Some companies still make spinning reels without bails. Most are for saltwater use. The bail on one of my older Garcia reels got bent badly years ago, so I removed it. I've been using it this way for years. Takes a little getting used to, but after a short time it becomes easy. Anyone else fish with a Bailess reel?

I have always wondered about bail-less reels, but

never tried to fish one. Guess I need to watch a 

YouTube video with someone using one in order to 

wrap my head around it, LOL.

Used bailess spinning reels for years chasing striped bass up & down the Atlantic east coast. (Van Staal)

Easily adapted to and works well in that application.  The power generated with 10 foot plus rods and hurling heavy baits is significant.  A sudden & undesirable bail closing on the cast is bad news and eliminated with this design.

Simply cutting off a bail can, on some reels, put the unit 'out of balance', making a retrieve pretty wobbly & uncomfortable to fish for any lengthen of time.  Much of this may or may not come into play on the much lighter products generally used in bass fishing applications. 

Food for thought.

A-Jay

 

This does not compute! I can't even picture this or how it would work LOL. Ill stick to the normal way I guess!

If some company came out with a balanced, light weight spinning reel without a bail, and a nice line roller, I'd use it.  I have no purpose for the bail, other than it's an extra step to make a cast.  I seat the line on the roller after the cast, and manually flip the bail back.  Come to think of that, the bail adds two steps!  Off with the bails!

21 minutes ago, Loomis13 said:

This does not compute! I can't even picture this or how it would work LOL. Ill stick to the normal way I guess!

If you’re manually closing your bail, which you should be to avoid line twist and other issues, it’s easier than fishing with a ‘normal’ spinning reel. The only purpose for the bail is to guide the line back onto the roller. If you close the bail by hand normally, you’d just need to switch that motion to reseat the line on the roller. 

It's pretty easy to adapt to - and I did the vast majority of it at night- mostly by feel.

Simply extending the index finger after the cast to 'catch' the line and then the next turn on the reel handle positions the line squarely on the roller.

Going back to a bailed reel seem a bit cumbersome at first - but now, just like then, don't even think about it.

A-Jay

 

The early French spinning reels didn't have a full bail, they had a short finger that opened and then closed to pick up the line and worked good.

Tom

4 minutes ago, WRB said:

The early French spinning reels didn't have a full bail, they had a short finger that opened and then closed to pick up the line and worked good.

Tom

 Always wondered how the fishing around that Eiffel Tower was Tom . . . . 

A-Jay

I've tinkered with the idea of removing the bails on my spinning reels....eliminating something else that could go wrong (bail spring). There are several videos on youtube that shows how to do it. I just have not found a way to cut it off and look as clean as I'd like it to.

55 minutes ago, BrackishBassin said:

If you’re manually closing your bail, which you should be to avoid line twist and other issues, it’s easier than fishing with a ‘normal’ spinning reel. The only purpose for the bail is to guide the line back onto the roller. If you close the bail by hand normally, you’d just need to switch that motion to reseat the line on the roller. 

Yeah, Always close the bail by hand. I guess when Im thinking bail-less Im picturing a reel that has nothing other than the frame and spool. I would probably get it with a quick search.

4 minutes ago, Loomis13 said:

I guess when Im thinking bail-less Im picturing a reel that has nothing other than the frame and spool.

And a line roller.

Just now, J Francho said:

And a line roller.

Right, which is why I was so confused! I wasnt giving the reel a means of getting line back on the spool...DOH

I've closed the bail by hand for years. My Bailess reel is a Zebco Abu cardinal 4. Its a great old reel. One of my favorites. I've gotten used to the Bailess operation. Works great 

Also , I added some washers on the side with no line roller. Balanced it well with only 2 small metal washers. Looks like it was made that way.

4 hours ago, A-Jay said:

 Always wondered how the fishing around that Eiffel Tower was Tom . . . . 

A-Jay

La pêche était bonne mais les pêcheurs sentaient mauvais. 

Back in the early 1960's, I had a Pflueger spinning reel that had no bail. It had a projection on the rotor with a roller on it to smoothly retrieve the line. weighed a ton. I'm pretty sure it was called a Pelican.

Edited March 23, 20188 yr by doublest
punctuation

12 hours ago, Mobasser said:

Some companies still make spinning reels without bails. Most are for saltwater use. The bail on one of my older Garcia reels got bent badly years ago, so I removed it. I've been using it this way for years. Takes a little getting used to, but after a short time it becomes easy. Anyone else fish with a Bailess reel?

Not any more, but most of our surf spinning outfits were bail less. The bails would fail or foul, so most guys converted them or had it done by a tackle shop. No real reason to do it nowadays.

Watched a youtube video of surf fishermen using them and it didn't seem all that difficult. Toughest part of the video was the guys Basstan accent.