? in by email...can you help?
This one came in this morning - maybe you can help this kid out?
hey, ive recently bought a new fishing pole, i had a cheap rinky dink child one that my mom bought in a 'ready to fish' pack, and that had a spincast reel, but the one i just bought has a different kind of reel, and i had to string it myself, which wasnt hard, but when i reel with it the line doesnt catch on it, i was wondering why that happens, if you have an idea why, please let me know what im doing wrong. Billy
What kind of reel is it? And it may be his arbor knot isn't sinched down tight enough.
Hey Billy,
Congratulations on the new outfit.
We need to know the type of reel Billy.
Is it perhaps an open face spinning reel?
If so, it sounds as if the bail was closed
when you put the spool on or that you
inadvertantly miss led the line on the
wrong side of the bail. The bail is the
wire line guide on the face of an open faced
spinning reel. When you cast, the bail is
opened to allow the line to run free. When
you crank the reel, the bail flips back
catching the line and guiding it onto the
reel. If you have a different type of reel
let us know and I'm sure one of us can help
you. Good luck Billy. Warm regards, Jim
Not sure if you are trying to directly attach the fly line to the reel, or are commenting on the backing line attachment to the reel?
You should use backing line (20 pound dacron) attached to the reel. I normally just make a overhand knot on the backing line, to form a small loop, then double over the backing line to attach it to the reel. If the line slips when you first start winding , a small piece of tape, will keep the line secure enough until you get a few wraps around the reel axis.
Then you attach the fly line to the backing line. How much backing is enough? That is a hard question, only trial and error, whille tell! It is better to have too much backing on, and have to unwind the fly line, and remove some backing and reattach the fly line.
~ Parnelli
Chartered Member of "Friends of FAOL"!
Down in the meadow in a little bitty pool
Swam three little fishies and a mama fishie too
"Swim" said the mama fishie, "Swim if you can"
And they swam and they swam all over the dam
[This message has been edited by Steven H. McGarthwaite (edited 12 August 2005).]
I think Jim nailed this one. It sounds like the kid has a spinning reel and put the spool on with the bail already closed. (Shoot, I still do that myself!)
If that's the case, it's easy to fix. Just open the bail first, then put the line through the guides. Now close the bail and you're done.
Thinking that Jim has this one pegged from the get go. Have a long story behind one of those situations. Many years ago, my fishing buddy (a southpaw) bought a new Mitchel reel at J.C. Pennys (when they carried such things) and had the line wound on the spool there but didnt tell anyone that it was for a 301 (or whatever the nomenclature was for a southpaw reel).
The next morning, he and I hit the lake very early and after pulling the boat into a nice cove I got on the trolling motor and cast next to a big stump with a #5 Rapala on and BAM!!! a huge largemouth took it and the fight was on. Well, Hugh had cast his line out and was watching me fight this bad boy while he was cranking (or so he thought) his lure back in and my fight with this fish lasted a few minutes so Hugh is cranking away. All of a sudden I hear Hugh take off into a dialog that would make a sailor blush and since the line had been cranked on the spool incorrectly, there was a huge pile of line in the bottom of the boat at his feet....took him a good 20 minutes to get that mess straightened out....so funny at the time.
Just chucked a closed face spinning reel into the garbage this week with a similar problem. Half the time on the retrieve it wouldn't "pick up" the line. Tried just about everything and finally gave up. New reel on pole now! New line, full spool, etc., nothing cured the problem. Old reel anyway. New one has nice feature. Don't ever have to open the bail and touch the line to cast. Operates off a "trigger" mechanism.
alot of closed faced type reels wont pick up line unless there is enough weight/tension on the line to pull it into the "teeth". especially with "kids kits", you need to have some sort of weight(lure, split shot, bobber...fish) or else the spool will spin around and the line wont tension into the teeth. depending on the reel, line, and line weight, this could be a substantial amount of weight/tension needed.
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Everyone dies. Only the lucky ever truly Live. Take your time.
Chris-Bishop, CA, USA
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