A BIG "NO-NO" FOR BEGINNERS!!
Most of us begin our fishing hobby with an old reliable Zebco 202 Spincast Rod and Reel combo because it was affordable and was the easiest to learn when it comes to casting for the big one! I will always cherish and never forget the old Zebco days as a child. However, like a lot of other things in life, we quickly outgrew the starter combo and graduated to the open-face spinning rod and reel combo. The "spinning reel" remains popular today because it too is extremely easy to learn and I would guess, is the most used type of reel today. The next level gets a little more challenging to master and therefore, the bait caster tends to scare folks away because of the tendency of a catastrophic backlash that will put a quick end to a day of fishing!
That being said, we are going to focus on the spinning reel for this blog. Among things like quantum physics, the Pythagorean theorem, the effects of hormones on certain individuals and how the dryer occasionally eats one of my socks, just exactly how fishing line does some of the things it does absolutely blows my mind! Just because you are using that trusty spinning rod and reel combo doesn't mean you are in the clear and worry free. No sir! Do NOT be fooled as danger lurks! I'm not going to get into the scientific explanations about this mystery but, I will give you some MUST use tips to help you avoid disaster that will surely toss a wet blanket on your time fishing. It all has everything to do with a thing called "line twist". That's right...the twisting of the fishing line that occurs with every cast and retrieve. The cumulative affects of repeated cast creates enormous tension on the line. You will be fishing along and suddenly look down and notice "loops" protruding out from your spooled line on the reel. Often, it will originate from deep inside to spool and thus, place that expression on your face like the first time you were handed a Rubik's Cube! Certainly NOT on the list of facial expressions you imagined when you set out for a day of fishing!
Another bona fide mind bender is when you suddenly become aware that somehow, in some way, your line has managed to wrap itself around your rod and render itself completely useless for the immediate future of fishing! You cannot make any sense of how this happened other than, your fishing buddy somehow did this when you weren't looking! That might be a viable explanation if you could remember setting your rig down and headed off to kick the tires on the truck or whatever but, you didn't. And if you happen to be fishing alone when this disaster happens, you are definitely going to need therapy!
Fear not my fishing friends, help is on the way! Again, I'm not going to even try and solve this equation but rather, I'm going to give you a "save the day" fishing tip! In the photo attached, you will see a picture of a spinning reel and that I have illustrated what and where the "Bail" is and located on the reel. The biggest mistake I see beginners make while fishing with a spinning rod and reel is when the reel down the handle to close the bail. NEVER EVER EVER do this again! The folks that are smart enough to solve this equation that we have been discussing hear say that using the handle to reel down while the bail is open is the direct cause of excessive line twist and the root cause of the nightmares I've listed above. This causes the line not only to twist, but also contributes to the line spooling back onto the reel loosely. The way that I've been able to further avoid loosely spooled line is by using a trick that goes back to my Zebco days again. Not in the fishing context, but rather, my childhood context. This may be difficult for some millennials out there to conceive but, back in the day, we had to pretend we had cool toys. We played games like "cops and robbers" and "cowboys and Indians" among others. When you didn't have a real toy gun or the perfect stick shaped like one, you simply used your hand and fingers to act like you had one and of course, made the silly sound effects with your mouth to let your buddies know that you indeed just shot them and they are now of course dead! What I am setting up with this is important as you are going to need your gun to pull off this next portion of the tip. After you have made your cast and of course, MANUALLY CLOSED THE BAIL WITH YOUR FREE HAND, make your gun with your pointer finger as to allow the line to tick your fingertip as you reel the line back onto the spool. This will cause a little drag as the line goes back onto the spool and help ensure that it starts out tight. You only need to do this for the first few winds or so but the benefit will be that the chance of crazy things happening with your line will be greatly diminished.
I sincerely hope this helps and if you are still fuzzy on the concept, feel free to email me for further explanation and I will do all I can to help clear it up for ya! We are planning to include this exact tip as a part of our "Bass 101" instructional fishing videos over on our YouTube channel. Just click the YouTube icon found on the website here to get there. Stay tuned for more as we help you Set The Hook and Set Things Right!
