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I've always tied my line to my spool the same way my dad taught me and it's never given me a problem until Saturday.

My reel got completely soaked by rain and at one point I needed to pull some like off the spool to hook the jig I was fishing to the rod for storage - the drag made no noise and I discovered that the all of the line, was freely spinning on the spool while the spool sat still. I loosed the drag way up and pulled again, and the drag clicked, but as I tightened it, the friction of the braid on the spool slipped and the line spun freely off the stationary spool.

To me it seems like a pretty clear case of pilot error...here's how I affix my line to my spool. Please tell me how you do yours.

I tie a loop in the line with an overhand knot - slide the mainline through the loop creating a slip-knot of sorts...I then put that on the spool so that as the line pick up and bail spin around, it grabs on itself. This only works in one direction because if you get it wrong, the line will spin freely and not grab.

Like I said...my dad taught me this when I was a kid and I never thought twice about it until Saturday. The line went on ok so far as I can remember...but I am thinking that the spool on my reel may be too smooth and when the water penetrated the line in the driving rain Saturday morning that it "lubricated" it sufficiently to point out the error of my ways.

How do you attach new braid to a spool? Think it's possible/worth it to save this line and fix my problem?

Do you use a backer, like 5o yards or so of mono under your braid?

Thanks in advance for your feedback.

Well....I should have used Google before I posted....Google knows all.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIJnYS6lib8

Bagataway, did you check to make sure you had not inadvertantly put the loop over the spool in the wrong direction?

Jose has the right idea, but instead of regular tape that can get gummy with salt, I like to use white teflon tape that plumbers use to wrap pipe thread. It's waterproof and keeps the braid from spinning around the spool under tension. A spool sells for under a buck at hardware/HI stores and it lasts forever.

Teflon tape is a great idea!

i usually use tape on mine and another thing you can do is use a lil backing of some light mono first and put the braid on after.

I've had the same problem before. Now I always back mine with enough wraps of mono to mostly cover the spool. Then I tie the mono to the braid and fill up the spool. I figure if a fish pulls out enough line that it gets down to the lighter mono and breaks it, he probably would have spooled me anyway.

I've never even thought of using tape. Seems like a good idea.

I definitely did NOT use tape...that is one thing I have picked up for sure.

What about the knot itself? What's the consensus there? Is my slipknot loop deal less reliable than what ol' Jose shows us in the video?

And Sir Reel - I am reasonably confident that it went on the proper direction, otherwise it would not have bit in the first place to allow me to spool it up. I know that I have tried to put it on backward in the past and it just spins and spins until I remove it, flip it around, and then it bites back on itself.

Tonight's project will be to remove and try to salvage the braid that is on there. That ought to be entertaining. My wife ought to get a kick out of that...

I use a uni. You can cut it close before slipping it over the spool and it cinches down tight.

Done and done. My sweet wife emptied the braid from the spool onto an empty cardboard ribbon spool that was with her craft stuff while I ran to Walmart for some cheap mono & teflon tape, got home and spooled the braid back on (this time using the paper tower tension trick) and it is lookin sweet!

Ive always done this... with no issues and no tape.

Tension is the key.

Yeah, tape. I use drywall tape. The little squares make it easy to cut to the right size.

What silverking said.

And Bman's knot.

I use both the teflon tape and the knot. Bman's probably right about enough tension preventing slipping, and I haven't had it happen often, but before using teflon tape did have a couple of small reels slip when I had a good bit of line out. Never had a single repeat problem after implementing the teflon tape several years ago.

Mono is the key. It also protects the spool from getting braid gaps.Tape works good but, braid can slip on tape.It can also cut the tape and dig into your spool as well.