6kg braid

[redfish71]

G'day fellow fishers, i have just replaced mono with light braid on my spin stick , and the problem is every time i cast a light jig head i end up with a massive tangle of braid, i tried hard bodies and casting is fine, it only seems to happen with light braid, can anyone suggest any remedies for this problem, any help would be much appreciated, cheers

[fat_souvlaki]

When you spooled the new braid, did you put it on with pressure?

 

I have also found that if you are constantly casting and retrieving light lures, the line can go back on the spool with some slack.

Some of the sp bream fishos will be able to provide more info.

 

Cheers, John.

 

[Captain Spanner]

That is a wind knot and there a few things that can cause them. When you cast, the jig head or lure is travelling pretty quickly as it leaves the rod tip, the line is also leaving the reel and travelling through the guides (in coils) at the same speed. A light jig head, especially with a larger plastic with more wind resistance will slow down quicker, especially casting into the wind. There is a short period of time where the lure slows down but the line is still going fast. This causes a traffic jam as the coils of line catch up to each other and tangle, sometimes in the guides of the rod, sometimes coming out of the reel. This can be caused by a few different things including wind resistance on the lure and a leader knot clunking through the guides. 

It can also occur from the spool being overfilled so the lip of the spool is not feathering and controlling the release of line form the spool when casting and also when you have been retrieving slack line which happens fishing a twitching action, especially with light jig heads. Hard bodies are generally heavier and carry more momentum to drag the line through the guides, they have constant tension on the line as you retrieve so it goes on the spool tighter and does not have this problem as much. If you are getting a problem with slack line on the spool you may need to do a flat retrieve every few casts to re-tension the line on the spool or every few casts pinch the line with your fingers to create tension as you retrieve. I find that new braid can be worse until it wears in a little bit.

[DerekD]

When you say light jig head - how light?

The problem is likely that you are fishing too light for the gear and the line isn't going back on the with sufficient tension. To put this into context, 6kg or 13lbs is usually what I use to chase kingfish on my snapper gear and at an absolute minimum I'd probably go down to 10gram (say a Halco twisty) lures with my preference being 15gram or heavier. When fishing plastics the lightest jig head I use is generally 3/8oz plus the weight of the plastic.

The hardbodies, due to their drag in the water will give you some resistance which you probably are not getting from the light plastics. When retrieving line if it doesn't wrap on the spool with sufficient tension when you next cast, as a loop comes off, it can grab and take with it one of the adjacent loops resulting in the birds nest you are talking about.

On my bream gear I have 4lb braid and went through a period of trying the ultra light lures 1/32 or 1/16 and found I would frequently get a birds nest. These days the lightest jighead I use on that gear is 1/8oz or 3.5gm and rarely have this issue.

Edited February 15, 2018 by DerekD

[redfish71]

Thanks everybody for your advice i will give it a go , i am new to fishing with braid, although having said that i have 15lb braid on a boatroad outfit  and have had no problems with that at all, but usually i would use 3/8 or 1/2 ounce jigheads and fish water with a lot of current and still have difficulties getting to the bottom and also pick up a lot of loose weed that is floating about on the surface and under the water, just one last thing does any body know if you can buy sfactor attractant on its own?, i have only had it when buying pre rigged squidgies and now have lots of squidgies but no sfactor, and they don't seem to work very well without it, thanks again for the advice.

[rickmarlin62]

sounds like an overfull spool..loops lift off from below the loops in front of them.causing wind knots before the first stripping guide...rick

[blaxland]

Hi mate yes sfactor available at large chain camping boating fishing stores, I had the same problem when I first switched to braid. It gets better as you use it. e.g if I cast out and leave the bail open while the lure/ bait sinks when I retrieve I use mt free hand to put pressure on untli the terminal tackle can be felt. As mentioned before try to keep pressure when retrieving. Say plastics do your hops take up slack straight away and let it sink slowly take up slack until you feel the lure then hop again monitor how your braid is spooling.

[JonD]

My daughter was having issues with 6lb rovex using 4.3g suga pens, where she was having to cut 20-30m each session ( sessions can be 8-10hrs).

Ive since replaced three reels with spiderwire and so far not had any knots. I used some myself on lures bellow 5g cast directly into the wind, I also deliberately retrieved the lures encourageing the line to lay very lose and still no knots. The big test is my 13 yr old son, if it can be broken or tangled he will manage it, so far even he hasn't had a problem.

[Great_White]

Another fault is the reel may not be meant to take braid .....

Some 'older' model reels, do not take to braided lines at all .....

It all comes down to the way the reel, lays the braid onto the spool ....

Also, try closing your bail over as soon as the lure hits the water .....or grabbing the braid with your fingers. this can help.

Lots of reasons for 'wind-knots' out there , but line tension and lay are the two most likely culprits.

Cheers

Great_White

 

 

[blaxland]

I get braid in 1000 meter spools $75 for 6LB  with a siding scale as the braking strain increases to $149 for 130LB  its PE (spectrum or Dyneema) colour change since moving to this I have had fewer problems if you shop around there are probably better deals out there.

[robrooster]

I found that after a cast, when closing the bail arm, the line can sometimes lay over the drag knob and will need to be manually put back on the line roller.

Make sure thats not happening.