Cheap spooling mechanism

I've been looking for ways to easily de-spool and re-spool my fishing lines. I must admit I don't de-spool my lines for cleaning since Day 1! After each fishing session, I just run warm water over the reels and give them a good wipe down. That's it!

I also have a few reels where the braid line had snapped off while fishing and I don't know how much line I have left on the reel. So I decided a good way is to find a spooling mechanism and also a line counter.

Searching ebay, I found what I was looking for. As usual, these items were made in China and were cheap. So I didn't mind getting them, even if they turned out to be duds.

Spooling mechanism

Line counter

So I went about de-spooling my reels with the help of a hand drill. Re-spooled some reels with new line as a few had only like 50m of braid line left!

Brand new lines, ready to go!

I also re-spooled my overhead reels that I use mainly for deep sea fishing. Since I put the braid line on, I've been using only about the first 100m of the line. So I decided to "reverse" the line and use the 'bottom' half of the line. With the drill and spooling mechanism, it makes this process so much easier!

I'm so glad I got the spooling mechanism. But I think I'll be making a DIY version as this version is rather small. 

Check back when I've completed my DIY version!