bad swivels or bad line ? or rookie mistakes?

[fishin solo]

hey guys last year I ran spider mono line 20lb test and never had any problems with my line wrapping over itself. im trolling the same speed same type of gear except, I spooled the reels with a suffix mono this year. without fail I seem to get a rats nest on 1 of the rods every time out . I haven't changed the way I fish at all so could it be the line ? any help is much appreciated

 

[Seafever]

How stiff is that Suffix mono? I found if line has stiff springiness too it , it will do that unbeknownst while one is winding in fast in all the excitement when a fish is running right at you.

My wife had that problem on her jigging rod.....

We were using ordinary Tuffline...no problem....and then we switched to a stiffer coated braid........damn stuff was just too springy and stiff........birdsnests galore......

so we went back to the original...end of problems because it is limper.......

I realize you're using mono.........but some monos are stiffer and springier than others.


Also....if you spool your reel with new line and you overfill it.......you are more prone to birdsnests.......I fill my trolling reels (knucklebusters)) so there is at LEAST one eigth of an inch margin between outer edge of reel and line......sometimes I'll go more than that.....

You fill it right to the lip, you get birdsnests easy.........

 

[fishin solo]

cant remember the exact specs on the line. any thoughts on what line I should try next before I runout of Tylenol lol?

 

[Derby]

what lb test?

 

[Big Green Machine]

Are you using a mooching real or level wind?

 

[Dogbreath]

1-Suffix is crap.

2-if you're going to use 20# for trolling you need to change line frequently-mono's greatest strength is it's stretch and downrigging takes that stretch out PDQ.

I use 25# Maxima for downrigging and many use heavier-the tradeoff is more blowback of course.

Maxima, Ande, Berkley Big Game are all suitable for downrigging.

 

[Derby]

I would actually beg to differ with you.... suffix siege is pretty good ...... 20lb or 25lb is a little light for heavy duty down rigger fishing with flasher....

 

[fishin solo]

BGM im using mooching reels. DERBY I upped it to 30lb test this year

 

[DVL U Know]

Just a rookie opinion here...but could be that the reels are a bit overspooled. I just had the same problem with one of my reels...but it self corrected...reel ate the line and I fixed it...but the next pin popper just kept on running with 60 feet of my line. The line snapped where it had abraded in the reel.

I cried and cried.

 

[fishin solo]

DVL lots of room on the spool still, a good 1/2"

 

[Dogbreath]

Lots of people use bead chain swivels but real ball bearing swivels never let you down-not cheap though they were almost $3/per @ Nikka last I was there.

 

[nicnat]

how did you spool your reels??? if you had the spool sitting up on the floor or wherever and not rolling off properly, that will cause line twist a bit with almost any line. also as for the swivel I always use a bead chain at the end of my mainline, plus make sure you use flashers with good sampo swivels on them.

cheers and gl with it

 

[seadna]

Like Nicnat suggested, perhaps the reel with the problems was spooled in the opposite direction of the spool on which the line came. This can result in extra twists and birdnests. If this is the case, it can often be solved/improved by attaching just a banana weight on a good swivel, letting all the line out and trolling for a little while to remove the twist.

 

[Dave S]

Are you talking about line twist or is your line building up on one side of the spool?

 

[fishin solo]

twist. ive let out 180' on the rigger and wound her up nice but couple hours later without fail ill get a rats nest. wondering if I should just get a different brand line and start fresh. its happening on both reels both new line this year. I have never had this problem before and have re-spooled a few reels in my life lol

 

[seadna]

Let it all out and give it a bit of time to untwist while towing it around. Letting it out on the downrigger only allows the twist to come out while you're reeling it back up. That's probably not enough time and it only gets the twist out of a portion of the line.

 

[fishin solo]

ill try next weekend thanks dna

 

[Dogbreath]

No need for any weight on the end of your line just let it spool out to the end and drag it all for a few minutes-I'd be interested to hear if that solves the issue or not.

 

[Dave S]

Sounds like bad swivels to me.

 

[UkeeDreamin]

Are you sure it was P-Line mono and not P-Line co-polymer? I made the mistake of loading up one of my trout/Kokanee trolling reels with P-line co-polymer (looks just like mono, but definitely stiffer) and what at pain in the butt - same problem you describe with major line twists even with serious ball bearing swivel on the lure end and chain swivel further up. Their co-polymer makes great leader material (great stiffness and very abrasion resistant) but, in my opinion sucks butt for mainline. If that's what you've used I'm not surprised you're having probs with line twist.

Ukee