General Description
Wireline fishing is probably the worst of all fishing operations.
The Spears used to fish for wireline are usually one-piece tools consisting of a shaft or mandrel, with barbs spaced out a regular intervals for most of the length of the shaft. The shafts vary in lengths from two or three feet to eight or ten feet. This is referred to as a prong and the spear described above is called a single prong or center rope spear.
Use
Wireline Spears are used to fish out wireline or cable lost in the hole or casing.
Construction
There are also two prong spears and three prong spears. On these, the barbs are on the inside of the prongs.
Operation
When fishing for wireline, it is very important to establish the top of the wire so you will not get too big of a bite. Wireline does not fall down and coil up in a well as is often believed. You can usually find it within two or three hundred feet from where the measurements show it parted.
Always try to run an assembly as slick (by this I mean no shoulders) as possible so there will not be a shoulder to start packing the wireline above the spear. If you get the wireline above the spear and start out of the hole, it will pile up and get tighter as you come up the hole. One way to establish the top of the wireline is to run a wireline junk basket. It does not have enough weight to push the wireline down the hole and ball it up. Another way is to figure out where the top of the wireline would be if it were standing straight up in the well. Then go in the hole with the spear and fish in 100-foot intervals or one stand at a time for the wireline. Go 100 feet below where it would be if it was standing straight up and rotate three or four rounds, then slack off 10 or 20 feet and rotate three or four more rounds. Pull up the hole above where the wireline would be if standing straight up, if you don’t get any indication of having it, then go back 100 feet deeper than you did before and try the same procedure again, pulling up each time. If you don’t have an indication by the time that you have gone six or seven hundred feet, it is a good idea to pull out of the hole because you may have a piece on the spear that is broken off.
When a recovery is made, it should be measured as closely as possible, if it is balled up too bad to measure, then weigh it and figure the length. This will help establish where the next top will be.
When fishing inside the casing for wireline, a bumper ring or Guiberson cup should be run to prevent the wireline from getting above the spear. If a bumper ring is used, the O.D. should be close enough to the I.D. of the casing that the wireline will not be able to get by it. Also, there should be water courses or holes through it so fluid can bypass it. If a Guiberson cup is run, it should be run with a drain sub above and below it so fluid can bypass it.
If you are fishing for wireline in an open hole, do not run any bumper. You could not get a bumper that would prevent the wire from getting above it due to the irregular size of the hole. You could create a ball of wireline above it that would not come in the casing. It is best to run the spear and approximately three drill collars, then the jars. This will give you enough slick assembly, with no shoulders, to prevent the wireline from balling up above you.
The two or three prong spears do not require a bumper, the prongs should be close to the I.D. of the casing to prevent wireline from getting above it, but sometimes it is necessary to put one on them too. The two or three prong spears have a tendency to ball the wireline up below them; therefore, they are not as good of a tool as the single prong tool in most cases.
When you do get an indication that you have caught wireline, pull slow and steady on it until it comes loose. Sometimes it is a good idea to pull a strain on it and let it set for a few minutes before pulling more.