I go to great lengths to keep good fishing line on my reels. I lost some great trophy class blue catfish early on in my career because I was fishing with old fishing line and have avoided it ever since by always making sure I have good fishing line on my reels. This means frequently replacing fishing line and the result was burning through a bunch of fishing line stripping tools in a 12 month period.
Fishing line is the critical link between the angler and fish and having good line that is up to the task is critical. This is even more true when targeting trophy class catfish as big cats will find a weakness and expose it quickly. Contrary to what many believe, fishing line goes bad. Exposure to sun, water and UV rays causes the line to break down, weaken and get brittle.
The result is line that does not help up well, doesn’t cast well and gets brittle.
Then there’s the issue of hanging up and losing line. If you’re fishing deep water and hang up, you can run low on line and have to replace it with a simple few snags. If you’re drift fishing for catfish in deeper water one single hangup can result in the need for a line swap.
All of the above cause me to constantly replace or change fishing line.
Changing the line on a couple of dozen rods and reels on a regular basis is a lot of work and takes a lot of time as well.
Catfish reels by design hold a lot of fishing line and the fishing line used is typically heavier line than that used by most freshwater anglers. This heavier line in large quantities on catfish reels means more work when it comes to removing fishing line from reels.
“Off The Shelf” Fishing Line Stripping Tool
There’s a variety of fishing line strippers you can buy they are generally very slow and don’t remove the line from the reel quickly enough. Then there’s the issue of durability. If you’re using these line strippers on a regular basis they generally don’t last long.
I went through a bunch of fishing line removers last year and when the last one broke, I started looking back through receipts and realized I’d bought nine of them in a twelve month period.
That’s $180 wasted in one year……
If you’re not changing line in high volume or on a regular basis one of the commercially sold devices will probably work fine for you and last years. If you’re changing line frequently and doing so in high volume though, you’ll not get much life out of one the devices sold in tackle store.
Then there’s the design flaw.
Every one of these devices I’ve used simply stripped the line off into the floor, leaving you with a gigantic mess of fishing line.
With this in mind I started tinkeround around with some ideas to build a better mousetrap, and the DIY Fishing Line Stripping Tool was born!
Sometimes the simplest ideas work best and are right in front you for other purposes……..
After spending $180 in 12 months I built a better fishing line stripping tool for thirty cents <— [Click To Tweet]
The DIY Fishing Line Stripping Tool
My first attempt at making a better line remover was a success and I’m kicking myself now for all of the money I wasted over the years on buying line strippers.
The DIY fishing line stripper:
* Works better than anything I’ve ever used.
* Costs pennies to make.
* Can be built in less than five minutes.
* Is durable and won’t break or fall apart.
* Strips line four times faster than anything else I’ve used.
Supplies Needed:
This is what I used to build my line remover but any nuts, bolts and washers can be used so feel free to tweak yours based on what you have availabile.
- 1 – 1/4″ Drill Bit
- 1- 1/4″ x 3 Machine Screw
- 2 – 1/4″ Flat Washers
- 1 – 1/4″ Hex Nut or Lock Nut
- 1 – Empty 20 Ounce Soda Bottle
- 1 – Drill (Cordless or Corded)
DIY Fishing Line Stripper Costs Thirty Cents, Outperforms All Others <— [Click To Tweet]
Building The DIY Fishing Line Stripping Tool
Here’s how to build your own fishing line stripper.
* Drill a hole in the center of the soda bottle lid
* Insert machine screw through one of the washer
* Insert the machine screw and washer through the hole in the bottle cap (bottom)
* Place a washer over the end of the screw (flush against the top of the cap)
* Add hex nut or lock nut and tighten
* Screw the soda bottle lid back on the bottle
Watch the video below for more details on building and using the DIY Fishing Line Stripping Tool.
The screw sticking out from the end of the cap is inserted into a drill chuck and the drill is used to power the line stripper.
Using this system you’ll be ripping fishing line of your catfish reels at break neck speeds and it takes less than three minutes to build. Best of all the line wraps neatly around the bottle and you can just throw the bottle in the trash and replace it when it’s full.
Give this design a try, you’ll be surprised how well this simple, inexpensive design performs removing fishing line from your catfish reels.
Once you’ve built your DIY fishing line stripping tool and given it a try stop back by and let me know how it works for you. I’d love to hear your feedback! I’m several months into using this little hack and couldn’t be happier with the results!
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