Line Twist

[rufus]

In the question about jerkbait rods I noticed that line twist was mentioned as a problem when using spinning reels. I used to have the same problem until a good fishing friend showed me how to virtually eliminate it. All you have to do is learn to close your bail by hand and give the line a slight tug. At first you will want to look at the spool a few times, but after you get used to it, it will become second nature to you and you won't even know you are doing it. It is unbelievable how it cut down on bird's nests for me, I would say it reduced them by more than 90%. I use a lot of flourocarbon and Pline CXX and as most of you know these are both lines with very high memory, but I now very rarely have any problems at all with them. A high qulity spinning reel helps a lot too (I use Shimano Stradic's). It seems like a pain to do at first, especially for me because I have KVD Syndrome and am always in a hurry to cover as much water as possible, but I promise if you start doing this it will save a lot of time. I taught my 6 year old son to do this and he is now a master of it. I got tired of retying for him every 2 minutes, but now he also rarely has any problem at all. God Bless and Good Casting!

[Cheetam]

...All you have to do is learn to close your bail by hand and give the line a slight tug...

I do this as well, and it makes a huge difference.  Good tip Rufus!

[McCarter]

That helps trememdously, and will make your reels last longer as well.

Another trick to stopping line twists starts before you put the line on the reel.  Make sure the spool is clean and free of knicks.  If there are any knicks, the line will not go on evenly, and this will result in bluging, which in turn will result in looping, which we all know leads to line twists.  Clean the spool up, everytime.  If there are any knicks, light grain sandpaper will take them out.

And also, make sure the line guide on the bail is clean and smooth.

But the most important part, in my opinion, is how you put the line on the reel.  I also think this is more important when spooling flourocarbon.

With Flouro, I dont like to string any line through the guides of my rod.  With mono, i will put it through the very bottom guide, closest to the reel.  But with flouro, i dont string it though any.  Just pinch the line about 8" above the reel, make sure the spool of new line is sitting flat on the floor, directly underneath the reel.  And make sure it is spooling on the reel the same direction it was spooled on the line spool.  This is very important.

Dont put it on too tight.  I see a lot of my friends do this.  They pinch the line too tight when they are reeling it onto the reel.  This will also cause you problems.  Just pinch the line tight enough to hold it between your thumb and pointer finger.  If you pinch too tight, the line tends to bury into iteself rather than overlapping itself.  Plus, it puts tension on the spooled line that will losen after casting a few times and cause the spool to lump and loop.  

Dont over spool.  We have all done this.  And you know what happens when you do.  Line just starts shooting everywhere on the first cast.  Makes a mess and damages fresh line in the process.  Its a waste of money and worse, a waste of fishing time when you have to untangle it all, clip, and retie.

McCarter himself

[Duke]

Great tips guys! I've been doing what Rufus suggested for a couple of years now. Its sometimes fun and sometimes annoying watching others in the boat struggling with this problem when I hardly ever have a problem and I know its because of this. I read about this in a Bassmaster or some other magazine a couple years back and it fixed my problems almost entirely. I used to struggle with it quite a bit; no longer! 

I was also once told that I should soak my line in warm water before spooling and lay the line upside down on the ground when spooling. I've done this and haven't noticed much of a difference, but hasn't hurt either. So I do it when convenient (sometimes the water idea isn't convenient on the water).

Duke

[joshimoto son]

I have also had great results in eliminating line twists by closing the bail with my hand and tugging on the line.

I fish almost exclusivley flouracarbon line too... something I said I would never do after my first couple of times loading my spinning gear with it.
That tip really helps!

I also never take the line directley off the spool, I run the length out in the yard first and then cut it and wind it in on my spinning gear. ( I don't ever have problems pulling line off the spool with my baitcasters)

Then, once I'm done, I put a couple short blast of REEL MAGIC on the spool. That seems to really help out also.

Good post!

joshimoto son