Getting Knots In My Line Every Cast?!

[Mista bass]

Okay so I stopped by the lake on my way home to make a few casts. This is my first time out this year and I just respooled yesterday with 8 lb flouro. It's an old shimano saros 2500 on some Walmart combo rod that I leave in the back of my car. The rod is crap, the tip of the rod is even broken off, but I've never had problems with it before. Every cast I was getting crazy loops and knots in my line. I know it's not over spooled. Is it my rod? I feel stupid asking what's happening but I've never had this happen unless I was over spooled. I'm lost so can someone try to explain what the problem is?

[F14A-B]

It's likely line twist, introduced during spooling.

[Mista bass]

Yeah that did cross my mind. I usually have my local tackle shop spool it on their machine but I did this one myself just off the line spool with a pencil through it.

[Kevin22]

Spooling with a pencil is not a good idea for a spinning reel, I have never had it work out. Over the spool, under the spool, doesn't matter, all ended in twists for me. Spooling off the end that does not loop up has always worked fine. I spool dozens of spinning reels a year, everything from 2lb to 10lb and line twists have never been a problem. 

 

The quality of the flouro, specifically the stiffness, is another thing to look at. Stiff fluoro will not work well on a spinning reel. 

[ABW]

Braided + leader may be something you want to try out..

[retiredbosn]

Tie on a quality barrel swivel with a snap lock, hook it to something open your bail & start walking the line off your reel. Walk off double what u can cast (preferably all the line but that's probably not an option), then close the bail, and start reeling, keep tension on the line and walk back while reeling in. The swivel will rotate while your putting the line on, removing/preventing twist. Spooling a spinning reel with a pencil thru the spool almost guarantees severe line twist. Always fill a spinning reel with the spool facing you with the line looping in the same direction as your reel. Also idk if a Saros has a bearing on the bail, if it does it may be stuck, I know from experience when that little bearing malfunctions line twist is severe especially when spooling. Good luck.

[Chris at Tech]

What fluoro? Some brands don't play nice on spinning gear.

[hatrix]

Tie on a jig head and cast out as far as you can. Put the tip in the water (so you don't burn your fingers) and grab the line as tight as you can with you fingers and reel it in. Do it a couple times and it will remove all the twist in the line you had out. You can actually watch the jig head spin like crazy with all the twist you pushed out.

[WRB]

You may have spooled your line on backwards creating coils and line twist.

There isn't much you can do to fix this without running the line behind a boat a slow speed without anything tied on to the end of your line.

If you tie the line onto something and walk away until you reach about 50 yards, then lay the rod down, go back and untie the end of the line without anything on the end. Lay the line between a wet terry cloth towel about 10' away from your rod tip and start re spooling thecline back on your reel slowly. This may allow the line to untwist if you do this very slowly.

1. Repair the rod tip with a new top guide. Before you try this.

When you are done spray the line spooled line with a silicone aerosol spray. Line conditioner would be better, but more expensive.

Tom

[Sam]

Mista, here are two suggestions for you to ponder:

 

1.  Go outside and find something you can tie the end of your bait-less line to in order to secure it.

2.  Walk off as much line as you want.

3.  With the drag as tight as you can get it, tighten the line and stretch the line three or four times, holding it in the stretch for about 20 to 30 seconds, each, then releasing it.

4.  Put rod down and walk back to the end of your line and untie it, laying the line on the ground.

5.  Using KVD's Lure and Line Conditioner, spray a very, very wet spot on the wash cloth.

6.  Place the line in the fold of the washcloth's wet spot by holding the washcloth and line with your thumb and forefinger.

7.  Run the line through the wet spot as you respool the line on your spinning reel in a tight manner.

8.  Spray the line on the spool with more KVD Lure and Line Conditioner.

9.  You are ready to go!

 

When removing twisted line from a baitcaster, keep bail closed and loosen the drag. Pull the line off the spool.

 

If you don't want to go out side to stretch and spray your line then after spooling the line on your spinning reel go into the bathroom and run very, very hot water over the line while on the spool. No time limit but I suggest at least two minutes, if not more. The hot water will allow the line to adhere to your spool.

 

Check the spool's line test parameters and make sure you stay within them at all times.

 

Check rod's line test and bait weight parameters and stay within them.

 

Invest in a new rod. Does not have to be an expensive rod. Just a 6'6" to 7' medium heavy with parameters to match your spool and bait's parameters.

 

Never, never, never over spool a spinning reel. In fact, you may want to spool only 3/4 of the spinning reel with your fluorocarbon line and use a braid backing. Saves line for you and the braid will hold the line so it will not "skip" on the reel.

 

By throwing plastics you will develop line twist while fishing. Just part of the game. You can do three things when this happens:

1.  Fight the line on the spool and make it worse.

2.  Change out spools or reels.

3.  Do what WRB says to do when on the water.

 

So get out and try these tips and let us know if your line twist is better.

 

You may want to use a lighter line with the smallest diameter you can find.

[SirSnookalot]

Braid and use that FC for a leader.  Get a decent rod.  Swivels only help if your lure turns over or using an inline spinner.  Twist happens from the line being wrapped around the spool on retrieve, it's the nature of the beast.  Oil the line roller bearing for smoother operation.

[Mista bass]

I got it re spooled and I'm still getting the same problem. I was trying to use up some old trilene laying around but I think I might just have to suck it up and buy some quality line. I'm going to need to re spool the rest of my reels anyway.

[MickD]

Let's try to sort this out.  First you had a problem with flouro that you spooled yourself using a rotating feed spool on a pencil.  That will introduce a single twist with every revolution of the reel.  Put the spool on the floor in a way that the line comes off that spool opposite of how it goes onto your reel.  That is if the reel rotor goes clockwise looking at the front of it, the line should come off the feed spool counterclockwise.

 

Then you "got it respooled" with old Trilene.  How was it respooled?  The right way or the wrong way?  And was the trilene mono that had been in the garage all winter in CT?  Nylon gets hard a brittle in a cold, low humidity, environment, like northern garages.  

 

I think if you get some fresh, quality, line and spool it properly you will have no more problems.  Attention to detail using the right techniques.

[WRB]

Your spinning reel bail can cause a loop, not line twist. Flip the bail by hand, this helps to eliminate loops.

Old line isn't worth anything if it's weak and stiff.

Did you respool the line on correctly as suggested? Fix that broken rod tip?

Tom

[Mista bass]

It wasn't that old. I used it for ice fishing maybe 2 months ago and it was kept inside. When I say I got it respooled I had my local tackle shop do it on the machine.

[SirSnookalot]

WRB is right about loops, what causes it is slack line.  A good method is to lift the rod first then close the bail, the line is straight and the chances of a loop is greatly reduced.  Yes I get loops myself when I'm a bit careless especially with a lighter lure.

When ever I spool up with mono or copoly the first thing I do is soak the new spool in warm water, doesn't take too long, the line gets limp and should not coil or spring off the reel.  Before fishing I troll out the line, about 80-90% of the spool.  If possible I prefer to troll out mono and copoly lines before each outing.