Fishing Line — Less is Much More

The one “dangerous” bit of advice here is to replace the line from the reel you buy, because it’s almost always eight or 10 pound line. (If this is all too complicated, skip this step! You can still catch fish with the original line.)
“Pound” refers to the strength of the line – it would hold that amount of weight without breaking. That is, you could suspend an eight pound weight tied to a segment of eight pound line, but adding another pound would make it break.
The natural inclination would be to use stronger line rather than weaker line, but in fact, the weaker line often brings much, much better results. The reason is simple: six-pound line is thinner and harder for the fish to see than eight-pound line, and four pound line is even harder for the fish to detect.
Imagine dropping a worm in the water and watching it slowly sink toward fish. The fish will dart after it, and it will quickly disappear into their hungry mouths. However, put that worm on a hook, with heavy 10-pound fishing line, and the fish may well simply swim up and then swim away, or bite very cautiously, and avoid the hook.
If your first fishing trip involves small fish, and they usually do, then you will want your reel filled with four-pound line. (If the fish are plentiful and large, that is, over a foot long, then you will probably do fine with eight pound line, and if the fish are running quite large, over two pounds, then eight or even 10-pound line will probably work best. Fish over two pounds can break four pound line.)
A likely reaction: “Hey, I want line strong enough for big fish!” That’s the reason that heavy line is there. Response: first of all, for kids, ANY fish is big. A five-inch perch is a thrilling first time trophy. For adult first-timers, just catch something. There ‘s much to learn catching small fish. And you’d surprised how much fun it is catching six-and eight-inch fish. The lighter line easily may make all the difference between a fun outing and a fishless foray.

Any brand of line will do well, and there’s no reason to buy the fancy expensive lines. You should be able to get a couple hundred yards of four or six pound line for $5. By the way, line for spincasting is called “monofilament.” The old fashioned type that looks like string is called “braided” and doesn’t work with spinning reels.

Changing the line means pulling all the old line out of the reel, a tedious job. You’ll need about ten minutes and some space in front of you for a pile of tangled line.
You’ll have to unscrew the cover of the reel to see if you’ve reached the end of the spool. (There are electric line winders to speed this up. Also if you have access to an empty old reel, you could wind line from your new reel to the old one.)
When the line’s finally all off the reel, take the end of the line from your new spool, run it FIRST THROUGH THE FACE OF THE REEL COVER, then tie it in a simple knot twice around the core of the spool. Screw the cover back on the reel.
Pull the line lightly, then start turning the handle and reel until the spool is about full. This will probably be around 110 yards of line. You don’t want it too full or it’ll be hard to manage. However, if there’s not enough line on the reel, it won’t cast.
Congratulations! You have probably quadrupled your chances of catching fish by replacing the heavy line.