Manually closing spinning reel bail

[MickD]

18 hours ago, WRB said:

false scenario that automatic bails cause line twist.

Yay!  Right on!  Anyone doubting this should provide logical and laws of physics arguments for their case.

Most of the time I close it manually by just bumping it with my right (casting hand) hand knuckles.  Smooth , quiet, no line taken in by the act of closing it.  

[NYWayfarer]

Started manually closing my bail at the turn of the century. I heard it saves the bail spring.

[optimator]

Plus my left hand is already there since I like to feather my line. It helps me with accuracy. And with spinning gear I need all the help I can get!

[Manly Studson]

1 hour ago, NYWayfarer said:

Started manually closing my bail at the turn of the century. I heard it saves the bail spring.

This is what I heard too. I also heard it is easier on gears. Often enough I feel the reel resisting when I crank the handle to get the bail to close. So I always do it manually.

[Steveo-1969]

On 7/5/2020 at 9:27 AM, garroyo130 said:

Starting out on a super cheap spinning reel basically forced me into it. I mean you could turn the handle but it was so much effort it made it feel like things were gonna break. 

Same for me. I wanted to turn the handle to close the bail just like I saw on the fishing shows I watched! But it was too hard so I learned to close it by hand. I was very disappointed that I couldn't close it the right way! Years later I saw someone give a tutorial on how to close the bail by hand, tug on the line to remove any possible loops, and let the line bounce off your extended index finger when you start the retrieve.

 

Now all of these things are automatic.

[Bankc]

I do it both ways.  Sometimes I manually close it.  Sometimes I just start cranking.  I have to say, I don't know why I do it either way.  They both feel equally comfortable to me.  Whatever's driving that decision inside my brain to do it one way or the other, it isn't conscious.   

[Tizi]

Manually closing the bail is something I have always done, not even thinking about it.  It's pretty seamless.

[TnRiver46]

I always manually close it, prevents the loops and is easier on the gears/springs

[PourMyOwn]

I'm another one who always closes by hand. I was taught (right or wrong) at an early age to close the bail and put the line in the line roller before reeling. 

[Elkins45]

My grandad sawed the bail off one of his Mitchell 300s so you had to manually pick up the line and hook it over the roller to retrieve. I think he said he did it to prevent line twist, but I’m not certain about that. I can tell you it was amazingly annoying and I never ever used that reel when I inherited all his fishing gear.

 

I almost always close it by hand just because that big “klunk” sounds like it can’t be very good for the mechanism.

[Linewinder]

On 7/4/2020 at 9:32 PM, BrianMDTX said:

When did that become the standard?

 

When I fished a lot (up through the mid-80s), I never saw or heard of anyone closing the bail manually. Everyone casted their lure and cranked the handle to close the bail. In fact, I have some old reels (40-50 years old) that you really can’t close the bail manually. 
 

I believe it makes sense to eliminate line twist, but when did it become commonplace to do so? 

Hey Brian.  Quite a bit of the talk above shows that most manually close the bail, but that doesn't answer your question.  Someone mentioned some research toward that more directly, but I can definitely say that by the mid-'80's I was closing my bail then (on a Shimano reel), but I still used an automatic bail with other reels. 

 

As far as line twist, if you follow the physics as was mentioned earlier, you will see that the other comments are true in that the bail itself (manual close or automatic) does not and cannot cause line twist -- line twist is mostly inherent to spinning/spincast reels.  Perhaps better rolling line guides help with twist, but I don't know. 

 

As far as line loops, pulling up slightly on the rod and consequently putting a little more tension on the line from the spool helps when closing the bail -- but apparently up until the line is very twisted.  Pulling on the line or poking a finger in while closing the bail helps in the same way.  But I find the loops more of a function of line twist than bail type.  I tested this by closing the automatic bail on slack line so that if the line was twisted it would have done so (visibly), but the bail closes without causing loops -- did this on at least 3 reels of different ages and makes.  When the line was severely twisted, slack line at the spool tended to result in loops.

 

What I did notice, which is only minutely interesting and is irrelevant here, is that the older auto-close bail reels took less force to close than those I have with manual close bails when closing them automatically, even though the manual-close reels having what appears to be smaller springs.  Maybe the ease on the auto-close reels is a function on my reels of the weight of the rotors (momentum).

[BrianMDTX]

21 minutes ago, Linewinder said:

What I did notice, which is only minutely interesting and is irrelevant here, is that the older auto-close bail reels took less force to close than those I have with manual close bails when closing them automatically, even though the manual-close reels having what appears to be smaller springs.  Maybe the ease on the auto-close reels is a function on my reels of the weight of the rotors (momentum)

I’ve noticed that as well. I also think that back in the day, anglers tended to cast more weight (either heavy lures or sinkers for live bait) that tended to reduce loops. Plus, skirted spools can really foul line when caught under the spool, which IMO is way worse than with an internal spool like a Mitchell 300. 

[Linewinder]

Yup.  Some skirted spools (metal) have sharp edges.  The old push-button spools are nice, one of the benefits of the rear-drag reels.