On 7/27/2017 at 0:10 PM, Bucky205 said:

LOL,  If you use your fingers for drag instead of the reel it will also increase reel life. If you don't run your trolling motor through thick stuff. If you don't run your boat at full speed. Your rifle will last longer if you don't shoot it a lot.  Lighten the use and increase the life holds true for most mechanical devices. IMO, they are all tools, don't abuse them and keep them clean, use them to get the job done, then repair or replace.

 

 

Amen.

4 hours ago, Jay B. said:

Amen.

 

Good comments on the issue being managing the twist, not controlling it.  I use mostly 15 or lighter braid, and I can see the twist in it after a while, but it seldom causes a problem like it does with something like 10 pound mono.

 

The way some reels of the past have broken bail springs, I can why many choose to do it manually.  From my experience reels are tougher now and don't tend to break the springs like those old Mitchells did.

 

Now that we've tossed this around a while, anybody else have spinning reels where the directions for spooling the reels say to simply run it off the source spool with the source spool rotating rather than taking it off the end opposite from what the reel is rotating?  I have a couple Shimanos that say that, and I'm curious if anyone has any idea how something as basic as one twist for every rotation of the bail can be defeated by an anti-twist design of the line pickup roller, the only thing that contacts the line.  I just don't see it.  Interesting discussion.

This season I've started to learn to close the bail by hand.

 

biggest reason for me is to avoid those times when the auto-close doesn't work quite right and the line does not go on the spool right.

 

Managing twist is another good reason.

 

The number of problems I've had with spinning gear has dropped off a bunch.

This topic made me think of this video instantly. I've always made it a habit to close my bail manually, even before seeing this video. But this just reinforces the benefit of closing your bail by hand.

 

 

I was originally taught as a child just to close it by reeling, but as I got older I eventually started closing it by hand.

I learned to flip the bail by hand the hard way.  Took a basically brand new Ugly Stick GX2 combo with me on a canoe trip down Current River in Missouri.  The trout fishing was really good, but unfortunately the bail broke on me couple hours before reaching our destination.  That was the last time I didn't close the bail by hand.   

I have tried, and tried, and tried again to close the bail manually every cast.

 

Probably 60% of the time I will think of it immediately after I have just turned the handle and heard the bail flip over. I am just too stupid!