Washout

Several factors come to mind. Not wetting the cinch down, age of the line, bad batch of line, twist, abrasion, storage of the line, inferior knot (this can still be a factor) - just to name a few things off the top of my head.

I've never noticed it going under, certainly not when I am tossing a spook or a frog. I suppose even if it did, there are other options. Power pro is an economical experiment to try out.

When did sufix 832 not float? I've got it on several of my reels and the only time it sinks is when there is weight on the end of the line. As far as hook sets, just don't do Ish Monroe hooksets and you should be in good shape. It's as sensitive as a line as I've ever used, so you USUALLY have a good idea on what's on the business end of the hook. Sweeping sets, lifting firmly, but not full throttle is almost always enough. Most of the places we fish nealry require braid. 30 lb on most, and 50 on my frogger. I've got 50 on my cheap baitcaster, but it is there because I am (poorly) learning to skip with one. Backlashes come undone surprisingly well with braid.

Crankin = Fluoro or Copolymer. Everything else = Braid.

Buck Clearwater. 6 or 9 inch blades available with two different kinds of steel. 420HC works very well, I don't know much about the sandvik blade though.

After reading this maybe I know why I have the success I have on my home lake. Red bug, motor oil/chartreuse and smoke in 1-2' of visibility have worked well for me. I have had success with junebug and black, but that red bug has landed me more fish on otherwise dead days than anything else I can think of. This lake gets hammered though.

I was using a brush hog and a 1/8 oz bullet weight on it. Any smaller and I use my spinning gear. I've thrown this combo on my other two using traditional set-ups and they did it with ease. This one just was much more finicky and I didn't know if it was something simple (which it kind of was) or it was a different way of doing it altogether. I thought I was close with it since it only did it at a very specific distance. Any closer to me and it was fine, another five feet and beyond it was just as good. Even if it was something I was doing it's fixed now. It worked out great yesterday, so I'll see if it holds up as well in the wind like the black max does. The only issue I've had on that reel was when I clipped the weeds with the lure fishing off a dam from the bank. That was a mess. Entirely my fault, but I got bass blinded. Fish have been biting like crazy lately!

Had time to play with it. Tried a few different things and ended up with a looser spool by one click and adding two clicks from where I was previously. Casting feels exactly the same as before, but got rid of the fluffy line. Thanks guys!

All good points aavery, but my issue with this one in particular was the mid length casts. I can toss this one, I just can't get it to settle down on the twenty five to thirty footers. Again, nothing was terribly wrong, just kind of fluffed up at that point. If I didn't have other things I have to do tonight, I'd be out testing these tricks right now. I'm sure I'm not perfect casting a b/c but I can do it on my other two, even in the wind, but this one has given me fits. Even after reading the manual, I was sure I was missing something. I'll report back in a couple days to see what helps out on this after all of the input I received. Which, I am very thankful for.

Got it. Thanks for the clarification fellas. I would have gotten that wrong. This reel is just so strange to me. It's smoother than the others so I figured there was something I was missing. It sounds like I have some more learning to do with it. It would have been nice of abu to mention one or two of these tips in the manual. I'm looking forward to getting this thing dialed in. I really want it on a different rod, but I was gunshy about it. It can cast a mile and do it with ease, but it just always flared on me right in the middle of long and short casts. Never really bad, just about two or three feet of loose line I had to pull out. At any rate, thank you guys for the advice.

So, to clarify the last reply: I set the spool loose. As in free-spooling? Set the brake at max and make a cast or just release it and see how fast the lure is falling? I hate to sound stupid, but I want to clarify before I blow this thing up.

Day 3 of whacked out illinois weather landed me a personal best today. Light rain, thirty mile an hour gusts and total cloud cover. 5 lb 4oz and the rain kept me from getting a picture of it. I didn't expect to do this well and I left the phone in the truck. No regrets though, I caught over 15 fish most were around 2lb and feisty as the dickens. I'm guessing this is spawning time. The big girl that surprised me was not a very good hook set at all. I thought it was just another small one and I just swept it up and as I was reeling in, it didn't feel right so I went to set the hook better and knew something was different. My rod was telling me I had something that was either in a lot of vegetation or it was a bigger fish. As soon as I realized what may be happening, she started taking line, so I gave some room with the drag and away we went! The first time she made a jump I was shocked. Not an ounce over a pound better than my previous PB. At least my mom got to see it and the best I could do was store the weight in my scales. Yet another fishing adventure that has a story and no pictures. Which is rare for me, but every single time I hit the water, something happens.

I really appreciate all the input. I'm going to try the magnetic brake trick first, if it doesn't work I'll tie on braid under my fluoro line and if that doesn't work, I have an expensive pitching reel. I would have tried it out today, but we had some serious wind to contend with today. Needless to say, the sx stayed at home. I don't trust that bugger to try it out in 30 mph gusts.

Sweet! I'll give that a whirl next round out. Thank you.

I have two other baitcasters and I can't find the happy place on this reel. I'm getting minor overruns on low effort medium length casts. I'm running spool tension higher on this than I am on my black max and lots more than on my lew's speed spool. I have 10 lb fluoro on this one, and the other two have braid. I have had braid on this and found it to do the same as well. If I tie on a big ol' spinner, jig or crankbait I can let loose, but I can't get it to function worth a darn with my larger t-rigs. I've gone to just pitching with it the minute we get a breeze and I hate having my decent equipment being underutilized. All three reels have the mag brakes in the middle. The lew's I can run the loosest on spool tension and work into the wind okay with. It's clamped onto a 7'2" medium heavy abu rod with 50# braid. I use this as my heavy cover and frog rod. The black max is on a 7' medium micro guide GSX rod with 40# braid. I can fish this thing in 30 mph headwinds, is only slightly tighter spool than the lew's in almost all scenarios and it only backlashes when I try to bomb a cast. This is mainly a topwater rod and sometimes a worm/jig rod if something is working well. The revo is on a 7' abu vendetta with 10# fluoro. Mainly a jig/worm rod, some cranks or spinners. Is there something I'm missing? I'm getting really frustrated pulling off four to six feet of line for a 25 foot cast. If I go farther, it comes out of it. Any suggestions or input is appreciated.

Well, in west central il the bite was on! The whole family went out and had fun, caught fish and even enjoyed the weather while we were in between weather events. We had rain last night, then again this afternoon and we found ourselves smack dab in the middle of the first feeding frenzy of the year. The first three casts netted 1#ers and had nothing over 2#, but at least my kid (who is 4) said "catch another fish, dad, let him go" he thought I was catching the same fish over and over. I wish I'd have brought a topwater outfit, I'd have probably had a blast, but I didn't think they'd be this active.

I fail miserably with spinners, but the cranks tend to get brighter as the clouds come out for me. I throw the contrasting shiny ones with sunshine, hitting shadows over cover. The rest of the time, I throw firetiger and other bright colors. I prefer laminate or multi-color soft plastics on cloudy days. As it clears up, I'll switch to junebug and then to pumpkin colors for bluebird skies. This is how I work my waters at home. These are dingy to muddy waters. The most visibility I have seen is 6-7' as an average this lineup of colors works well in the 4' and under of visibility. I'm not considering myself an expert by any means, but this is just my own way of weeding out the hundreds of things I have tried that just didn't work.

I use the 1/64 bullets or keel weighted arkie hooks for slow falls and subtle movements on days where nothing else works. My main plan is to use weights that match how fast I'm fishing. When I'm fishing rip rap I try to stay close to 1/8 oz, I don't know if it's superstition or blind luck, but I can nearly always whip out of the crevice snags with that weight. Smaller and it seems to want to skim into one before I feel it and bigger doesn't want to flip itself out. I must be improving that system, my hooks are getting used up in it before I lose a weight now. The line weight and type plays into some of this as well. Co-polymers have been good to me with this subtle presentation/slow fishing stuff. I keep one rod spooled up with 8lb test with me all the time. Happy medium for a lot of things.

I've caught nothing on a lake this year. Been out almost a dozen times. All of my fish have pond catches. I've thrown everything but a buzzbait. Frustrating when you're graphing fish and the lure in the same screen and you can't make anything work. Senkos, drop shots, jigs, lipless cbs, jerkbaits, Texas rigs, Carolinas and spinners. I've found a lot of combinations that won't work so far. The only thing I've caught anything on this year is beavertails, and that was by accident the first time. Thought I was snagged while I was practicing pitching to a stump. Just happened to see line twitch. Had success on it afterwards on three occasions. Go figure...

Do what now? The hard bait jitterbug?

I wish I had something secret to share, but my consistent producers are ribbon tail worms and beavers. This spring has had me fishing small lizards and that's the only thing I've caught fish on so far this year. Spring fishing has me scratching my head.

Yum Money Craw. Zoom U-Tail. Zoom Fat Albert.

That setup is almost identical to my most fished casting setup. I don't know why, but my 7'2" with a lew's speed spool has cured my reel explosions. Don't get me wrong, I'm still new enough to backlash it if I have a headwind and try to blast it out 70 feet, but short of that, I'm finally figuring this rig out. Only about 6 hours of untangling under my belt, but I'm getting comfortable with it. I hope you enjoy it!

Lack of outdoor activity has almost everyone grumpy. I'm going on a camping trip tomorrow so that should perk things up a bit. And I'm getting my plastic boat out for its maiden outing.

It's your money, I don't feel comfortable telling you how to spend it even when you are asking for help doing such. If you think someone else wants your business more, then by all means use them. I think Mike has earned enough respect on his own to deserve the credit he's getting.