Getting twist out of Tatsu

[Preytorien]

I fished all night last night and tonight with a rig spooled with 6lb Tatsu.

 

Had some surprisingly good luck and consistently caught them with a tried and true Mepps gold-bladed spinner

 

That said, my line is now surely twisted pretty wickedly. I’m shorebound, no boat here.

 

How can I get the twist out, in somewhat the same manner as trolling the line out behind the boat? Any way to do this on land?

[Log Catcher]

You might try taking the line out and reeling it back in under pressure with it held between your thumb and finger. I stopped line twist by using a barrel swivel and a leader on my spinning rods.

[keagbassr]

I would replace it. Twisted 6lb. Test can't have much life left. I know I wouldn't trust it.

[Team9nine]

Prop the rod/reel up in the garage against something, open the bail and then walk off 100 feet of line into the yard or down the street. Close the bail (leave the line on the ground), then start at the rod tip and just pinch the line and walk toward the end of the line. Might have to do this a couple times. Similar to what LogCatcher mentions, but you only have to walk the line out once. If it's really twisted, a single pass won't undo it enough. There are some other little tricks with this, but no easy way to explain them. 

[Angry John]

You should be able to walk it out and reel it in with nothing attached.  Helps some.

[WRB]

I haven't tried this; walk the line out about 50 yards without anything tied on. Lay the line near the rod rod between a wet towel and slowly reel it back onto the reel.

Tom

[Tywithay]

Tie on just a sinker and cast it out. A plain old lead will fly 50+ yards with little effort. Then just reel it back with a rag between your fingers, or something. I don't recommend bare fingers, because fluoro gets hot fast.

[Choporoz]

In with my gear, I keep a 30" length of line with a snap swivel on one end and a ball swivel on the other.  Wrap it around a tree and secure with snap onto the line, leaving the ball swivel as tag end .  Tie your spinning reel line to the ball swivel and walk it out with bail open 50 yards or so.  Walk it back, reeling the line in between your fingers.  

[Angry John]

13 hours ago, WRB said:

I haven't tried this; walk the line out about 50 yards without anything tied on. Lay the line near the rod rod between a wet towel and slowly reel it back onto the reel.

Tom

A dash of kvd l and l on that towel might not be the worst idea either.

[Tywithay]

14 hours ago, keagbassr said:

I would replace it. Twisted 6lb. Test can't have much life left. I know I wouldn't trust it.

Good fluorocarbon lasts a couple years, at minimum. If you threw out $40 line every time it gets twisted, it'd get really expensive to fish.

[islandbass]

I would surmise that only the first 1/3 if the spool’s line was used so that most likely the only section of line that is twisted. 

 

This is what I would do:

 

* Find a big open and long space 

*?tie on a good quality swivel and attach a good weight like a bass casting weight. Some bass casting weights have swivels but like I mentioned, a quality swivel. Use split ring to join the swivel and weight if you have to

* with the weight on the ground, walk off about 3 times the max casting distance (twice is probably sufficient, but I’m a bit on the overkill side) you did while you were fishing, hence the need for the large area

* reel the line back up. This should simulate the tip about how people with boat “untwist” the line on their spinning reels from the back of the boat 

 

that should do the trick.

 

another thing I do while I’m fishing to alleviate twist is periodically I’d have about rod’s length of line out and hold the rod out about 70 degrees with the line dangling. Now the next part could be maddening if you hate watching paint dry. Now that the line is hanging vertically the lure will spin back and forth like a top as the becomes untwisted. It feels like an eternity but it’s really only about 20 seconds and it’s a good investment of time.

[Stalking bass]

Go out in your yard or a nearby place and put a heavier lure on or cheap heavy sinker on and cast it as far out as you can. Walk up to it as you are reeling puting tension on your line with your fingers while you are walking towards it and reeling. I would do it two or three times. It works everytime. For spinning reels I always soak my new line in warm water spool my reel then walk out in the yard and tie on a heavier than I would normally throw. Just to get distance. Be easy with it. I cast it twice and it really improves the smoothness of the casts.

[keagbassr]

1 hour ago, Tywithay said:

Good fluorocarbon lasts a couple years, at minimum. If you threw out $40 line every time it gets twisted, it'd get really expensive to fish.

Good point. I guess it's easier to say when its someone else's money

[Preytorien]

I kind of did a combination of several of these suggestions....

 

I pulled out the entire spool twice and re-seated the line. 

 

Twice I pulled about 60 yards of line off and reeled in with no weight on the end, punching the line as I reeled.

 

The soaked the entire spool with L&L 

 

At first glance the line doesn’t spring off the spool, or at least not nearly as badly. Also, while hanging limp it has FAR less curl to it.

 

It appears it worked. When I use a spinner next time I’ll be sure to use a snap-swivel

 

Thanks guys!

[.ghoti.]

11 hours ago, Choporoz said:

In with my gear, I keep a 30" length of line with a snap swivel on one end and a ball swivel on the other.  Wrap it around a tree and secure with snap onto the line, leaving the ball swivel as tag end .  Tie your spinning reel line to the ball swivel and walk it out with bail open 50 yards or so.  Walk it back, reeling the line in between your fingers.  

Thismis one of the best ideas I've read here in quite a while!

Thanks, Chop