Abstract: A winder assembly includes a lever member that drives a hub attached to the reel of a fish tape reel assembly to wind or unwind fish tape within the reel. The lever member can be a ratchet with a handle at one end and a rotatable drive lug at the other end that engages a socket in the hub. The hub has spokes with ends that removably engage the reel so that torque from the lever member is transferred to rotate the reel with respect to its handle. The spokes can have hooks received in openings in the reel to apply torque to the reel.

Abstract: A winder insert for a fish tape reel fits into a center opening of the fish tape reel and engages an inner periphery of the reel. The insert has an attachment member, which can be a multi-sided socket for example, that is engaged by a removable handle or lever member to rotate the insert and in turn the reel with respect to a reel handle grasped by the user so as to wind and/or unwind fish tape in the reel. In one preferred form, a roller clutch is pressed into a center opening of the insert about a drive shaft that is rotated by the handle. The handle and shaft can be rotated in one direction to engage the clutch and thereby rotate the reel. Rotating the winder handle in the opposite direction overruns the clutch so that the handle can ratchet back to the original position without unwinding the reel. The winder insert removably snaps onto the reel.