Feathering The Line

[Mobasser]

Yesterday was almost 70 degrees at my house. My grandson and his fishing buddy stopped by. His friend brought his new spinning outfit over to show me. Shimano Sahara 2500 reel, and a Fenwick HMG medium action rod.

     He had spooled it with Yo Zuri Hybrid 8 lb line. We took it out in the yard, and picked a target. The kid can cast well, but was overshooting the target on most cast.                                         So, I showed him how to feather the line. I showed him two ways. One, by using your forefinger on the spool after you cast, and by cupping your hand around the spool after your cast.        After a little practice, he could hit the target 90 percent of the time. I'm sure his accuracy will improve even more. This is nothing new, and folks have been doing it in one way or another since the invention of the spinning reel. Some well known anglers - Bill Dance, Billy Westmoreland, and Charlie Brewer, did this years ago, and many pro anglers still do. I know I remember A-Jay and WRB mentioning this in past post here on BR. If your new to spin fishing, I would urge you to learn this simple concept. Your casting accuracy with spinning gear can improve quite a bit.         I always feel good about passing on some helpful info to younger guys whenever I can.                                                By learning this line feathering, this kid will be dropping his baits quietly right in the pocket this summer, and I think he'll catch more fish in the process.                               

[bulldog1935]

I was zinging this one night off a lighted bulkhead on the ICW in a beating 30-kt crosswind.  Caught a gang of seatrout.  

Without line feathering, wouldn't have fished at all, just wound line.  

With good manual bail technique, your fingertips should be there to feather every cast.  It gives a result similar to thumbing B/C spool, and eliminates every complaint about spinning tackle (including runaway line).  

[MN Fisher]

1 hour ago, Mobasser said:

So, I showed him how to feather the line. I showed him two ways. One, by using your forefinger on the spool after you cast, and by cupping your hand around the spool after your cast. 

With a 1 behind and 3 in front of the stem, I've always used my forefinger to feather line when casting with my spinning reels.

 

Great job passing on good techniques, Sean....keep it going.

[TOXIC]

I feather when I am shooting for a target and need to tightly control distance.  Another tip shown to me by one of my buddies that I fished with in Michigan for a spinning reel was how to keep the wind from peeling off waaaaay too much line on a cast.  You can use the feather to put resistance on the line but once your lure hits the water, dunk the tip of your rod.  It will use water tension to keep the bow out of your line.  For an avid weightless Senko fisherman it was like magic and allows me to fish that specific bait in very windy conditions.