Line Reeling In While Casting

[Fredrick]

Has this happen to you?

Curious if anyone has had a problem with their fly reels reeling in line from the inertia of your casting stroke? I find myself pulling line off my reel after about every 10th cast or so. It’s annoying for me on the water when I have a set casting distance that I like to use when covering cover water then I have to stop to pull out line.

 

[afishinado]

Fredrick wrote:
Has this happen to you?

Curious if anyone has had a problem with their fly reels reeling in line from the inertia of your casting stroke? I find myself pulling line off my reel after about every 10th cast or so. It’s annoying for me on the water when I have a set casting distance that I like to use when covering cover water then I have to stop to pull out line.

I've had FFers tell me that was happening to them when I worked at the fly shop. I would guess your reel doesn't have a clicker when reeling in and free-spools when casting. There's no adjustment for that, so my only suggestion is to put a little heavy (viscosity) reel grease on the spindle to prevent it from free-spooling. That usually will do the trick. Maybe someone else has another suggestion.

 

[tomgamber]

Is your drag set that low?

 

[Swattie87]

I think he means the reel is spinning slightly in the forward (reeling in/non drag direction) while casting and the reel is actually pulling line back on to itself from near his feet, shortening the amount of line he is able to cast.

I notice it to a mild degree on my WW set up. Making long casts with a heavier fly that generates a good bit of inertia. Afish makes a good point about lack of a clicker...My WW reel does not have one. It’s never been enough to really bother me, but I’ve noticed it happening too.

 

[tomgamber]

Ahhh, thanks swattie, I don't get to use my 8wt enough to notice.

 

[Fredrick]

Swattie87 wrote:
I think he means the reel is spinning slightly in the forward (reeling in/non drag direction) while casting and the reel is actually pulling line back on to itself from near his feet, shortening the amount of line he is able to cast.

I notice it to a mild degree on my WW set up. Making long casts with a heavier fly that generates a good bit of inertia. Afish makes a good point about lack of a clicker...My WW reel does not have one. It’s never been enough to really bother me, but I’ve noticed it happening too.

Thanks but doesn't the line only reel in only from one direction and pull out from the other ;-)

Glad to hear I'm not the only one, yeah the reels with a clicker are not as bad but the free spool reels are a PIA for me . I have placed a small piece of foam in some of the spool release knob areas on some of my reels to add friction .

 

[sandfly]

never had that problem

 

[drossi]

Hold the line nearest the reel in your non-casting hand while casting (similar to as if you were going shoot it but without as much slack). That should keep the reel from free spooling it back on.

 

[drossi]

.

 

[jifigz]

I've had it happen slightly, but not that badly.

 

[troutbert]

Fredrick wrote:
Has this happen to you?

Curious if anyone has had a problem with their fly reels reeling in line from the inertia of your casting stroke? I find myself pulling line off my reel after about every 10th cast or so. It’s annoying for me on the water when I have a set casting distance that I like to use when covering cover water then I have to stop to pull out line.

I don't understand the mechanics of this.

It seems to me that the inertia of the fly line would do the opposite, pulling the line off the reel, if you had the drag set very loose.

What is causing the reel to turn in the direction that brings line in?

 

[afishinado]

troutbert wrote:

Fredrick wrote:
Has this happen to you?

Curious if anyone has had a problem with their fly reels reeling in line from the inertia of your casting stroke? I find myself pulling line off my reel after about every 10th cast or so. It’s annoying for me on the water when I have a set casting distance that I like to use when covering cover water then I have to stop to pull out line.

I don't understand the mechanics of this.

It seems to me that the inertia of the fly line would do the opposite, pulling the line off the reel, if you had the drag set very loose.

What is causing the reel to turn in the direction that brings line in?

On the backcast, the casting motion (acceleration to a hard stop) would cause the spool to rotate releasing line, but the drag prevents this from happening. On the forward cast, the acceleration and stop would cause the reel to rotate and retrieve line onto the spool. Since there is no clicker or drag on some reels, this type of reel free-spools in this direction and the line is retrieved a bit with every forward stroke.

I've seen this happen with certain fly casters. Most anglers would never have this happen, but Fredrick is an advanced caster with an aggressive speed-up and stop. Plus he's often casting for distance with a heavy rod and line. It's not surprising he has this issue.

 

[Troutmeister]

Had that happen last fall while salmon fishing in N.Y. Only use that rod and reel a few times a year. Was a real P.I.A. to have to peel line back off the reel every few casts. Gonna have to look into the fixes mentioned here.

 

[CRB]

Is there a particular reel manufacture that this is happing with?
Or, do they all do this?

 

[Bamboozle]

I guess I don't get this and maybe need some enlightenment...

For any number of reasons since the beginning of time; when I fly fish, especially when casting, the line coming off the spool is either held, stripped or hauled in my free hand or held or stripped between the first finger on my rod hand and the grip.

The only time the line is coming directly off the spool is if a fish is taking line which means line pay-out or mystery line retrieval is never an issue.

I guess I don't understand why someone would cast a fly rod with the line coming directly off the spool. If nothing else, high line speed would pull line off of a light drag reel...

 

[troutbert]

afishinado wrote:

troutbert wrote:

Fredrick wrote:
Has this happen to you?

Curious if anyone has had a problem with their fly reels reeling in line from the inertia of your casting stroke? I find myself pulling line off my reel after about every 10th cast or so. It’s annoying for me on the water when I have a set casting distance that I like to use when covering cover water then I have to stop to pull out line.

I don't understand the mechanics of this.

It seems to me that the inertia of the fly line would do the opposite, pulling the line off the reel, if you had the drag set very loose.

What is causing the reel to turn in the direction that brings line in?

On the backcast, the casting motion (acceleration to a hard stop) would cause the spool to rotate releasing line, but the drag prevents this from happening. On the forward cast, the acceleration and stop would cause the reel to rotate and retrieve line onto the spool. Since there is no clicker or drag on some reels, this type of reel free-spools in this direction and the line is retrieved a bit with every forward stroke.

I've seen this happen with certain fly casters. Most anglers would never have this happen, but Fredrick is an advanced caster with an aggressive speed-up and stop. Plus he's often casting for distance with a heavy rod and line. It's not surprising he has this issue.

On both the forward cast and the backcast, the line is traveling OUT, i.e. away from the reel, so in both cases it would make sense that the line is spooling OFF the reel, not reeling back onto it.

Suppose you set your reel to light drag, then started casting without touching the line with your off hand.

With the drag set light, and you're casting with speed and a fair bit of line out, the momentum of the line could pull the line off the reel on both the forward and back casts.

So, I don't think anyone has yet explained the mechanics of how line is getting spooled back onto the reel.

The only thing I can imagine is that as the angler is double hauling, his off hand is holding the line and is moving towards the reel, and if the reel is completely on free spool for line retrieving, that motion of the left hand is basically shoving line into the reel.

And if the reel is set up with the drag tight for line going out, then I guess what is happening is that the motion of the off hand holding the line is pushing line onto the reel because it's on free spool in that direction, but not pulling line back out, because the drag is tight in that direction.

But, I could be totally wrong. I'm just trying to think through it. I'm not familiar with saltwater flyfishing, and have never used a reel that free spools.

It doesn't sound fun. Why are the reels set up this way?

 

[afishinado]

I have a 10 outfit with a reel the free-spools in the reel-in direction. The reel has a tendency to turn from the momentum caused by the hard stop of the rod at the end of each false cast. This happens when the line is hanging slack before shooting the running line through the guides on the final cast.

If you don't believe it, get a heavier outfit with a free spooling reel and false cast it for distance double-hauling and shooting line. If you can generate enough torque in your casting, it does it every time.

Like I advised Fred, the solution I came up with was to heavily grease the spindle to impede the spool enough to not allow to free-spool so easily. Fred put a shim at the base of the spool to achieve the same thing.

 

[Fredrick]

Now imagine the force of your casting pauses making your reel spool reel up a couple of inches of line every time you cast . There is a big loose loop of line running from where your hand is on the line to the reel. When you pull line out is the only time your drag is engaged there no mechanism that stops your line from reeling back in if the spool moves in the direction that reels in the line . When I cast my reel spins forward causing the reel to pick up some loose line .

 

[troutbert]

afishinado,

I don't doubt that it happens. Both Fred and you said it happens, and I believe you.

I'm just interested in figuring out how and why it happens. Even if it doesn't make a difference for a solution, it's interesting from just a purely nerdy perspective.

It seems like maybe it's either the forward rotation of the "power snap" that is causing the reel to spin, or the line in the loop is whipping around from the motion of the left hand, causing a movement of the line towards the reel causing it to spin, or a combination of both.

Here's an experiment you could do. Reel all the line onto the reel. Make the casting motion the same way as usual. Does the reel rotate in the in direction? You could mark the reel with something so you can see.

If it doesn't rotate, than the cause is the motion of the line in the loop between the left hand and the reel.

 

[larkmark]

I don't believe it happens. I think they made it up.