Wayne's Words Archive
Active Member
I have two bait casting reels that are more sensitive to backlashes than others so here is what I would suggest you try until you get your thumb trained to help keep those professional overruns from happening. It takes some time so don’t get frustrated because you will soon be able to out cast any spinning reel by a mile!! Ask Wayne how far I can cast a topwater bait with those reels!!
First things first… loose the spider wire on that reel. The diameter of the line is too small for the reel and starts to dig into its self, you can try a larger diameter braid but I think it will do the same thing because the spool is very large. The line guide does not move fast enough across the spool to stop this from happening by crisscrossing the line instead of laying it evenly across the spool. The line is also lighter in weight which will cause or allow the spool to spin faster than having mono on it which is the real culprit of the backlash, the spool is spinning faster than the line coming off and starts to wrap around in the opposite direction.
Second. When setting the tension, make sure it is tighter than normally suggested. Set it so the bait will hardly fall or better yet not fall at all. Just a soft bounce on the rod will cause the lure to drop only a couple of inches. Normal recommendations are great for reels like a Curado that have magnetic brakes to help slow down the spool during the cast.
Next make sure you are using a rod that is heavy enough or soft enough for the lure being used. I find most guys having problems are using a lure too heavy for the rod or worse, a lure too light for the recommended rod action. With the lure too heavy the rod tip will flex too much and cause oscillations in the rod when the tip snaps back. The rod tip starts slowing down the line and it backs up down to the reel and poof it’s a mess. If the lure is too light you end up over powering the rod (casting harder than you should) to cast the lure causing the spool to spin fast initially but the lure stops in mid flight and again @#$%#%.
Here is a tip that I regularly use on any baitcaster that will help you recover from backlashes faster and keep them from being extremely bad, it will also help stop the line from loosening inside the spool. Get some 1” wide white bandage tape from the store, cut a couple pieces about a 1” or so long, wrap one piece around the rod blank just above the handle for later use. Next cast your lure about as far as you want to fish, strip off a couple of extra yards for good luck. Engage the reel and get the line guide to bring the line to the center of the spool. Place the second piece of tape on spool and over the line. Hold the line tight with your fingers and reel the lure back in. the tape will stop the backlash from going to deep and if you end up cutting it out you only have to go down to the tape. After changing lures a couple of times or if you start to cast farther and start hitting the tape, remove that piece, strip out some more line and replace with the piece that you wrapped around the rod earlier.
First things first… loose the spider wire on that reel. The diameter of the line is too small for the reel and starts to dig into its self, you can try a larger diameter braid but I think it will do the same thing because the spool is very large. The line guide does not move fast enough across the spool to stop this from happening by crisscrossing the line instead of laying it evenly across the spool. The line is also lighter in weight which will cause or allow the spool to spin faster than having mono on it which is the real culprit of the backlash, the spool is spinning faster than the line coming off and starts to wrap around in the opposite direction.
Second. When setting the tension, make sure it is tighter than normally suggested. Set it so the bait will hardly fall or better yet not fall at all. Just a soft bounce on the rod will cause the lure to drop only a couple of inches. Normal recommendations are great for reels like a Curado that have magnetic brakes to help slow down the spool during the cast.
Next make sure you are using a rod that is heavy enough or soft enough for the lure being used. I find most guys having problems are using a lure too heavy for the rod or worse, a lure too light for the recommended rod action. With the lure too heavy the rod tip will flex too much and cause oscillations in the rod when the tip snaps back. The rod tip starts slowing down the line and it backs up down to the reel and poof it’s a mess. If the lure is too light you end up over powering the rod (casting harder than you should) to cast the lure causing the spool to spin fast initially but the lure stops in mid flight and again @#$%#%.
Here is a tip that I regularly use on any baitcaster that will help you recover from backlashes faster and keep them from being extremely bad, it will also help stop the line from loosening inside the spool. Get some 1” wide white bandage tape from the store, cut a couple pieces about a 1” or so long, wrap one piece around the rod blank just above the handle for later use. Next cast your lure about as far as you want to fish, strip off a couple of extra yards for good luck. Engage the reel and get the line guide to bring the line to the center of the spool. Place the second piece of tape on spool and over the line. Hold the line tight with your fingers and reel the lure back in. the tape will stop the backlash from going to deep and if you end up cutting it out you only have to go down to the tape. After changing lures a couple of times or if you start to cast farther and start hitting the tape, remove that piece, strip out some more line and replace with the piece that you wrapped around the rod earlier.