I have had a few doozy's.  Most of the time is if I catch something on my back cast or I try to throw a bomb cast when I've got the brakes dialed dang near off (most of the time I'm fishing). Also skipping can produce some fine nests when I hit the dock instead of the water.

     Count me in for one of those hoodies!

Fishingmickey

2 hours ago, RipzLipz said:

Patience is the biggest key followed by finding where the loops are looped within themselves. Gently tugging & finding the place where it’s caught usually leads to a successful detangling. Try not to pull hard!

^^^^^ This especially with Fluorocarbon.  Also when I am digging out a big'un (birds nest.) I feed the line that I have cleared/detangled over the side of my kayak into the water. This keeps it from getting tangled in itself.

FM

I've tried the hold my thumb against the backlash to reel it back up before, but on the few occasions I've tried it, it hasn't worked.

 

For something not horrible, I am normally able to clear it by pulling on the loops and stripping the line out the front. If I find a loop that wont pull, I turn the spool back some, and the next loop is normally the culprit. Freeing that one frees that portion and I continue on.

Most of the time I'll get a bad backlash trying to cast when I should have been pitching.  I'll bring the rod back and hit something behind me that I failed to see like a tree branch, bush, or on a few occasions the trolling motor.

I have always used mono for my casting reels, but last night @riverratryan came over with some spool ends and I put braid (with a backer) on my favorite. Thanks again Ryan! Guess we'll see how long it lasts.

I only have one question:

Why do you guys take pics of your backlashes and more importantly, why do you keep them?

Just asking. 

On 1/30/2024 at 3:45 AM, Bazoo said:

I've tried the hold my thumb against the backlash to reel it back up before, but on the few occasions I've tried it, it hasn't worked.

 

I turn the spool back some, and the next loop is normally the culprit. Freeing that one frees that portion and I continue on.

Clamp down drag & press thumb firmly into line, if your nails aren’t going to dig in, tip of thumb helps then reel. It works like you describe in 2nd portion I quoted above. As I stated earlier, it’s not a cure all but it can help or at least get the detangling started in some instances.

 

More often than not, pulling from line guide will spin spool to first stuck loop, as you said. The pick with hook can help reach it to make space for unlooping loops within loops or cinched down hard. On bad ones, the issue is sometimes being able to see it (loose unspooled line that isn’t necessarily looped). I’ve had some that looked like some of the pics above & ended up being 2-3 loops within loops & the rest just unspooled & loose.

 

When detangling, once the line resembles pubic hair & you’ve made zero to very little progress, it’s probably not going to happen. Focus on the line going to the line guide & where it’s stuck first. Pulling the loops that aren’t holding down line going into line guide usually causes more issues from my experience but there are occasions where that can help a bit & free up other loops. Hard to give advice on this subject without clear, specific examples.

 

Rapala clippers with pick I use to grab hard to reach loops:

If it's not horrible, I've always been able to clear it by pulling on loops. I've never been able to clear a monster like that no matter how much I picked.

I snagged a tree behind me earlier today.

 

The Case XX made short work of it.

Many years ago when I was learning to cast a baitcaster I remember watching Bill Dance one day and he said to make a normal cast, then pull off another 5 to 10 ft. of line and then put a piece of electrical tape on the spool and reel in. That way if/when you do backlash you only have to dig out to the tape, not the entire spool. That little trick has saved me more often than I care to think about.

Yeah....I tried that when I lived in Florida. In the hot weather the adhesive on the tape melted and turned the whole spool of line into a giant slimy sticky mess. I have not done that since.

1 hour ago, Kirtley Howe said:

Yeah....I tried that when I lived in Florida. In the hot weather the adhesive on the tape melted and turned the whole spool of line into a giant slimy sticky mess. I have not done that since.

I live in Florida now, but even when living in PA I didn't use tape although I often thought about doing it.  Thanks for the heads up.  Am going to practice casting light lures (below 3/16 oz.) and expect to have my share of backlashes while learning.

 

Never took pics of my backlashes and never will.  Need that time to pick them out. 

 

i had a pic of a backlash once.  i was talking to my minnesota buddy on speaker phone, when i lashed.  he heard it!!  pffffththth!   he was, "was that a backlash?"

i lied and hung up.

 

i sent him i pic..and we laughed.    i deleted it.  but it was deeeeppp..  i just put the rod away. 

About the only time I backlash like that is when I catch something on my backcast.

 

I will do a mild backlash when casting into the wind, but it's easily cleared.

 

And of course, I occasionally get a couple of extra loops when casting, but normally I just raise my rod tip and they spool right off.

 

I've noticed that if I align the winding guide with the line on the spool when casting, it helps to not have backlashes and just to cast smoother in general.

 

In other words, if the guide is on the right side, and the line is coming off the spool on the left, I pull a bit of line off so that the guide and line are aligned.

On 1/26/2024 at 1:01 PM, Hulkster said:

That is overfilled by quite a bit. should be able to just see the edges of the spool. that will help stop the overruns too. Also BG is not very limp. Try a better mono like Sufix Siege or elite. it will cast much smoother. 

You beat me to it, Hulk.  It is overfilled and fresh line is asking for it!

FM

 

Doooh, posting to a year plus old thread.

20 minutes ago, Fishingmickey said:

You beat me to it, Hulk.  It is overfilled and fresh line is asking for it!

FM

 

Doooh, posting to a year plus old thread.

It's just starting to get ripe.

Not that I need it but I keep a comb in my back pocket to pick out professional overrides.  It doesn't hurt the line like a metal pick might.