How to Set Up a New Fishing Pole

Video Transcript

"Alright so here we've got the makings of a new fishing rod. What you're going to want to do first is secure your reel to your rod. The little tabs here on the reel seat, first one goes up and then what you're going to want to do is just twist it up till it's snug. You don't want to twist it too tight because you can crack the plastic in the reel seat. So just enough that it's fairly snug. Next thing you're going to want to do with your new rod is put some line on it. If you can't make it to your local bait and tackle shop who will put the line on any reel for you with a nice machine, you can just buy spool line. What I like to do is just thread it through the top guide, make sure you put it through your line guide on a conventional reel like this. Then grab it and then just a simple slipknot wrap 3 times, go through the loop and then through the loop that you create. Just pull that down. If you've got too much of a tag, just snip it off with a pair of clippers or scissors, this one looks fine to me. And then just wind on your line, I like to just keep a little tension between my thumb and first finger. And just make sure you don't fill it up too high, you want to give yourself plenty of room so that the line doesn't go above the bevel and into the bearings of the reel."