How to Untangle a Bait-cast Reel

The first few paragraphs have been repeated from a previous post in order to provide context as to how the bait-cast ree impacted the success and failures of the popular vintage spin-cast reels with which they competed during the early years of spin-cast history.

Companies such as famous Sweedish Abu-Garcia and Japanese Diawa not only produced excellent spin-casting reels quickly on a par with Johnson and Zebco and a host of other similar designs--they also produced both true spinning reels of the under-hanging open-face varieties as well as medium to high-end bait-casting reels unlike any reels seen before. Anti-backlash designs--some harnessing the physics or controlled centrifugal force and others using the physics of magnets--began to boast simple back-lash-free operation. Some designs used both centrifugal force and magnets to prevent the crazy over-spin that had previously led to the dreaded birds-nests that could ruin a bait-caster's afternoon. However, the battle was won more by smart marketing campaigns, in my own estimation, than from truly better fishing alternatives to spin-casting reels.

Indeed, bait-casting reels were much improved over their predecessors, but they still required greater skill that came only from practice and a sensitive and well-educated feel of the thumb to quell the tangles of the bird's nest. There was even by then--and is to this day--a likelihood for having at least an occasional mess of knots in the reel even with the most-sophisticated and expensive bait-casting reel designs. They quite simply did still then and do still now--require a good measure more of operator skill to fish without handicap than did even the least expensive spin-cast reels. How bait-cast reels made a gradual but steady come-back over spin-cast reels is largely  a study in how great marketing can turn negatives into positives.

 

Now vintage relics themselves, Garcia bait-cast reels similar to the one pictured above made following the general pattern of the famous Garcia Ambassadeur 500 series proliferated and evolved during the same years as did Johnson's Spin-cast reels. Advertisements for both types of reels are the best documentation of the competitive drama that unfolded between these fishing reel types during the reel wars. These bait-castin g reels are wonderful reels. They are not are not as foolproof to use as spin-cast reels.

There had always been a sense of pride that went with knowing how to fish with bait-casting reels. It requires skill to. The REAL fishermen--the guys who had paid their dues with a lifetime of bait-casting birds-nests and blistered thumbs (from controlling the rapidly careening spool of fishing line being driven by a big old plug or a treble-hook and a gob of blood-bait with thumb tension)--were not yet ready to concede their skills as outmoded. There was a kind of not altogether undeserved label of sissy fishing reels that developed regarding spin-casting reels. After-all, with five minutes of instruction, any child old enough to have basic major limb control--heater little boys, or girls and women--could be out casting well-seasoned macho bait-casting fishermen using a Johnson Century or comparable spin-casting reel. It didn't seem quite fair.

Since I Have this Hard-earned Experience, I am Sharing it with Others. No-one should ever have to Endure this Again.

This is probably the most that I will ever refer to bait-casting reels in this weblog. I should therefore take opportunity to add my take and my experience upon how to deal with the inevitable back-lashed bird's nest condition so often wrought by their use. Whether one can recover from a backlash situation depends in large measure on the amount of time and patience one cares to devote to the problem. How much money you are willing to justify losing is also a factor. If I was a professional bass tournament fishermen in competition, which I will never be, I would deal with a backlash by picking up the favorite similar reel and continuing without missing more than a beat or two. I have certainly done this.

Short of that, I might whip out my razor sharp knife and cut the back-lashed bird's nest into a bunch of pieces, which will usually allow it to be quickly stripped off and retied onto a lure onto good line underneath the tangled part. I have also done this. There is a reason that spools usually hold way more line than is necessary to make even the longest casts possible. this is reality. Using this remedy be careful not to pick the good portion of line up while overlooking an underlying cut in the line that may not be readily evident. You can usually spot these by taking a very close and careful look and by discarding enough line ot make sure that you are past all of these cuts.

Another remedy, which makes perfect sense, but which I have never seemed to have the forethought to try, is to have ready alternate spare reel spools that are pre-threaded with line. It may be that a tangled spool can be freed sufficiently to remove it entirely from the frame and replace it with another ready one. It has been my experience that the tangles exceed the clearance or interfere with the removal of the reel without also cutting a bunch of line. I have sometimes wound up removing a spool in order to remove the tangle. but not without a lot of line slashing to get to that point. If I had another ready spool full of good line, it might make sense at that juncture to replace the other one. I can't really see that it would, but it might.

I am sometimes accused of being stubborn. I prefer to call it doggedness. Whatever it is, I have sometimes, more often when in was young and had fewer alternative resources and options, chosen to untangle and thereby salvage, if not all, at least some of my fishing line. My success at this varied, but I am glad that I have this experience however unpleasant and time-consuming it may have been at the time. I must have seen no good alternatives. But in the process I discovered that if one holds his temper and calmly approaches the problem at hand rationally and with the knowledge that at least some of these bird's nests are not terminal. they can be untangled fairly quickly. Even now after more than a half century of fishing experience, I experience occasional birds nests when using bait-casting reels. This may be in part because I am constantly fiddling with, fixing, and trying different reels. But regardless of why it happens, I confess that it does.

This is why I now know how to deal with my back-lashed lines in bait-casting reels. the minute the backlash occurs, I try to answer the question as to why--with a mind of not repeating the mistake or malfunction with that reel subsequently. This done, I then quickly assess the degree of the problem.

First:

If it is just a small backlash, then my odds of a quick recovery are enhanced, though not a hundred-percent.  I will usually decide at this point to test how badly the tangle really is. This mostly depend upon how tight the wrap has become. If I have not tried to reel it in, thereby tightening the wrap, the wrap can often be undone fairly easily by making sure that the spool is released to spin freely and then gently pulling at wads of the tangled wrap to loosen it. I then may reverse the turn of the spool, free-wheeling it by hand in reverse in an effort to uncover and thereby release the main point of tangle.

If that Doesn't Work then Try this.

This works probably a third of the time. If it does not fix the tangle or only partially fixes it, I will then lightly pull the line forward on the lure side of the tangle very lightly--with increasing tension to see if I can pull the tangle out from the now-loosened coil of line. Using these two maneuvers alternately will free the backlash entirely about two-thirds of the time within five minutes or sometimes much less. I begin to get antsy at this point and will usually resort to more radical measures. But as a kid, I am sure that I sat down at the fishing bank and used up most for my fishing time by meticulously untangling the line. If you do this, our success ultimately depends upon your ability to loosen the upper wraps so that you can eventually reach the one or more main binds that originally started the whole mess. My guess is that if you cannot do this within fifteen minutes you may never be able to do it. Sometimes, without any help on your part, the back-lashed line underneath gets way too tight and ties the hardest and most complex hard knots sufficient to tiny any sailor--even lifers. But sometimes your effort first, helps you understand the mess for dealing with the problem the next time and second, salvages at least some of your fishing line--if this priority exceeds the value of your lost fishing time.

This is probably the most that I will ever refer to bait-casting reels in this weblog. I should therefore take opportunity to add my take and my experience upon how to deal with the inevitable back-lashed bird's nest condition so often wrought by their use.

 

  These images remind me of the two old vintage bait-cast reels that I learned to cast on. It is a wonder that I bothered to learn at all, given the array of excellent spin-cast reels I had at my disposal. I think I learned as a requirement for the Boy Scout Fishing Merit Badge on my way to becoming an Eagle Scout. As I recall, the skill grew on me as does any skill. But I must have encountered a thousand tangles while learning--mostly in my backyard with different size bell-sinkers as practice weights.

I had an old tire set up as a target. Eventually I took the rig to nearby ponds and lakes and used them to catch fish. By then, the mid-sixties, it was rare for anyone of my age to know how to use such antiquated bait-cast reels with much skill. I dreamed of owning a nice shiny red Garcia Ambassadeur 5000 or 6000. 

After I went into the Navy, I never picked up another bait-cast reel for at least a couple of decades. I don't know whatever happened to my old bait-cast reels, but I never missed them. When I did eventually take a renewed interest in bait-cast reels they had evolved into another dimension. I had heard how much easier they had become to use. But when I eventually got one, I still found the skills I had learned by thumbing those old reels as a kid very useful. Old spin-cast reels like the Johnson's and Abu Garcia's still showed much greater versatility and utility then and now.

Is it Worth Your Time?

In the final analysis, whether you should spend the time untangling or fishing is up to you. But as a general gem of hard-won wisdom, I offer the idea that tangles and untangling and hooking and hooking and unhooking, and knotting and unknotting, and cussing or not--is just part and parcel to the sport of fishing. If it drives you crazy--then fishing is probably not for you. I use to believe that such incidents decreased with experience. Then age-related handicaps such as deceased vision quality, decreased manual dexterity and feeling in the fingers and hands and arms, increased hand and finger tremors, and generally decreased endurance--all which are taken for granted in your youth--can contribute to a decreased fishing enjoyment and increased incidence of events that work against keeping your hook in front of fish--such as bait-casting tangles and terminal bird's nests. On the other-hand, many of these unpleasant events may well be avoided by using spin-casting reels. Just saying.

The 160 Johnson GUIDE Accu-cast Reel was Johnson's Best Attempt to Overcome all of the Bait-cast Competitive Arguments

 Okay, now the crux of the Accu-cast's unique major difference. The center of the bell is about three times the diameter of most spin-cast reels of this era. It has been made smooth with a big sort of grommet which is not readily apparent as to its purpose until the bell is removed. The underside of the grommet is recessed just inside the outer parameter of the line exit hole. Still, the purpose is not apparent until you look at the line spool cover. The smallish nut that is usually found holding the spool cover in place has been replaced with a larger nut that is also recessed as a perfect compliment to the inside recess of the bell.

Several Spin-cast Reels Offer the Ability to Stop Your Lure in Mid-Flight

The function of this male-female fit of this over-sized hollow spool cover nut is to apply pressure to the line as the line-release button pushes the spool assembly forward and into the recess of the underside of the bell--right where the line exits the inside of the reel. Walah. This is how Johnson's designers met the bait-casting reel's competition regarding greater accuracy. The idea was to enable the user to push the line-release button a second time after the initial cast had been made. This second depression of the line-release button was intended to slow or even stop cold the forward travel of the lure--just as a bait-casting reel can do.

So in one fell swoop, this Johnson reel design nullified a major competitive advantages of bait-casting reels--all with none of the negatives associated with a free-wheeling spool found on bait-casting reels. The distance advantage of bait-casting reels is mostly marketing BS--given a cost-for-cost reel comparison. This is not so hard to understand without ever even trying one of these two models out in a side-by-side comparison with a comparable weight and size bait-casting reel--to say nothing of comparable cost. A spin-cast reel is sometimes called a closed-face spinning reel by old-timers although you seldom hear this label anymore. It is actually a more accurate label because the action principle that allows a spin-cast reel to work is just like a true spinning reel--also sometimes called an open-face spinning reel.

I offer the idea that tangles and untangling and hooking and hooking and unhooking, and knotting and unknotting, and cussing or not--is just part and parcel to the sport of fishing. If it drives you crazy--then fishing is probably not for you.

An open-face spinning reel has virtually no friction resistance to limit its reach even when using a very light lure. In conjunction with a long limber-action spinning rod, the forward motion of the cast propels even light-weight lures very long distances because the line is simply unwinding from the spool with hardly any restrictive friction from what little it touches the edges of the spool. This same principle is used with a spin-cast reel with only slightly more resistance as the line touches the center of the line exit-hole in the reel bell.

Furthermore, an open-face spinning reel does not do so well with heavier lures, due to the delicate operation of the method of release and also due to the line's tendency for uncontrollability because of no method for constraining the target of the line's exit. A spin-cast reel's bell itself with the line-exit hole solves this problem. The net result is that a spin-cast reel can handle a much wider range of lure weights with no adjustment or hassles.

The addition of the Johnson Accu-cast feature to these models of spin-cast reels only enhances the capability of the spin-cast reel. I can see no downside to this feature. The drawback is that it doesn't work very well intuitively--or did not for me.  I am sure I could get use to it.  The only time I really might use such a feature is if I see that I am going to wind up on the bank or in a tree. When I use a spin-casting reel, I intuitively grab the line with my non-casting hand where it exits the reel and squeeze it against the rod. So it is not like there are no alternatives with a spin-cast reel. This feature certainly works as intuitively as does a modern bait-casting flipping switch. And it requires very little practice. So why was this feature not a commercial success?

Some Current Production Diawa Spin-cast Reels Still Offer the Feature that Johnson Pioneered as the Accu-cast Features.

Comments

[gamma blue 11s]

i purchased this breadmaker all the traditional schokohrrutige cardys within summer, reckon that they can end up sold out want slide arrived. they were my very own to begin with twos for gamma blue 11s and this company is great!!!they will be so very i actually carry all of them very nearly each day!!! most desirable gamma blue 11s at any time. this becomes bery linty every so often, however its easily taken off.

[nfl T-Shirts]

nfl Houston Texans Jerseys Ben Tate Jersey

[豚]

How to Untangle a Bait-cast Reel - The Golden Age of Spin Casting Fishing Reels--and Green, Red, Silver, and Brass.
猪 http://www.kantei.go.jp/
Nike官方鞋子型錄 http://www.nikefree.com.tw/
Cheap moncler http://www.barberelectric513.com/
NIKE官方網 http://www.nikefree.com.tw/
CHEAP MONCLER JACKETS http://www.barberelectric513.com/
釣魚島 http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/中国
釣魚島 読み方 http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/中国
豚 http://www.kantei.go.jp/

[釣魚島]

How to Untangle a Bait-cast Reel - The Golden Age of Spin Casting Fishing Reels--and Green, Red, Silver, and Brass.
豚 http://www.kantei.go.jp/
ブタ http://www.kantei.go.jp/
MONCLER COAT http://www.barberelectric513.com/
釣魚島 読み方 http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/中国
NIKE官方網 http://www.nikefree.com.tw/
Cheap moncler http://www.barberelectric513.com/
nike 特價鞋 http://www.nikefree.com.tw/
釣魚島 http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/中国

[http://www.barberelectric513.com/moncler-kids-multiple-logo-jacket-black-p-108.html]

How to Untangle a Bait-cast Reel - The Golden Age of Spin Casting Fishing Reels--and Green, Red, Silver, and Brass.
釣魚島 読み方 http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/中国
ブタ http://www.kantei.go.jp/
Nike air max http://www.nikefree.com.tw/
Nike官方鞋子型錄 http://www.nikefree.com.tw/
豚 http://www.kantei.go.jp/
Http://Www.Barberelectric513.Com/Moncler-Vest-Women-C-4.Html?Sort=1A&Page=1 http://www.barberelectric513.com/moncler-vest-women-c-4.html?sort=1a&page=1
釣魚島 http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/中国
http://www.barberelectric513.com/moncler-kids-multiple-logo-jacket-black-p-108.html http://www.barberelectric513.com/moncler-kids-multiple-logo-jacket-black-p-108.html