I asked Mike of DVT about a problem I was having casting a Mepps spinner on my Sol/Expert Light combo. I had consistently referred to it as "overruns". Mike felt they were backlashes rather than overruns. Basically I've always used the terms interchangably. I can see that when the lure hits the water, but the spool keeps turning, then we have an "overrun". But when throwing a light lure, and the spool spins faster at the beginning of the cast than what the lure can pull the line out isn't the resulting backlash a result of the spool "overruning" line speed? Shouldn't it be called a "forwardlash"?

I'm not questioning Mike's answer, but simply trying to get a handle on the term "backlash". I never really gave it a thought before. Maybe the term "backlash" comes from the fact that the line is tangled up "back" into the spool.....OR.....for me a backlash almost always is harder to clear than an overrun. This can result in me wanting to "lash" out. Since I sit in the rear of the boat, I would have to "lash" out towards the "back". Ergo "backlash".

Guess I have too much free time on my hands tonight.

The definition is a violent backward whipping motion. A backlash is when the reel is in free spool mode when cast and the reel spool is spinning rapidly. Then when the Line get tangled it abruptly stops the forward Motion of the reel spool causing it to whip backward. An overrun however never stops moving forward and the line never tangles just seperates from the spool. This usually happens when the spool is moving at slower speeds. That's just how I have always separated the 2. Although where it origanated in bass fishing I couldn't tell ya.

its called a backlash???, i call it a oh #### or oh d**n or all son of... ya get were this is going but when i am by myself it hardly eveer gets called a bcklash...

An overrun is a minor inconvenience that happens when my thumb is not paying enough attention. A backlash is the thing that happens when I catch the running light, outboard, console, etc at the beginning of an overhand cast (most often with a C-rig for me), hit something else on the way to the target, or I make a hard cast forgetting to tighten things up after pitching a light bait. There is a distinctive sound that happens as the line on my reel attempts tie itself in the most complex knot ever...this is often followed by some sort of expletive.