Shimano Fishing Reel Line Capacity Calculator

Understand the Line Capacity of Fishing Reel folds can seem confusing at first. Even so, when one gets the basics, everything becomes much more simple. The Line Capacity simply points the biggest length of line that the spool fits to store without overloading the fold.

At almost every Fishing Reel, the capacity is marked somewhere on the fold itself, and those marks show how many line of particular weight it holds.

What Reel Line Capacity Means

When a fold points something as 6/210 or 8/170, those figures show the Line Capacity in pounds and yards. So it stores 210 yards of 6-pound line or 170 yards of 8-pound line. Usually, those ratings are based on mono line.

In higher pound test, the line becomes thicker, and the fold stores less of it. Folds of size 6000 store around 150 yards of 20-pound mono. If one uses heavier line, the capacity quickly drops.

Size 7000 store around 200 yards of 30-puond line, which is a bit more than the 6000.

Even so, the accuracy of Line Capacity can range between different folds. They do not always store exactly what the maker promises. One testing showed that folds are only a bit under 10 percent less long then the planned amount.

That is quite a common cause.

There are online calculators that help to estimate how many line a fold will store, if one switches to other diameter. For instance, if a fold is rated for 240 metres of 0.40 mm line, but one plans to use 0.55 mm line, a calculator can point that it only fits 127 metres. A fold rated for 100 metres of 0.40 mm line can store around 166 metres of 0.31 mm line.

In lines of smaller diameter, more line fits on the spool. Folds of size 1000, that takes 95 yards of 10-pound braid, can store around double of that with 4-pound braid.

For typical freshwater fishing, more than 100 yards are rarely needed. Some anglers lay only 50 yards on the fold. In most cases, 200 to 300 feet of line is enough, except when light gear is used for big fish.

If a fold is too fully loaded, it can cause troubles, as line that slides and makes tangles.

Shimano Fishing Reel folds use narrow spools, so they store less line than baitcast or spinning folds of same size. Making their diameter bigger would make the folds too tall and hard to use. That limits spincast folds during fishing in deep water, long-range casting or fighting with fish that make long runs.

Staying inside near pounds of the suggested Line Capacity is also important. For a fold rated for 12-pound line, using 10-, 12- or 14-pound test gives the best result. Choosing the right Line Capacity helps sothat everything runs smooth on the water.