Experienced anglers. Do you still backlash?

[Quitlimpin]

Constantly and consistently. I rarely have a major blowout but I’m constantly stripping overruns. I finesse fish quite a bit & can’t control spinning gear to save my life. It’s an elite recipe for backlash. As an added bonus, light line loves to bury itself in every little nook it can find while I’m picking. Good times

[Alex from GA]

Hitting something is when I get bad "professional over rides".

[TnRiver46]

Yep

 

For the record, the wind can’t tie a knot 

[Bass Junke]

Like all have said,  they happen but are rarely an problem. Carolina rigs are the toughest Imo. I am surprised no one mentioned them. I always get a few loops when I unsuccessfully lob a cast and the bait and sinker helicopter through the air. Biggest fish I caught Monday was on a c-rig while I picked out a minor backlash. 

[Rora]

16 hours ago, Outdoors said:

I wonder how many people have backlashed, and while they're picking at it, a fish bites their lure... I had that happen before with a soft plastic.

I have always wondered if a fish would bite my bait while i

pick out my wind knots and backlashes. 

[bulldog1935]

the real question is how many strikes did you miss while picking out backlash

[Johnbt]

I haven't had a backlash in 25 years. Now that I'm experienced I only have overruns. 

[Outdoors]

Just now, Rora said:

I have always wondered if a fish would bite my bait while i

pick out my wind knots and backlashes. 

In my case it was a small fish, but I may've been in trouble if it were a big one, and it couldn't run out anymore line because of the knots.

[PhishLI]

12 hours ago, Rora said:

I have always wondered if a fish would bite my bait while i

pick out my wind knots and backlashes. 

It happens. Even has a name: Picking out a backlash fish.

[newapti5]

58 minutes ago, PhishLI said:

It happens. Even has a name: Picking out a backlash fish.

 

I am not ashamed to admit this: there're many times I caught a bass because of backlash.   They call it "professional overrun" for a reason. 

[ike8120]

A simple answer is yes

[PhishLI]

On 8/10/2021 at 5:32 PM, Rora said:

I am just getting used to a bait caster and have several issues with backlash (expected). But I was wondering if you guys who have fished longer still deal with backlash?

Over time you'll get more tuned in to everything about a baitcaster, including sound and vibration, and any issues you're having now will mostly go away. Fishing in the dark was a big help for me as sound and vibration are the things I must subconsciously key in on when I'm zoned out and throwing hundreds of casts. Adding a slightly higher arc to my casts allows me a bit of extra time to adjust if things start to get wooly.

 

There's always the chance you might clip something though. Maybe a branch, seat, or your trolling motor. Wednesday I re-spooled with brand new 30lb J-Braid. There's a spot I was out to that's sketchy with a rod longer than 6'6" due to overhanging branches, but I had a 7'3" in hand. I was careful until I wasn't and clipped the last inch of a branch. Couldn't pick this one out on the spot in the dark, but at home with a dental pick it was no problem.

 

 

[BassNJake]

I am the backlash king.

Most of my reels are almost set to a free spool

I have removed 4 of the 6 brakes and only have 1 of the 2 brakes left turned on.

Then I proceed to try and skip my toad in and around everything.

Sometimes it gets ugly, sometimes I skip it 20 feet under a pontoon and get smashed

Most of the time I'm complaining about sucking so bad for going so often ?

[bulldog1935]

Something else to keep in mind.  

The reason you tune reels in niches to get 120' casts.  

It's not to fish at 120', though I can think of two places (not counting surf) where I do fish that distance.  

The reason for the tuning effort is to fish 30 to 70' with low fishing effort and complete reliability.  Effort and reliability go hand-in-hand.  Big casting effort loses control.  

 

[JustJames]

Now you remind me I still have a reel that back lash from 3-4 weeks ago and need to be respool. Talking about experience, eh? At this stage I’m not gonna fix it. it is stiff 10lb FC line. The line would get nick and kink under spool that might weaken the line. 
 

[Delaware Valley Tackle]

Everyone has a momentary loss of concentration or snags something on the back cast occasionally. Nothing catastrophic in a long time. Peel off 159-175’ of line and run a strip of electrical tape around the spool. This will keep any backlash from going to deep without limiting casting.  

[MarkG52]

I got one skipping a few weeks ago that I had to cut out. One of the worst ones though was on a reel with brand new spool of braid. Picked it up off the deck to cast, of course the lure was hung up on the rod tip. Pushed the button on the reel and was giving the rod the jiggle to get lure unhung. No luck. Sat rod down, grabbed lure(reel spool is disengaged, remember, nope), got lure unhung and watched brand new spool of braid turn into an afro!

[Shimano_1]

I think most people tend to loosen the brakes up more and more with experience to get the most out of the reel. This also leaves less room for error. I can hand one of mine to my buddies and I just tighten the cast control beforehand or it's always a mess. I still backlash quite a bit but usually not bad. I blew one up a cple weeks ago beyond being fixable and that was the first time I've done that in a few years. 

[huZZah]

Ok so tonight I was fishing. Flipping into some grass. Perfect flip right where I wanted…and I look down and have a little bird nest I had to work out. No big. 

[zeth]

been throwing a baitcaster for maybe 30 years. Still backlash a little almost every time out. Wind shift, bait change.... so many reasons that can cause a backlash. 

[Jaderose]

The little lake I fish has an area with a LOT of standing timber.  Occasionally, I'll get in there where I'm surrounded by and misjudge a casting lane.  Try throwing a frog full distance only to have it bounce off a tree that's 6 ft (or right next to you) away.  You'll DEEPLY understand backlashes...lol

 

On 8/12/2021 at 10:06 AM, Rora said:

I have always wondered if a fish would bite my bait while i

pick out my wind knots and backlashes. 

Wait'll you actually CATCH a fish while picking out a backlash.  You learn how to hand line very quickly.  Then you got a HELLUVA mess. 

 

[Ski]

[MAN]

Yes Absolutely!   

[Guitarfish]

I solved it completely.  I never go fishing.