Line Twist?

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joeim8
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Line Twist?

Post by joeim8 » Sat Aug 29, 2015 1:30 am

Anyone have any good tips on how to line a spinning reel with 100% Fluro for reducing line twist? I use 100% fluro when dropshotting as I do not like drop shotting in rough seas with braid. Problem is I only get about 3 trips form each spool which gets expensive. I have tried swivels but its just too many knots.

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GOOD YEAR 71
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Re: Line Twist?

Post by GOOD YEAR 71 » Sat Aug 29, 2015 5:29 am

Untwist the line. When your day is done, clip rig and open spool behind the boat. Let out at fast idle, drag a couple hundred feet, stop boat, reel back in. Takes a minute but line lasts much longer and sets perfect every time. It's worth the effort.

Use this opportunity to retrieve between your pointer and thumb, lightly, to feel for nicks. From shore, same formula, but walk it out instead. I consider this practice 'maintenance' and it makes a huge difference.

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Re: Line Twist?

Post by vinnieb729 » Sat Aug 29, 2015 1:46 pm

GOOD YEAR 71 wrote:Untwist the line. When your day is done, clip rig and open spool behind the boat. Let out at fast idle, drag a couple hundred feet, stop boat, reel back in. Takes a minute but line lasts much longer and sets perfect every time. It's worth the effort.
It's the only way to deal with it as far as I know.

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Re: Line Twist?

Post by jerrylo913 » Sat Sep 05, 2015 4:07 am

Good tip never thought of that

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slipperybob
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Re: Line Twist?

Post by slipperybob » Sun Sep 06, 2015 6:16 pm

I don't experience such massive line twist problems. I do also on occasion in the middle of fishing just make a long cast and retrieve line and lure with finger pinch feathered to set the line on the spool.

It's probably more frequent with ultralight rigs like those for trout or panfish in the 1/8th oz or lighter. Heavier lures in 1/2 oz or heavier for other fishing, almost never need to.

In addition, it also depends on the reel. Some reels are attention needy, some just let's you enjoy fishing.

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Re: Line Twist?

Post by mark poulson » Fri Sep 25, 2015 1:54 am

If you stretch your fluoro, on both spinning and baitcasting reels, you can eliminate any twist there is in the line.
Tie your fluoro line to something, walk away while you let out two casts worth of line, stop, close the bail or engage the reel, and, holding the spool so it doesn't spin, slowly put a stretch in the line until it feels like it's almost at it's breaking point.
Hold this for ten seconds, and then slowly walk back while you wind the line back onto your reel, it will remove the twist. If you run the line through your thumb and forefinger as you rewind it, you can feel for bad spots at the same time.

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Re: Line Twist?

Post by Snyder Rods » Tue Oct 06, 2015 8:42 am

One of those fat-spool reels might help, such as BPS reels, Lew's, Pflueger Arbor, etc. Less rotations per length of line = less twist.

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Re: Line Twist?

Post by steve1206 » Wed Oct 07, 2015 12:21 am

For those that aren't familiar, this most likely isn't the standard spinning reel/line twist issue...It is the constant dropping and reeling in off a drop shot....this twists line like crazy...Options are braid, swivels, untwisting, or respooling, pretty much...a large arbor reel or how you spool the line initially, will have little affect after a day of drop shotting...you will likely have a ton of twist regardless..

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slipperybob
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Re: Line Twist?

Post by slipperybob » Wed Oct 07, 2015 6:00 pm

Learn to better balance your ds rig. You shouldn't be massively twisting up your rig. Slow down on the retrieve, you're not running spinner lures. I get some people are impatient... But is the line twists worth it?

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Re: Line Twist?

Post by toddmc » Tue Oct 13, 2015 4:00 am

One extra thing to do is to run your line between a clean wet rag/washcloth in your hand when you are reeling in your line with no weight. This can either be after you have dragged your line behind the boat or once you have let out your line over a grassy area. Your line will then be clean with no twist. Add a little line conditioner after this step. The softer fluoros like Sniper will last more than three days if you do this.
I also take the worm off of my dropshot rig several times a day and make a long cast. Next, I reel in the line between my fingers causing tension and removing enough of the twist to keep fishing. Most of us western guys have been doing this since the inception of "finesse" fishing.
Stetching fluoro is a myth. It elongates and never bounces back. I wouldn't recommend this. The stretching technique works with mono. Many of the original finesse legends, like Dick Trask, used to do this with their Maxima Ultragreen in the parking lot at the local lakes such as Castaic back in the day. Letting all of your line out with fluoro and reeling it back in is probably what helps the twist when you are trying to stretch your fluoro, but the stretching hurts more than it helps.

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Re: Line Twist?

Post by Seph » Sun Oct 25, 2015 9:00 am

3 things to eliminate twist.

1. Manually close your bail. DO NOT use the handle to close the bail.
2. Do not use a reel that does not have a ball bearing in the line roller. ( Every reel I purchase I check to see if I can easily spin the line roller with a fingernail)
3. See number 1.

I have been manually closing my bails on all my spinning gear for a long, long time and have never had a line twist issue since I made the switch sometime ago as a teenager.

If you are using the handle to close the bail then you are hitting your line at the deepest distance into the reel with a moving and spinning round bail wire on EVERY cast. With hundreds of casts in a day of fishing the twist is being created in the body of the line and many many different micro twist areas, which results in poor line performance.

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Re: Line Twist?

Post by Lefty3244 » Thu Nov 26, 2015 9:53 am

All of the above. Just make sure you aren't using too small of a spool and too big of line is the only thing I would add. I'm using 7lb Gamma Touch on a 1500 size Fuego A. Anything much bigger on that size reel and it's a nightmare.

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Re: Line Twist?

Post by Brad in Texas » Thu Nov 26, 2015 10:08 pm

No, to taking an already twisted line, anchoring it and pulling almost to the break point. This would be analogous to pulling on a cardboard tube (formed by twisting into its tube shape) from an empty roll of paper towels. It would create kinks, weaknesses and deformities in the fluoro all the way down the line.

Yes, to the fact that fluoro stretches almost as much as some high quality monos, but never fully retracts. It is of little use to us here drop shotting and the effects of line twist.

So, a braid mainline and a short, say 6 to 10', fluoro leader helps a lot.

A thought on terminal tackle and how to keep it from happening to begin with: Try a Gamakatsu Drop Shot Swivel hook. It allows the hook to rotate 360 degrees so it eliminates twisted lines altogether. Further, when you select your drop shot sinker, make certain that the little cinch grip connector sinker is one built where it, too, twists freely. Many are built where the swivel is embedded down into the lead. It does little good down there as it prevents the sinker from freely spinning on the line.

If your hook is free to move, and your sinker is free to move, the line twist will not occur.

Why Gamakatsu? One less tie to make. You tie the hook off to the fluoro with your favorite knot. But, the Gamakatsu has a pinch or cinch grip down below where you can use a separate piece of line to "snag," not tie, down to a sinker where the sinker is again "snagged" on the line and not tied on. So, one knot needed only as opposed to some of the other swivel-based drop shot hooks out there with ties above and below the hook eye required.

One final tip: If you use a lighter test line down to the sinker, if you get hung up at the sinker which seems to be the most common place, a good tug and the lightest line should break saving your hook. All you have to do is clip off a desired length of line, snag it to the Gamakatus cinch grip, add another sinker and you are back in business. I typically use a 10 lbs. braid main line . . . down to a 6' length of 8 lbs. test fluoro, then use a 4 or 6 lbs. test down to the sinker.

This is also a great and fast way to alter your drop shot height off the bottom. It takes seconds to shorten it or change out to a longer sinker line.

Hook cost? Expensive! But, where I fish, I can often fish all day with only one of these. With traditional hooks, I get broken off much more frequently, so likely pretty close in actual cost because these hooks fish longer.

Brad

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Re: Line Twist?

Post by Brad in Texas » Thu Nov 26, 2015 10:08 pm

No, to taking an already twisted line, anchoring it and pulling almost to the break point. This would be analogous to pulling on a cardboard tube (formed by twisting into its tube shape) from an empty roll of paper towels. It would create kinks, weaknesses and deformities in the fluoro all the way down the line.

Yes, to the fact that fluoro stretches almost as much as some high quality monos, but never fully retracts. It is of little use to us here drop shotting and the effects of line twist.

So, a braid mainline and a short, say 6 to 10', fluoro leader helps a lot.

A thought on terminal tackle and how to keep it from happening to begin with: Try a Gamakatsu Drop Shot Swivel hook. It allows the hook to rotate 360 degrees so it eliminates twisted lines altogether. Further, when you select your drop shot sinker, make certain that the little cinch grip connector sinker is one built where it, too, twists freely. Many are built where the swivel is embedded down into the lead. It does little good down there as it prevents the sinker from freely spinning on the line.

If your hook is free to move, and your sinker is free to move, the line twist will not occur.

Why Gamakatsu? One less tie to make. You tie the hook off to the fluoro with your favorite knot. But, the Gamakatsu has a pinch or cinch grip down below where you can use a separate piece of line to "snag," not tie, down to a sinker where the sinker is again "snagged" on the line and not tied on. So, one knot needed only as opposed to some of the other swivel-based drop shot hooks out there with ties above and below the hook eye required.

One final tip: If you use a lighter test line down to the sinker, if you get hung up at the sinker which seems to be the most common place, a good tug and the lightest line should break saving your hook. All you have to do is clip off a desired length of line, snag it to the Gamakatus cinch grip, add another sinker and you are back in business. I typically use a 10 lbs. braid main line . . . down to a 6' length of 8 lbs. test fluoro, then use a 4 or 6 lbs. test down to the sinker.

This is also a great and fast way to alter your drop shot height off the bottom. It takes seconds to shorten it or change out to a longer sinker line.

Hook cost? Expensive! But, where I fish, I can often fish all day with only one of these. With traditional hooks, I get broken off much more frequently, so likely pretty close in actual cost because these hooks fish longer.

Brad

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Re: Line Twist?

Post by Bassmar » Fri Nov 27, 2015 4:48 pm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Z_pkMVKxZ4 (BASSfest Kentucky Lake)

The above video has a couple of good examples of spinning reel use.

Take a look at 16:25 for a demo on how not to use a spinning reel. Reeling against drag induces major line twist. [-X

Take a look at 29:00 for a demo on how it should be done. =D>

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