Northwest Fishing Reports

Hey guys, I am wondering how you guys deal with line twist on your spinning rods. I am thinking about switching to braid, but I don't know if braid is a good idea for drift fishing.

Thanks bhall

well you could use heavier line

Install it correctly

after twist occers, and it will anyway, drive the boat down the lake as you let out double the line length you'll be using, WITHOUT A LURE ON THE END. As the line move thru the water the twist will come out. Reel in, tie on a lure, go fishing.

No boat? Do the same with the line in the yard and the line going thru the grass and around trees, posts, house/garage corner, smooth stuff that won't cut or scrape the line.

kingfisher101 wrote:well you could use heavier line

Heavier line will just increase the problem. Heavier line has more line memory then lighter lines do. I love braid myself no memory at all. The ones that complain about braid are ones that have a= tried it and didnt like it cause they didnt know how to tie the knots proper and lost lures and or fish. Or B= just hear people talk crap and never tried it themselves. I fished next to people for hours and they never knew I was tossing braid out. Then someone will cross someones line And I hear oh that guy over there is using braid. Thats usually when Ill pipe up and say well Im using braid too. Now what person tossed into who? Oh let me guess your the Owner of this stretch of river and we should bow down to how you like to fish and all mimick you. Oh but wait a min your not catching fish anyhow and last I seen of your casts your the one tossing into everyone. Sorry too much fishing on these rivers watching people that couldnt cast into a damn 10 ft swimming pool let alone a 5 gallon bucket.

Oh lol never knew that well Thank you Pooh but most of the times i never get tangled and when i do its not that bad so i really didnt know what i was talking about xD but yea whatever Pooh says is good sorry my bad didnt know

If you are on a river and don't have a million people around you, you can use AMX's trick also just let your line drift down stream with nothing on it. Also when snagged or fighting a fish if you are not getting any line stop reeling. Other wise you will add additional twist to your line.

flinginpooh wrote:

kingfisher101 wrote:well you could use heavier line

Heavier line will just increase the problem. Heavier line has more line memory then lighter lines do. I love braid myself no memory at all. The ones that complain about braid are ones that have a= tried it and didnt like it cause they didnt know how to tie the knots proper and lost lures and or fish. Or B= just hear people talk crap and never tried it themselves. I fished next to people for hours and they never knew I was tossing braid out. Then someone will cross someones line And I hear oh that guy over there is using braid. Thats usually when Ill pipe up and say well Im using braid too. Now what person tossed into who? Oh let me guess your the Owner of this stretch of river and we should bow down to how you like to fish and all mimick you. Oh but wait a min your not catching fish anyhow and last I seen of your casts your the one tossing into everyone. Sorry too much fishing on these rivers watching people that couldnt cast into a damn 10 ft swimming pool let alone a 5 gallon bucket.

100 % with your pooh. I seriously can't fish with mono anymore. I went out for pinks the other day, with ten pound high quality mono, and it felt like I was fishing with a rubber band, getting all twisty and generally being a big PITA. I don't know why I did it. I threw the line away and put braid on it. Tie it with good knots, bimini twist or an improved clinch with the line doubled and you won't have problems with knots. Your swivel will break before your line will, and you'll feel 100% of the bottom. A hook set is a flick of the wrist, not a giant swoosh, and you won't get twists. The only thing is that it is so limp that it's easy to get it wrapped round your pole tip if you're messing around and not deliberate with how you move your rod. Other than that it's amazing. Just use a mono leader. Braid is not for leaders.

:rambo: I'm a braid freak. i love it so much...... i couldent live without it:rambo: jk. 1.it cast farther. 2.it dosent break as much 3. if its 20lb test its as thin as 7 pouund test mono.

Sorry to hijack the thread, but I get wind knots casting power pro 6/20 from my pflueger president xt reel? I hate cutting off line whenever it happens. Any ideas on this braid guys?

As far as line twists go, I know that if you spool own line at home the wrong way, you will get a lot of line twists. Try using better swivels, change your line your using or use lighter line. I remember having trouble with 15 pound mono on a spinning reel and when I downsized to 12, things were fine again.

Also, you get what you pay for, especially with mono. Better abrasion resistence makes for stiffer, more windy line. Limper line will snap if it rubs against rocks. The more expensive lines do better. Also, soak your spool, with the line on it, in fabric softener overnight. Rinse completely and then it will bring life back into stiff and old line.

returnofthefish wrote:Sorry to hijack the thread, but I get wind knots casting power pro 6/20 from my pflueger president xt reel? I hate cutting off line whenever it happens. Any ideas on this braid guys?

As far as line twists go, I know that if you spool own line at home the wrong way, you will get a lot of line twists. Try using better swivels, change your line your using or use lighter line. I remember having trouble with 15 pound mono on a spinning reel and when I downsized to 12, things were fine again.

I was glad to see this mentioned. I fish braid ALOT, and yes, I too get what you could call these wind knots. Returnofthefish... are you talking about when you throw a pretty hard cast off your rod, and suddenly you here this big noise go through your eyelets. You look out there and see a snarl in your braid? I will say that about 90% of the time though, you can untangle this thing. It hasn't pulled tight yet, and the braid is easy to get your finger nails around. I too fish a Pfluegher President, and Power Pro. Gotta love that reel, don't ya.

Jerry H wrote:If you are on a river and don't have a million people around you, you can use AMX's trick also just let your line drift down stream with nothing on it. Also when snagged or fighting a fish if you are not getting any line stop reeling. Other wise you will add additional twist to your line.

+2 on getting rid of line twists.

ball bearing swivel .....>>>>>>>>> SAMPO.......... http://www.sampoinc.com/
virtually eliminates line twist

The Quadfather wrote:

returnofthefish wrote:Sorry to hijack the thread, but I get wind knots casting power pro 6/20 from my pflueger president xt reel? I hate cutting off line whenever it happens. Any ideas on this braid guys?

As far as line twists go, I know that if you spool own line at home the wrong way, you will get a lot of line twists. Try using better swivels, change your line your using or use lighter line. I remember having trouble with 15 pound mono on a spinning reel and when I downsized to 12, things were fine again.

I was glad to see this mentioned. I fish braid ALOT, and yes, I too get what you could call these wind knots. Returnofthefish... are you talking about when you throw a pretty hard cast off your rod, and suddenly you here this big noise go through your eyelets. You look out there and see a snarl in your braid? I will say that about 90% of the time though, you can untangle this thing. It hasn't pulled tight yet, and the braid is easy to get your finger nails around. I too fish a Pfluegher President, and Power Pro. Gotta love that reel, don't ya.

I've had these before too. I mostly get it when I accidentally over fill the spool. I use the Shimano Stradic and with it's fancy pants spool seems to get them a lot less. It happens when line comes off the reel too fast and gets twisted up. After the line gets broken in it doesn't do it as much, but sometimes I've had to take 10 20 yards of line off because I was over zealous when filling the spool. Most of the time as long as you don't pull it tight it's not that hard to get out.

I just say no PowerPro line. It leaves crap all over and it's yellow.... I've been using the new TuffLine, duracast or something like that. Been real nice, not as limp as the straight braid. 2 thumbs up on the Stradic reel. Been loving mine!

MarkFromSea wrote:ball bearing swivel .....>>>>>>>>> SAMPO.......... http://www.sampoinc.com/
virtually eliminates line twist

True enough but rather expensive on the river when you get hung up:)

The Quadfather wrote:

returnofthefish wrote:Sorry to hijack the thread, but I get wind knots casting power pro 6/20 from my pflueger president xt reel? I hate cutting off line whenever it happens. Any ideas on this braid guys?

As far as line twists go, I know that if you spool own line at home the wrong way, you will get a lot of line twists. Try using better swivels, change your line your using or use lighter line. I remember having trouble with 15 pound mono on a spinning reel and when I downsized to 12, things were fine again.

I was glad to see this mentioned. I fish braid ALOT, and yes, I too get what you could call these wind knots. Returnofthefish... are you talking about when you throw a pretty hard cast off your rod, and suddenly you here this big noise go through your eyelets. You look out there and see a snarl in your braid? I will say that about 90% of the time though, you can untangle this thing. It hasn't pulled tight yet, and the braid is easy to get your finger nails around. I too fish a Pfluegher President, and Power Pro. Gotta love that reel, don't ya.

I googled power pro and wind knots last night. I came to the conclusion that after making a cast and the bail closes with loose line. theres a chance that a loop can form on your spool. A knot forms when you make a cast and the line is slapping the loop and gets caught in it. I guess the tips said to manually close the bail and make sure the braid goes back on tight to the spool.

It was happeninh most often when I was trying to whip the buzz bomb as far as I could. I heard that whoosh sound too followed with a huge knot on my main line and the lure stop dead on its tracks. The jigging motion also allowed my reel to reel in loose line causing the loops as well.

The Quadfather wrote:

returnofthefish wrote:Sorry to hijack the thread, but I get wind knots casting power pro 6/20 from my pflueger president xt reel? I hate cutting off line whenever it happens. Any ideas on this braid guys?

As far as line twists go, I know that if you spool own line at home the wrong way, you will get a lot of line twists. Try using better swivels, change your line your using or use lighter line. I remember having trouble with 15 pound mono on a spinning reel and when I downsized to 12, things were fine again.

I was glad to see this mentioned. I fish braid ALOT, and yes, I too get what you could call these wind knots. Returnofthefish... are you talking about when you throw a pretty hard cast off your rod, and suddenly you here this big noise go through your eyelets. You look out there and see a snarl in your braid? I will say that about 90% of the time though, you can untangle this thing. It hasn't pulled tight yet, and the braid is easy to get your finger nails around. I too fish a Pfluegher President, and Power Pro. Gotta love that reel, don't ya.

How have you been, Quad? I have experienced that Fuwahthrruppp, but not with braid and very rarely, usually when I am "lazy" and "lax" on ensuring that I have some tension in the line before I start retrieving line. It has also been my experience that it clears out most of the time. When I say rare, it is usually once every 300-400 casts and like I said when I start to neglect the start of line recovery without tension in the line.


The other thing I do when I stay focused is let the line "rest" between casts and watch the line, if twisted, oscillate to relieve itself of line twist. It only takes a few seconds between every few casts, but it is worth the time invested.

Another couple things I do lots of time;

1] when casting I'll have my thumb or a finger in position to feel the line come off the spool, and feather it as it goes out as the lure gets close to the water. I then slow down and even stop the line coming off. That way the line will tighten up with not so much slack, or no slack. With the rod tip close to the water for the next operation;

2] After closing the bail manualy I then raise the rod tip to tighten the line all the way and so no slack. Therefore no loop at/on the spool.

Yes sometimes I forget or don't do it correctly and a loop will end up on the spool, then I pull off all the line to the loop, or cast carefully and slow to get most of the line, then pull it off to the loop. And yes sometimes I miss it and get a rats nest that I have to untie and even cut off now and then.

You can also stop your line by manually closing bail while its still in air. That will cause you to have no slack in line. I usually use a baitcaster and put my thumb on it to stop where I want it to. I do the same with a spincaster and the bail.