Why spool is so important

[cure-hb]

I have seen so many post says they upgraded spools, my question is why spool is so important? is the stock spool always worse than "upgrade" one? even higher end reels like Steez or Metanium?

[e_bassfisher]

the heart of the reel is the spool and braking combination. it is really hard to explain, but when it's just right(which is subjective, by the way), you know it!

[zodiak311]

The biggest performance upgrade I ever did was putting a HLC spool into my Zillion 50th.
Afterwards, it casted much further, with a lot less effort. The spool is lighter, and has an inductor that has less brake force on it, I am not sure if this is due to the strength of the spring on it.

Most of the time I am replacing my stock spools, with lighter ones to cast smaller lures.

No upgrades are necessities, but it sure is fun.

[Dalleinf]

High-end reels such as the Metanium have very nice stock spools. If all you want to throw are lures weighing equal to or more than 1/4 oz, you may not need to "upgrade". In this case, a stock Metanium/Conquest/Steez is a casting machine. If you want to throw light lures then most non-BFS reels will benefit from a spool upgrade.
I have upgraded the bearings in many of my reels with little impact. In contrast, I am always astounded by the effect of a spool upgrade/change. The high-end reels with nice (and light!) stock spools may benefit less from a spool upgrade than a not so fantastic reel. For me, the biggest improvements have been when dropping avail spools in my ABU reels (older Mørrum, 2nd gen STX and Premier) and my Curado I.

[Hogsticker2]

the heart of the reel is the spool and braking combination. it is really hard to explain, but when it's just right(which is subjective, by the way), you know it!

Well played!

[saoulons]

I am not qualified to explain all of the intricacies of spools, but here are a few tidbits.

Spool weight matters a lot if trying to throw light lures. It's basic physics that a lighter spool will take less force to start spinning (Force = Mass x Acceleration). This is also why finesse spools tend to be shallow because less line on the spool = less weight.

Bearings matter a lot too. Some bearings will require less friction to start the spool rotation and will have less friction overall, causing the spool to spin faster and to keep spinning for a long time. This will result in longer casts for the same amount of rod load. But if you are throwing heavy-ish lures with a light spool, you will be prone to backlash.

Spool geometry and brakes are another topic which I "feel" but can't really explain well. They it will dictate both the spinning characteristics and the control to avoid backlash. This one is more "feel" to me as Ian mentions above.

Most of the high-end reels have good stock spools (and now almost all Daiwas come with the SV spool). Spool bearing upgrades make a big difference for me vs. stock. Worth experimenting with based on your application.

[Dalleinf]

You can also read this little text on tuning your reels:
http://japantackle.com/tackle_topics/spool_tuneup.htm
I can only agree, to me a spool upgrade matters much more than a bearing upgrade...

[cure-hb]

understood a lot more, thanks guys! I might try to upgrade my Met DC spoon, just for fun and try my first experience.

[Dalleinf]

understood a lot more, thanks guys! I might try to upgrade my Met DC spoon, just for fun and try my first experience.

I am not sure you can find aftermarket spools for the DC reels...

[Teal101]

The spool is the reel. You can either cast further, more controlled, lighter, etc based on the spool. Some are better for short range skipping while others excel at bombing cranks. The spool makes the reel.

[saoulons]

understood a lot more, thanks guys! I might try to upgrade my Met DC spoon, just for fun and try my first experience.

Glad it helped. But take what I said above with a grain of salt as it's more complicated than how I summarized it, but I'm giving you my "60% confidence" answer (I've asked myself the same question over the last year or so and it is still a work in progress for me in terms of finding the sweet spot of spool tuning for a given application - I have no problem exposing my pseudo-ignorance). There are plenty of people on here with tons of experience with tuning and different spools (e.g., Teal101 and e_bassfisher are 2 I know fairly well and there are plenty of others).

In the end, maybe start with your stock spool and then decide "what you would like more of" - casting distance? throw lighter lures? pinpoint accuracy? skipping? And the good folks on here will have plenty of suggestions for how to get the most out of your gear.

As mentioned above, the DC reels are a special breed because of the braking system (digital), so don't know how many after-market spool options are available (if any).