fin

You ever hear the saying, "Hope for the best, expect the worst?"

So a .03" total shim did the trick. There's still a little taper, but you can see the line is now well below the edge without trimming any line off. The drag range is just about right now. After: Before ^

The first washer I had added was .01”. I added a .04” washer to that, and that did the trick. The spooling is perfectly even all the way down now. The range of turn in the drag is pretty limited now though, for better or worse. I can go from having the drag too tight to having the drag knob fall off in a few turns. It used to be like 15 turns from tight to coming off. I have a .02” washer I might try with the .01” to find a happy medium. In my experience, trimming the knot close is a mistake. Today I got snagged and lost a lure, and the mono broke right at the leader knot. That never happens to me. The mono usually breaks close to the lure. I think in this case it might just be because of too much wear on the line at that point. It’s not like the knot slipped, which is the danger when you trim the knot too close. I hear you. The way it was spooled, it was too close to the edge. I think your solution of removing line is just as correct as the other solution of adding a washer. I noticed that after getting the spooling even, it didn’t seem to cast as smoothly. The braid felt like it was sticking a little more. It makes sense that this is due to the ABS/tapered spooling, but I don’t know. Your point about criss-crossing is lost on me though. If anything, the line is less criss-crossed when the rotor continues to wrap around the spool at the high end rather than returning towards the bottom of the spool. Anyway, I have the solution, thanks for the help, everybody!

I've had that go on for weeks, where my buddy will be catching all the fish and I catch little to none and I feel bad, and then the table turns and I start catching all the fish and I feel bad for him.

Maybe, but I welcome all the comments. Honestly, I was surprised to get so many replies. I was also surprised that this issue hasn't come up much before. I did a search and almost all were related to baitcasters. Yep. It wrapped several times right at the top, but at the bottom, not even once. Alberto. I know there are 'better' knots, but I ain't changin'. I've let all the line out and rewound many times over the past couple days.

I took a washer (shim?) off an old Shimano reel that is worn out. It was like paper-thin and didn't make any visual difference in the way it spooled. If that is the solution, I'm going to have to use a thicker washer. I watched as I turned the handle very slowly and the line wrapped around the spool. It's going all the way to the top and bottom. It was still catching on the knot, so I trimmed the mono tag down to nothing, which solved the catching problem, but I don't think that's a good long term habit to get into. I like to have a little insurance in case my knot is not 100% tight. I think I'll try a thicker washer, and if that doesn't work, I'll trim a few feet off the braid.

Yeah, removing some line to get the knot down below the edge was another thing I was thinking about, but I kind of hate to remove some of the length. I will though, if the shim I put in there doesn't work. Heading out to try it now.

It used to be that when I was out fishing and I found that I needed something that I didn’t have, I would add it to my backpack for the next trip. Eventually my backpack got really heavy and it got hard to find anything because there was so much junk in there. So I started limiting what I pack to the bare necessities. There have been times since then when I have needed things, but those are the rare occasions. The rare inconvenience is outweighed by the everyday convenience.

No side to side wobble. I haven't been paying close attention to how it was spooled, I just noticed it when I started having problems with the knot catching. It may have been like that for a long time. I'll try the washer tomorrow and see if that does the trick.

Oh yeah, you're right. It says so right on the bottom. I thought I had read "Little John" on the bottom, but I must have had it confused with another one I found a week or so ago. Too many bubbles for that. Like 50 or so. I need to coat almost the whole thing.

Had a good day hunting the other day. I found all these within a few minutes, all in the same area thanks to some flooding and high winds. I've found way more lures than fish so far this year. I thought that RipStop was a ballpoint pen floating in the water ? It’s got some bubbling on the finish from being in the water so long. Anyone ever try coating one with clear nail polish to keep the finish from coming off? I’ve been loving that Little John. I’ve already got a few, but I love that color combo.

Nope. Probably like 600 or so. Well yeah, but wouldn't any reel have looseness if you back off the drag all the way?

Like one of those plastic or nylon or whatever they are? I could take one out of an old reel.

Any ideas on what is causing this? 20# braid with 10# mono leader. I let out all the line and rewound it 3-4 times, keeping line tight the whole time. I tried holding rod straight up one time, and pointing rod at the line one time. It comes out the same every time no matter what I do. Looks good at first as I start to rewind it, but towards the end it piles up towards the front. You can see my leader knot right at the front edge, and when it ends up there, the line gets hung on it and won’t come off the spool. I could shorten my leader to less than the length from the tip of the rod to the spool, or I could trim the tag a little closer, but I wouldn’t have to do either of those if it was spooling right. I read something about adding/removing washers? Is that the problem here? This is cheap braid - that stuff marketed for catfishing. I’ll never buy that junk again. All kinds of problems with it.

Pulling on the line until it breaks is a lot different than cutting the line. One way you leave many feet of line in the water, the other way you only leave a few inches.

With a 6# - 12# leader? I don't get your logic at all.

Maybe I need to sharpen my knives. The scissors are lighter and smaller than the knives. The only downside is they are kind of dangerous to keep in my pocket ?

It would have to be a knife with scissors, like a Swiss army knife, because knives don’t cut braid clean unless absolutely razor sharp. I only use the scissors when I change a leader, which isn’t very often. I’m just saying you can get by without a knife, they are not totally necessary. I’m a nut about keeping what I carry down to a bare minimum. I don’t need the extra weight or stuff to dig through in my pack.

I don’t even carry a knife. I have a drawer full of them, but I don’t see why anyone who fishes C&R needs one to fish, other than just to have one in case of emergency. I use braid so I keep a pair of very small scissors in my pack, but I use a mono leader, so most of the time I’m just using fingernail clippers.

The top lure has been taunting me for about 2 years. It was hanging high in the middle of a tree, but I finally figured out a way to get it. It’s been there so long the hooks are rusted and there’s mold on the body. In the end it took less than five minutes to get it down. The jerk bait was a different story altogether. It was twice as high, but on the outside of the tree and on a thin branch. Looked easy, but I ended up spending a couple hours on it. I’ve never come across one that put up such a fight. It looked like it was dangling by a single hook, and it rocked freely when I would shake the limb, but it would not come down. I finally managed to get the hook on it and yanked it down with brute force. I’m thinking about getting it mounted. ?

The checkout girl always gives me a glance and a smirk when I buy nail polish at Dollar Tree.

I’ve always had a fear of password managers. It’s probably unfounded fear, but I just can’t cope with the idea of someone gaining access to all of my accounts at once. For some people, password managers are a necessity though. There’s actually a story out today about LastPass (password manager) that looks kind of strange, like there may be some vulnerability that LastPass isn’t aware of or is denying. https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/lastpass-users-warned-their-master-passwords-are-compromised/

Really? I never would have considered that color. Silver Fluorescent Chartreuse? I definitely don't have anything like that in my arsenal, but the water I fish stays fairly clear. I wouldn't expect something that loud to do well. I was thinking more like the bluegill, shad or crawdad. I should do that. If I bought some hooks, I could probably fix up a hundred or so semi-decent ones.

Some of my better / more unusual recent finds. I like the shallow shad rap. I never would have bought one, but after trying this one, I might buy one in a color I like. The two in the top right corner must have been lost by the same person.

I don't have any experience with them, but I've had zippered pockets in the past and I hate them.