A common spinning reel issue - not the washer

[govallis]

Ever since I started fishing, I noticed that the line likes to go to the bottom side of the spool - the corn shape (fat bottom). This is because the line is not tight when I retrieve, especially with light lures such as a weightless rigged Senko. A thinner washer does not help much and it makes the line goes more to the upper side when line is tight.

 

The result is: bird nest, especially in a windy day.

 

I thought that was the nature of spinning reels and just had to live with that, until I happened to see Okuma Safina SPa-35 on sale for $20 in a local store and somehow bought one.

 

The strange thing is, the cheap Safina SPa-35 does not have such an issue, it always get the line evenly on the spool, while the line is tight or not. I then bought another, exactly same good! Even more strange, I then bought two SPa-25 and they are nothing like the SPa-35, just like all other reels I have used, such as the Daiwa RG2500-AB.

 

I wonder, if you guys ever found a 25 size reel that's like the Safina SPa-35? Or any idea why the SPa-35 does so well so I can mod other reels to do as well?

 

The following photos compare the $20 SPa-35 to the $60 Daiwa RG2500H-AB. You can see, the Daiwa has a fat bottom while line is not tight and a upside-down corn shape while tight. Note that I already reduced the washers from 1.1 mm to 0.5 mm, otherwise the two Daiwa I have were even worse and bird nested a lot. The two SPa-35 come with two washers installed and I did not change anything on them.

 

[Doyel24]

First, you need to look at the spool “stem”, the area your line goes around, and see how its designed. Not all spools are designed to lay even like the 35. Some are designed to lay “corn shaped” and also upside down corn shaped. If they are supposed to be even and flat then when corn shaped you need to take away washers, and when upside down shaped you need to add washers. Hope that helps

[WRB]

The take away ai get from the good photos is overfilled spools in all 3. If you can't maintain slight line pressure retreiving the lure it becomes loose on the spool. 

You either remove about 15 yards of line or make a long cast and retrieve the line by running the line between your finger about every dozen casts.

Line conditioner also helps.

Tom

[jimmyjoe]

30 minutes ago, WRB said:

The take away ai get from the good photos is overfilled spools in all 3.

   Hmmmm.    This blurb (fifth pic down) from Daiwa's website seems to say that at least some of the Daiwa reels can be loaded full.    https://www.daiwa.com/us/contents/reels/bg_sw_spinning/index.html

   Would this cure the problem? On this other page, the blurb is lacking but the pic kinda says a lot: https://www.daiwa.com/us/contents/reels/certate/index.html

   Kinda makes a guy wonder what's going on here, y'know?  BTW .... Daiwa is the only company that I've ever seen that advocates a full spool like this.    jj

[WRB]

Over filled spinning reel spools are a problem. So what is a overfilled spool?

Does the line fall off whrn you open the bail, if yes it's overfilled.

Full with tight line if different the full with loose line. If you run the line behind your boat about 100' for a few minutes at walking speed, the reel the line back on while the boat continues forward the line will be spool at the correct tightness and should be about 1 to 2 penny thickness (1/16-1/8") below the front of the spool rim.

The line laying on the spool tapered front to back, smaller in front and larger in back, is less problematic then tapered back to front. In fact Daiwa TD SS1500 reels have a tapered front to back spool to increase casting performance.

Tighten up your line and it will reduce your problems or remove some line.

Tom

[FishTank]

I would say Tom nailed it.  The the spools are too full.  You need about +1/16" of spool with no line.   I would also guess that the line on the Daiwa is loose at the bottom of the spool.  It happened to me a few times.  If you let the line out behind a boat and if it is loose on the spool most of the way down then you know it will need to be re-spooled. 

 

It should look something like this......(Hopefully this image is OK, you can tell where I got it)

[NYWayfarer]

Thin bail wire vs thick bail wire. The difference between the reel that doesn’t have the issue and the ones that do in your pictures is the size of the bail wire.

 

I am no scientist but the thin bail wire seems to be much more forgiving when using lighter lures and line tension on the retrieve, thus less of the corn cob effect.

 

My Lew’s Mach 2 and Crush spinning reels do not have the issue when casting lighter lures. They both have a thin bail wire. My more expensive Lew’s Custom Pro does have that issue when casting lures 1/8 oz or lower and it has the thick bail wire. 

 

Coincidence? 

[govallis]

This issue is not about the normal cone shape, nor the overfill.

 

This is the latest result.

 

Like most reels, the Daiwa RG2500H-AB uses a 1 mm washer. It is too thick, resulting a fat bottom. Not a normally designed cone, way too fat bottom as you see in the photo. I changed the washer to 0.5 mm, then It was too thin and shifted to the other side. Recently, I added a 0.25 mm washer, making It 0.75 mm total. Now It seems perfect, even and uniform, no bird nest so far.

 

Seems this washer is extremely sensitive, a 0.01 inch makes a world difference.

 

As about overfill, I have been doing it with the SPa-35 for almost a year now without a single problem. And I use 0.33 - 0.35 mm lines (cheap 12 - 15# C21). Now with the Daiwa too, 0.31 mm (10#) Izorline Platinum hi-viz.

 

 

[Tim Kelly]

Using line that thick on a 2500 sized reel is always going to be a challenge. Your larger Okuma handles it better because it has a bigger spool. That's my guess.

[govallis]

Many 2500 are the same as 3000 except a larger "stem" for less line capacity, no any other difference, no any more challenge at all. This Daiwa 2500 is only 2 mm smaller than the Safina 35, 47.98 mm vs. 49.91, to be exact. As we all know, Okuma reels are smaller, a 35 is actually a 30 or even smaller, this SPa-35 is no exception, a really 30 reel.