Fisherman's Paradise

No disrespect Scup, and in no way am i trying to be argumentative with you, as your posts are always very informative and well written, but those linewinders are not the gold mine you make them out to be, yes they can be profitable, but they are not free either to shops, unless of course you buy literally thousands of dollars worth of line. There are basically 2 different classes of machines. Most shops have the lighter duty machines and while those machines can handle a 50, the horsepower is not there to do so repeatedly. These lighter duty machines run on average of $850. We have this machine and use it daily spooling 90% of the reels that come in. We also have the heavy duty model which is more suited to spooling larger reels up to and including the 130's. These machines run about $2200. As is the case with any retail item, a profit should be made. In my opinion, the cost of these machines must simply be absorbed by the shops in order to provide a service to the fisherman. Marking up the cost of the lines enough to cover even an long term payback of these machines would price the line right out of site. We dont charge a fee to spool up a reel for the fisherman, its just a service we offer. The only time a fee is charged for spooling is when someone comes in with their own spool of line and a reel and simply wants us to load it up for them, and even then, it is a staggering $3. Tackle shops provide alot of services that are not financially motivated, thats what separates us from mega mart chains. At my shop, I personally don't believe in spending thousands on line just to get a freebie machine, I prefer to order my line in smaller quantities and order more often. Keeps the quality up and the line is always as fresh as can be. To me its counter productive and deceiving when a fisherman comes in to get a reel respooled and the shop is using a spool of line that has been in the shop for 2 years. I wont drop any names but i used to work for a shop that had spools hangin around for several years and I hated it.

Anyone interested in more info on these machines, check out Linewinders - Fishing Line Winders by Triangle Sport

fightingcouch

I would spool them with a hollow core spectra of either 80 or 100pound then a 100yard-200yard top shot of smoke blue momoi. With the hollow core it may cost allot of money at first but you will save money over time you do not have to respool the entire reel over each season just change the top shots out when needed easy and very effective. This setup will bring any fish that swims to the boat. All my offshore set ups are spooled with JB hollow core and with momoi line best stuff out there.
Check with J&B tackle in Niantic, CT they could set it up and do all the splicing needed.

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Scup

Fisherman's Paradise

I know you mean no disrespect! I worked for an extremely large concern (not West Marine) in which we did sell $$$$$ worth of line. We were given not one, but two, of the higher end line winding machines. Being just a flunky in this concern, I was the one that ended up spooling reels. I was told to always put on as much line on the reel as possible. Do not ask about who I worked for as I would probably get sued for mentioning them. While our service for putting on the line was free, we did charge by the foot for the line spooled. Our back room had quite an assortment of all kinds and sizes of bulk spools. I always knew it was disastrous to over fill reels, especially spinning reels, so I never did it, but my associates did. While not a genius, I knew what the bulk line cost us, what my hourly salary was, how long it took for me to spool up a reel, and what we charged per foot. We made out real well spooling up reels, for us it was a high profit item. Our customers may not have been happy with our performance, but that only seemed to bother me and one other person. That is why today, I would go to a Mom and Pop tackle shop before going to one of the big boys. Like you said, I had no idea how long our bulk line had been laying around, nor did we ever toss out old stock. Bulk spools of lines would sit around until used up. I had to laugh when you mentioned that you only charge $3.00 to spool up a reel with line that the customer supplies. Not only are you not making much of a profit at that price, you are probably losing money considering your time is worth something! We looked at our dual line winding machines as a quick way of dispensing a lot of line quickly at a high price. Small tackle shops have to give a dam about their customers and they always seem to do whatever is necessary to please them. While this should be the case with very large concerns as well, it is not reality. A young summer employee working part-time at slightly above minimum wage is basically going to do what he is told! Sorry that you took my situation and expanded into a general one that applies to everyone. I saw things through the eyes of a very large profit orientated concern, not through the eyes of a local tackle shop. For what is was worth, our fishing department's manager was a avid shark fisherman, and he really did care about his customers. They let him go!

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