Storing long lines on electrical cord reels?

CAnderson

CAnderson

Well-known member
So I have 7-9 long lines, each about 120' long. I have seen guys use the orange electrical cord reels to store and deploy their lines from. Each of my long lines have a long line clip on the ends for anchor attachment.

Do you guys store multiple lines on one reel?

How do the long line clips work out? Do they cluster things up?

Just looking for a good method to set lines out and not suffer too many tangles along the way.

I have read about the collapsible leaf bags, but I won't be doing that this year. I have access to 2 or 3 cord reels for free. Was wondering if they would help at all.

Considering I am home today and possibly tomorrow due to the storm, I am using it as time to get little last minute projects completed.

I guess there is some benefit to this thing.

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Yes, I've done this for sea duck rigs. You will want to put a 3-4 inch loop on one end and put a large LL clip on the other. When one line comes up, clip it to the loop end of the line before it, and so on. One thing to keep in mind when using this system, you will want to pull the line completely into the boat, clip it off, and then reel it onto the spool. Don't pull up the first 4-5 feet, clip it off, and then proceed to wind the rest of the line onto the spool. I lost a spool once doing this. The wind caught the boat while the LL anchor was still on the bottom, stuck in some rocks. The force of the shifting boat basically yanked the spool out of my hands. Kind of scary. I use a 5 gallon bucket now and just free spool the long line into that. Get some bright colored shrink tube and place that over the crimp end of your line - either the loop end or the end with the clip. This will enable you to see it better in the bucket when you are setting out. A long line gets clipped or carabinered to an anchor, which then goes over the side. As you pay the line out, clip off your birds or sleds until you run out of line. The loop end of the long line will be the last to go over, which can get clipped to the next line in the bucket, or just free-float. I've found this system works a lot better and you don't run the risk of losing your spool. Plus, the bucket makes a nice seat for a hunting buddy.

I'll see if I can get some pics of this for you so that you can see the process. I need to make up some new lines anyway.



Nate
 
The orange electrical cord reel will store (4) four, (120) one hundred & twenty foot length longlines.

Since ours have longline clips on both ends, we just connect them together & keep winding.

We have (3) three foot drops & just disconnect the dekes as we are relling them in.

Some uses the Avery (12) twelve slot bags with the zipper tops & don't disconnect anything.

I like this set-up also, just haven't pulled the trigger on (6) six new bags.

One trick I did find if you take a pice of square material (I used starboard) & mount it to the bottom of the reel, it will make it much more stabile putting out & winding up.
 
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Thanks for those tips. I have only run 1 long line in the past so reeling it up was no big deal. Now that we are going to be running 7-9 lines, I can only expect that things can get messy quick if you are not careful. I don't have the cash to lay out for the slot bags this year. I have one and do like it. I have also heard the large leaf bags from HD and Lowes work real well while letting you keep the line attached.

This year, I am hoping to pull the lines in and clip off each bird, hopefully, just leaving the birds stacked neatly along the bottom of the boat.

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Some of the old timers from Down River Detroit used to make a pile of rope in the bottom of the boat, and run each decoy line over the front bench seat and stack the dekes in the front of the boat. I had my doubts until I gave it a try. I use a milk crate just to keep it tidy. For more then one line, I've put a piece of plywood between each line. I've trailered this setup without problems. The real advantage is how fast you can pick up or set out a line of ten decoys.
 
I stopped winding lines years ago. All my long lines are run with decoys always attached (with LL clips) and into leaf bags. Almost never a tangle. Just attach an anchor and feed it out of the bag. Same with bringing back in. The big key is to use stiff long line. I get all my long lines from Decoy Rigs, in Indiana. It's very stiff .25" long line and is great to work with.

All the other systems can work but what happens when your world goes to shit and you need to get your rig in NOW. Happened again today, 20-25 mph winds and rollers - bilge pump not working and we need to get them in ASAP. There was no time to wind anything. Just dump them into the bags and head in. They will go out as smooth as they always do in the morning. Oh and BTW the bilge pump was fine but the hose was clogged with a nut or seed of some kind.
 
We use the cord reels and it works out well for our situation. If I had a bigger boat, I would try the bags idea and leave everything attached. I did see a guy that had a reel that attached to the gunnel of the boat and fed line out like a downrigger. He got it from duck solutions. I can't find a website for them anymore so I don't know if they are still in business or went under. Pretty dang handy tool for letting out longlines in my opinion.
 
I use old milk crates to store the gang rig mainlines. Mine are 150' with brass spring clips on each end. I just flake the line into the crate as we retrieve the dekes. Each line's clips are snapped into a different handle of the crate which keeps them from tangling. Each crate holds four mainlines and eight anchors nicely. The crates stack for hauling and storage and the line dries quickly.
 
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