Birds Nests

[humesy]

G'day,

I was taking a romantic Sunday morning stroll along the beach after breakfast with the mrs. the other day. I looked over to see pilchards being hammered in the shore break, probably by salmon or tailor. My rods were at home only 300m away up the beach. In a flash, the romance disappeared and my mrs was left behind to keep an eye on the school while I bolted for home to rig up. I used my 12 footer with a Penn 850 spinfisher, spooled to the brim with 50lb braid.

I got back to the mrs but alas she had been watching dolphins and lost track of the school (can't blame her too much for that, I'd be having a good look too).

I decided to have a few casts with a 45g metal lure but every 2nd cast was a bastard birds nest. I am just wondering why. As I said, I was spooled to the brim. Am i perhaps over spooled. I haven't had that type of trouble using baitcasters in a similar way. Any ideas as to why?

Cheers.

PS, how good is it to be walking along a sunny Sydney beach to see that kind of action/wildlife in the water. Whales will be coming by soon as well. Sensational!

[shefford]

Is the lure on a mono leader?

Generally with a slug if your retrieving very fast with braid/mono and it breaks the surface it can bounce and hit the mainline/leader and tangle very badly.

But i could of misread your post as im only a newbie sorry

Edited June 4, 2008 by iricangi

[caranx]

Were you using a baitcaster/overhead reel or a threadline as you mentioned a penn 850 ?

Im guessin a penn 850 , and generally you would get wind knots , not birds nests. Wind knots are usually down the main line somewhere..either in the guides or after it leaves the tip and the braid goes out as a clump. Birdsnests are when you are using a baitcast/overhead and the line overflows onto itself around the spool and your reel jams up and you have to try and un pluck it from the spool.

If you have overfilled it would cause that, and since the lure you are using is quite light , the braid isnt packed on tight when you retrieve. You need to pinch the line before the reel every few casts and make sure its wound on under tension. Or you could use a heavier lure.....

[humesy]

Were you using a baitcaster/overhead reel or a threadline as you mentioned a penn 850 ?

Im guessin a penn 850 , and generally you would get wind knots , not birds nests. Wind knots are usually down the main line somewhere..either in the guides or after it leaves the tip and the braid goes out as a clump. Birdsnests are when you are using a baitcast/overhead and the line overflows onto itself around the spool and your reel jams up and you have to try and un pluck it from the spool.

If you have overfilled it would cause that, and since the lure you are using is quite light , the braid isnt packed on tight when you retrieve. You need to pinch the line before the reel every few casts and make sure its wound on under tension. Or you could use a heavier lure.....

Yes thanks for clearing that up. It would be a wind knot that is happening. Clumps of line flying through the guides. Thanks for the tips, sounds like good advice

[jewgaffer]

Yes thanks for clearing that up. It would be a wind knot that is happening. Clumps of line flying through the guides. Thanks for the tips, sounds like good advice

Hi Humesy

Andrew try letting out all the braid while trolling a heavy drop shot sinker at the end of the line (with no swivel on) behind the Quintrex and then re-winding all the braid back onto the spool again, plus the first ten metres or so of the mono backing behind the knot to tighten up the mono as well.

Hold the line as tight as possible to take out any memory, spooling it all back on to the reel so that it all goes back on nice and tight as your trolling the heavy sinker along with most of the line let out. If that fails to fix the problem check the bail wire alignment with another 850 or a Chinese 8500 at a tackle shop. It only takes a slight bend in the wire bail to alter the line distribution of a spinning reel enough to have you wind the line back on unevenly, and often being only slighly overlapping just enough to pull other line off and particularly when using braid line often being hardly noticable.

Top choice of reel buying the 850ss, mate The 850 will add a lot more power to your armoury for our next jew next session when you bring the big guns out that's for sure

Cheers

jewgaffer

Edited June 4, 2008 by jewgaffer

[gretsch]

The dreaded wind knot!!

You may want to consider a smaller reel to overcome the problem...

I had your problem and after the long and frustrating task of quashing all theories and spending a small fortune on new braid etc, it was the bloody reel and its oscillation which cannot be remedied.

Go straight to the source My Son!!!

[caranx]

The 850s are strong reels, but they arent the best for spinning metals long distances . The spool design doesnt lend itself to those applications as good as other reels. I have the same issues at times with mine, but as long as you put some tension on every so often you will be fine. So far my reel has not failed and it has a had life rock fishing.....