Hello,

I put the spool of fishing line on my pinky finger; it works, but not always without trouble... A cheap reel would indeed be much better...

Gil.

One trick I use is the type of line. Don't use monofilament. Buy some good heavy weight spiderwire threads. It doesn't hold the spool shape and doesn't tangle nearly as bad as mono. I just lay the spool beneath the tree, have a 1.5 oz weight on the end, and let her fly. The spiderwire feeds off the spool nicely and when I pull it out of the tree I can just let it lay on the ground without having to worry about it coiling into a ball.

+1 for suggesting Spiderwire.  I've been using 15lb mono and it's desire to roll up into a ball or jump off the fishing reel's spool drives me nuts.  Spiderwire also comes in high visibility orange.  That fixes another problem I have.