This shouldn't be this hard

[randdmart]

Hello,

 

I bought an Ugly Stick Shakespeare 6.5 foot open faced rod/reel combo at Bass Pro Shops and had them spool 10lb test monofilament line on the reel using their machine.  I bring it home and do the soaking in hot water thing to remove memory from the line.  I put everything back together and try putting the line through the guides and somehow everything gets tangled.  I tried it both with the bail open and closed with the same results.  Obviously I'm doing something wrong somewhere, this shouldn't be this hard.  This problem is why I took the spinning rod I bought 3 months ago back and switched to a closed face reel.  After using that for awhile it was limiting and problematic so I decided to give an open faced reel another try and here we are, I'm so frustrated!!!

What can I possibly be doing wrong?

 

Rich

[roadwarrior]

Take the rod & reel  to the store with you and have them help you.

It's simple and once they show you how to string your rod it will never 

be a problem again. 

[galyonj]

What do you mean when you say everything gets tangled?

1. Adjust the drag on your reel so that you can easily strip line off as you go.
2. Keep the bail closed.
3. Unwrap a foot or so of line from the spool, and bring it under the closed bail arm. The line should only go under the bail. It should never completely wrap around it.
4. Pull some line and bring it up into the bottom, then out the top of the first guide. The line should never wrap around a guide.
5. Repeat for the rest of the guides on your way up the rod to the tip.
6. Pull more line out and tie on your hook or whatever.
7. Done.

Done properly, your line will basically make a really tall L shape, with line coming off the spool, then making a 90 degree bend around the bail, then straight up through the guides.

[Choporoz]

+1

I do it the same way.  When threading the guides from the reel, I set drag pretty loose and maintain some tension at all times

[BrianMDTX]

Show us a pic of your reel. 
 

Roadwarrior’s suggestion is a good one. You can also go to an grass field and pull 90% of your line out and reel it back onto the spool through a damp towel held just behind the first guide. That should spool it back on and eliminate the twists. 

[TOXIC]

If I had to guess I would say your reel is overfilled.  That will cause the line to jump off the spool as soon as you open the bail with nothing on the other end.  Either that or it’s spooled with cheap fluorocarbon.  You should never have to put the spool in warm water.  The tip you are referencing is to put the line in warm water as you wind it on the spool.  

[garroyo130]

I cant see the soaking in water thing help in any way other than adding memory to the line. I would avoid it and if you insist on doing it, make sure you have a way to keep the line tight to the spool while submerged.

[N.Y. Yankee]

It sounds to me like the reel is overfilled or improperly filled.  If it is, as said above, the line will jump off the spool and can tangle up. When the reel is "full", the line should not be even with the lip of the spool or passed it. It should be 1/16 to 1/8 inch below the top lip of the spool. A spinning reel is a good reel to fish with but like anything else, if you do not get shown the little tricks to using one, it can be confusing and/or problematic. As said, If you are pulling line off to string the guides, leave the bail closed and loosen the drag to let the spool turn and pull the line out against a bit of tension. Any time you open the bail, you should have your finger on the spool to hold the line until you cast. Once you get used to working one the right way, you will be able to cast without thinking about it. but you just need to learn how. I teach kids how to use a spinning reel and they get it pretty quickly but that is with me there, showing them how. It might be tough over a message board.

[NYWayfarer]

Like others have said overfilled reel. They tend to overfill at the store when you have them put on line.

 

You should be able to see some room between the line and the lip of your reel. That’s a proper line fill.

[BrianMDTX]

2 hours ago, garroyo130 said:

I cant see the soaking in water thing help in any way other than adding memory to the line. I would avoid it and if you insist on doing it, make sure you have a way to keep the line tight to the spool while submerged.

I did that with filler spools, as the “memory” they have is much larger in diameter that any spinning reel spool. 
 

Did...as I only use bulk spools now that are much closer to the diameter of the spool on the reel. 

[fishwizzard]

What line is it?  There is a huge variation in the thickness of “10lb” mono, for example, Trilene XT is 0.014” while Supernatural is 0.010”.  The line might simply be too thick to handle well on the size spinning reel you have. 

[jimmyjoe]

7 minutes ago, fishwizzard said:

What line is it?  There is a huge variation in the thickness of “10lb” mono, for example, Trilene XT is 0.014” while Supernatural is 0.010”.  The line might simply be too thick to handle well on the size spinning reel you have. 

 

   Absolutely true.

   But ............  what size reel do you have? Larger diameter line needs to go on larger diameter spools.     jj

[randdmart]

Here is a picture of the spool/reel

[MN Fisher]

2 minutes ago, randdmart said:

Here is a picture of the spool/reel

1: That's under-filled, which will affect casting distance.

2: It doesn't seem to be laid on evenly - I'm seeing a lot of crossover.

3: 10# on that spool might be a bit much...I don't see the reel size, but 8# would probably be better. 10# I wouldn't put on anything smaller than a 3000 size.

 

 

[randdmart]

2 minutes ago, MN Fisher said:

1: That's under-filled, which will affect casting distance.

2: It doesn't seem to be laid on evenly - I'm seeing a lot of crossover.

3: 10# on that spool might be a bit much...I don't see the reel size, but 8# would probably be better. 10# I wouldn't put on anything smaller than a 3000 size.

 

 

How can this be fixed?

[MN Fisher]

7 minutes ago, randdmart said:

How can this be fixed?

Take it back and have them re-spool with 8#. As mentioned earlier, it should be about 1/8" from the lip and evenly laid.

This is my Mitchell Avocet RZT-2000 with 8# Sufix Advance Mono - notice the space between the line and the lip

[BrianMDTX]

2 hours ago, randdmart said:

How can this be fixed?

I would say to do what I previously posted, but that reel is seriously underfilled.  In for a penny, in for a pound. Take it back and have it respooled with 8 lb mono, to the point it looks like @MN Fisher reel. Bring the rod and have them show you how to properly run the line through the guides as well. 

 

And seriously, watch all the videos you can on BR about spooling line, setting up rods and reels, etc. It’s a wealth of knowledge for free. And learn two basic knots- the Improved Clinch (IC) and the Palomar, and practice tying them with the 10 lb line you’re going to change so that you become proficient at knot-tying. You can get fancier later, but these knots work well, are strong and are easy to tie. 

[RDB]

Line twist is most likely your problem.  Tie the end of the line to something, let out 20-30 feet (or more), and with the bail closed and the drag tightened, give it a little stretch and the coils will disappear.

 

I also believe you may have a problem with loose line.  If you enlarge your pic and compare to MN Fisher, you can see that his line all runs in the same direction and is consistent.  On the other hand, your’s is running all over the place...up, down, diagonally.  You need to make sure that when you are reeling in slack line, you are holding some tension with your off hand so it is laid on the spool properly.

[WRB]

Lots of good advice.

Just because a shop filled the spool doesn’t mean it was done properly. If the line was spooled coming off the filler spool the right direction. 

The spool is now under filled for whatever reasons. 

Make sure the line is spooled properly, tight and the mono diameter is .010 or less. Correctly filled is 1 to 2 penny’s thickness or 1/16”-1/8” below the spool rim.

When I threads line through guides it’s double over about 1’. The loop end pinched flat and threaded though the guides starting 1st guide the reel. The loop eliminates the line falling back down through the guides and easier to thread.

Tom

 

 

[jbsoonerfan]

Spincast 

 

Baitcast 

 

 

Spinning reel 

 

 

Learning these simple terms will help when describing a problem. Most people don't use the term "open face" and most people who do, are usually referring to a baitcaster.

[MN Fisher]

1 minute ago, jbsoonerfan said:

Most people don't use the term "open face" and most people who do, are usually referring to a baitcaster.

Except for those of use who remember 'open-face spinning reel' (spinning reel) and 'close-face spinning reel' (spincast) as being the names used in advertising.

[torm]

What size is the reel or what did you intent to use it for? If you put 10lb on the reel and its not design for that then your asking for trouble. I'm assuming you got the in house line which has a lot of memory even with line conditioner. Do not recommend unless your using it for baitcasters. Many guys there run into new guys all the time and they get tired of explaining the same thing over and over again so if you don't do some research before hand and go at an unlucky time they might just spool you for failure even though they know it. Biggest issue I always hear where I'm at is that people wanna catching everything on one rod so they want 10lb or more on a reel that isn't suited for it just because of the occasion of a pike or something "big". 

[randdmart]

I tried to re-spool my own reel but can’t tie an Arbor knot my hand/eye coordination just isn’t there ?

[jbsoonerfan]

6 hours ago, randdmart said:

I tried to re-spool my own reel but can’t tie an Arbor knot my hand/eye coordination just isn’t there ?

Use a piece of electrical tape.

[BrianMDTX]

6 hours ago, randdmart said:

I tried to re-spool my own reel but can’t tie an Arbor knot my hand/eye coordination just isn’t there ?

If push comes to shove, tie a square knot and trim the tag end, then cover with a piece of electrical tape. If your spool is filled you’ll be fine. 
 

And yes, I know this from past experience lol.