How many of you set you casting reels with enough side to side play that you hear the "knock"?

I don't see any advantage.  I set spool tension to let the spool have just a smidge of play and call it good.

I mostly fish Daiwa reels, all with a decent amount of side to side play. I always keep spool tension pretty loose with all reels and rely on braking and thumb to control the spool.

Depends on the reel. if I do that with my shimano I backlash every time.  I Adjust accordingly by bait, line type/size and wind; not a sound

I set all my reels to JUST barely remove the play. So it's still very fast and free. This year will be my first trying an SV spool, so I'll be experimenting.

44 minutes ago, Jcj90 said:

Depends on the reel. if I do that with my shimano I backlash every time.  I Adjust accordingly by bait, line type/size and wind; not a sound

Regarding my Curado K I'm with you. If there's zero wind I can rock it, but as soon as there is a touch of wind it's pretty tough to cast with the spool totally free. My Mageforce Z Daiwa reel no issues.

I think it’s counterproductive to have spool knock so on the reels that allow a completely loose cast control, I adjust so it’s entirely free but has little if any side to side movement.

Run all my reels where there is just a touch of side to side play ,but never enough to get a knock. I like to use the braking system and an educated thumb to control the spool during a cast.

6 hours ago, waymont said:

Regarding my Curado K I'm with you. If there's zero wind I can rock it, but as soon as there is a touch of wind it's pretty tough to cast with the spool totally free. My Mageforce Z Daiwa reel no issues.

Exactly. Daiwa magforce braking system is a lot less forgiving 

On the majority of major brands (Abu, Shimano, Okuma and ***) I like to set the spool tension to allow the specific weight of my lure to just barely free fall when the spool is engaged, I rarely consider side to side spool play in this equation. 

On my Daiwas I set the spool tension loose enough to where it knocks. On my Shimano Chronarchs I have to set it so the lure drops slowly or it will backlash. 

1 hour ago, Jcj90 said:

Exactly. Daiwa magforce braking system is a lot less forgiving 

Do you mean more forgiving?

9 hours ago, waymont said:

Do you mean more forgiving?

Yah my bad. Haha was tired