ready to use the spinning outfit.  Thanks for calling on me to answer your question.  Don't hesitate to ask if you have future fishing questions.

I am
Jack L. Gaither (JackfromSeminole)