Casting problems

Question
Hi, I saw one of your other answers and was wondering if you could help me. I'm a very inexperienced angler, learning my fishing on the west coast of Ireland. I am using a beachcaster rod and a Daiwa Opus 5500 reel. The problem I have is that when I cast the a lot of line unravels on the reel. I took great care when putting on the line to keep tension on it when reeling it on. From the other answer you gave you talked about twists. how can I stop twists when I'm putting on the line and do you think this is why so much line unravels when i cast. Thanks in advance. Maurice

Answer
Maurice; Sorry I thought I had answered your question but somehow it got lost.

First if the reel you are using is a spinning reel rather than a casting reel there are a couple of things to consider.  Putting the line on can cause problems if you put it on backwards.  To prevent this run the line through all the guides from tip top down to the reel.  Lay the spool of line on the floor and start reeling the line onto the spool keeping tension on it with thumb and index finger and the rod tip above horizontal. Don't put too much tension though as this may cause the line to bury into the line layer below.  After a dozen or so cranks stop and drop the rod tip halfway to the floor.  If the line seems to tend to twist between the rod tip and the spool of line turn the spool of line over and start cranking again.  Test again after a few cranks to make sure it still isn't twisting.  If it isn't go ahead and fill the spool. (A money saving tip; spool about 1/3 of the reel with old line and tie it off with several half hitches.  Then tie your new line on top of this.  You never use that line on the bottom of the spool with few exceptions like fishing for bonefish which make long fast runs and you need a full spool of line.#  Spool the line up to about 1/8 inch of the rim of the reel spool.  Putting too much line on a reel is often the cause of the tangle of line coming off that you describe.

All spinning lines get twists in them over time while fishing especially if you use a lure that has a tendency to spin.  You can help prevent this by using a good quality swivel but even with that some twist occurs.  I have found that about every third time out I begin to get twists in my line.  To eliminate this I remove everything from the line end and trail the line out behind the boat and move at moderate speed while the line untwists.  If you are a land locked fisherman you can do the same thing by trailing the line out in a nice field of grass and walk around pulling the line through the grass.  Usually three or four trips around my yard is enough to remove the twists.

Two other possibilities come to mind that can cause such problems as you describe.  One is using line that is too heavy for spinning or a line that is not soft and supple.  Such a  line can never be used very well.  The other possibility is that while you are careful to put tension on the line when putting new line on the reel are you equally careful to keep tension on the line any time you reel in.  Even with some lures such as plastic worms do not give enough tension when being reeled in to keep the line under tension at the reel.

If it is a casting reel you are using about the only thing that I can figure might be causing your problem is having the end bells of your reel too loose allowing the spool to spin too freely.  Tighten these bearings until your lure drops smoothly to the ground or water and the reel stops turning when the lure stops dropping.  Personally I keep mine just a bit looser but I have been fishing for 70 years.

I hope this will help solve your problem and thanks for calling on me to answer your question.  If you still have problems give me a follow up with more information about the reel, line, etc and I will try to figure it out.  However I think what I have just told you should take care of the problem.

I am
Jack L. Gaither   (JackfromSeminole)
Lake Seminole, Georgia