This Hack Uses A Cordless Drill To Power Your Fishing Reel

While there are plenty of gadgets you'll want for your next fishing trip, you probably have never thought of incorporating a power tool into your reel. The most repetitive motions required for catching a fish are casting and reeling (especially if using a lure). Apparently, some anglers got fed up with continually cranking in the line by hand and decided to replace the traditional handle with a battery powered drill.

As one fisherman demonstrated, the process is straightforward and will work with most reels, but not all. Simply remove the hardware that secures the handle to the reel and then take off the handle. Ideally, you'll be left with a threaded bolt sticking out of the reel. The cordless drill chuck can then tighten over this bolt allowing you to press the trigger on the tool to effortlessly pull in the line. However, it's important to remember the drill is turning the right direction to reel in, as twisting the wrong way could break your fishing gear. You should also be cautious when using the drill that you stop before cranking the line too far in. Some higher-end drills can manage more than 2,000 RPM, making this hack remarkably faster than traditional hand reeling, but it's also easy to overdo it.

While an interesting idea, if you think about it, a hack that replaces your reel handle with a power tool is probably only viable in certain situations. For instance, applications like deep-sea fishing would benefit most as a significant amount of line is required at increased depths. Deep sea fishing is as extreme as it gets, taking a boat 20 or more miles out to open water, where land isn't visible and lines need to stretch out to at least 656 feet or more. A drill powered reel speeds up the process in these scenarios and can reduce fatigue as these lines are also often weighted in order to reach such depths.

However, if you're positioned on a dock, or along the shore of a lake, the amount of line used is far less, making this hack excessive and unnecessary. Of the several Ryobi products to level up your next fishing trip, there are some good reasons to leave your drill at home. Doing this hack could cause permanent damage to your fishing reel, as these are often inexpensive and may not hold up against the torque of a drill. With the drill chuck firmly gripping that bolt on the reel, it'll potentially deform the threads over time preventing you from reattaching the handle. Not to mention, you also run the risk of accidently dropping your drill into the water.

If you want to replace your reel's hand crank handle, there's no need to rig up a solution with your power drill, electric fishing reels are readily available on the market. These units can feature things like various speed settings, LED screens, and ample winding power with integrated lithium-ion batteries. These units still include a cranking handle, which is only used as a backup to electric operation. Some premium corded models boast capabilities such as reeling in approximately 500 feet every minute, which could certainly come in handy when deep sea fishing.

So, if electric powered reels already exist, you might wonder why anyone would consider this fishing reel hack, which is just one of the unexpected ways to use your cordless drill. Simple, electric reels aren't cheap, with basic entry models starting at around $400 and higher-end options running north of $5,000. This makes them less accessible to many anglers, who may be tempted by a cheaper alternative.