fishing line tangles

[patrick52]

I keep getting line tangles on my fishing rod. It's nothing special or expensive, rod/reel combo I got for $25 bucks. I try fishing from shore with 4" grub & jig head. Is there not enough weight with the jig head ? is there a "rule-of-thumb" to go by as far as how heavy jig has to be according to size of grub. Any advice gladly accepted & very much appreciated. Thx

[Jon Morris]

If you are using a spinning reel make sure you are closing the bale manually. 

 

A lot of people will just start reeling to close it and this will lead to tangles.

 

Also when putting line on your reel make sure you have it go on the same way it comes off the spool. 

[patrick52]

I took it to Dick's Sporting Goods to get line put on so I figured I was good. That's why I was wondering if I need a certain weight on there. Am I supposed to add wght to that type of lure ???? sorry...a bit inexperienced

[roadwarrior]

We need to know exactly what you have in order to answer the question, but I suspect your jig is too light, your line too heavy and your rod too stiff.  Ideally I would suggest a 6 1/2' or 7' Medium Power/ Fast Action spinning rod; 6# test monofilament or copolymer line and a 3/8 oz jig head.

 

[EvanT123]

Lean to put line on yourself. When I first started I would go to dicks to have them spool the line and it was nothing but headaches. Look at some of the videos on the main page you might find one with instructions on how to do so. 

[fishnkamp]

First, roadwarrior is right. Tell us what rod and reel it is and what the rod specs are. The rod will have a line weight and lure weight on it.  The weight of your bait including the grub and jig head need to fall inside those specs. Now there are a bunch of other things to consider here. I am going to suggest you purchase a tool to put your line on yourself. Berkley makes a tool called the Berkey line station. It only costs $20 from Bass Pro or Cabelas. You mount your reel on it and the line spool on the other end. The line spool will be held under tension, so you can be sure to spool your line smoothly. Here is a simple rule when putting line on with this tool. Install the spool so the line comes off the bottom for a spinning reel. Mount the spool so the line comes off the top if you are filling a baitcaster. Do not overfill the reel, leave about 1/8 of an inch of the spool showing. Too much line causes problems the same as too little line. Lastly, some fishing line have more memory and thus cause more problems than others. They are fine if you are extra careful when putting it on, and have more experience when fishing with them. Tell us what line they put on it.  My wife had so much trouble with some monos we changes all of our spinning reels over to Berkley original Fireline. We use 10 pound test for our light grub fishing. She loves Kalin 5 inch grubs.  We use a special set of jig heads called Bass Pro Perfect Finesse Worm hooks and Bass Pro Perfect Worm hooks and they look like this. We use different sizes depending on if I am fishing grubs, 4 inch worms, or bigger creature baits like craws. They come in different size hooks and weights.

[jr231]

You'd vary your weight of the jig head depending on how fast you want your grub to fall. Don't limit yourself to using just one weight jighead for your grubs. Sometimes 1/16oz can make the difference in 1 or 5 fish days . 

I try and stay away from pegged weights unless I'm fishing some really dense stuff.. it gives the fish a little more leverage and is easier to shake than a standard sliding bullet head. 

I suggest you try braid. I'm going to assume you're fishing from shore, a decent braid will add casting distance, and you dont have to worry about "line twist" with braid on a spinning reel like you do with mono or floro. Also braid is much more sensitive and it'll be easier for you to detect bites . The no stretch threads it's made out of will result in a quick hook up.