Braid getting caught in bail wire

[Little_Flatty]

Hi Raiders,

Having a bit of a unique problem with my ABU Revo S20, spooled with 4lb Berkley X9. The braid is getting caught between the bail wire and bail roller ramp:

I realised this was happening when I tried to wind in the slack and nothing happened. I kept on winding and winding and then saw that the braid got separated by the pinch! A quick uni knot and I was back in action, but it happened again on the next cast (this is the photo). Never had this happen with my other (admittedly higher end) reels.

What should I do? Being a cheap-ish reel, I suspect it isn't a manufacturing defect per se. I did think about dismantling the bail wire and then putting some heatshrink over the ramp. The other option is to spool it up with some mono for bait fishing.

Any opinions would be most appreciated.

[slothparade]

Won't be because it's a cheap reel, U use cheap reels now and again with braid and that never happens. Only experience I've had that something remotely like that happened was when I over spooled my reel. 

 

[zmk1962]

It looks like the lip between the bail arm and the roller mount is catching a loose coil of braid. Hmmm. Maybe you can fill in the lip with a dab of 5min epoxy to create a smooth ramped transition from the arm to the mount. 
cheers Zoran 

[XD351]

Try lifting the rod tip as you flip the bail over . Not saying it will work but it might.

[Rebel]

Doesn't happen with Mono.

Cheers.

[XD351]

I am curious though as to where the bail automatically flips over ? Some reels it is with the roller closer to the rod or at the top and others the roller is right at the bottom . If you hold the reel with the drag nut facing you and the reel set pointing up ( 12 o’clock position ) that is what I mean by top and 6 o’clock is the bottom. By lifting the rod tip a little 100-200mm as you wind the handle to close the bail it removes any slack line between the spool and bail arm . I think I had a similar issue with one of my Daiwa reels when I switched to X8 Platypus braid as it way more limp than the old fused braid I used to use .

[Little_Flatty]

2 hours ago, zmk1962 said:

It looks like the lip between the bail arm and the roller mount is catching a loose coil of braid. Hmmm. Maybe you can fill in the lip with a dab of 5min epoxy to create a smooth ramped transition from the arm to the mount. 
cheers Zoran 

That was a thought as well. I might do that as it doesn't require any disassembly of the reel.

42 minutes ago, Rebel said:

Doesn't happen with Mono.

Cheers.

I know, but I do like my braid for lure fishing  

27 minutes ago, XD351 said:

I am curious though as to where the bail automatically flips over ? Some reels it is with the roller closer to the rod or at the top and others the roller is right at the bottom . If you hold the reel with the drag nut facing you and the reel set pointing up ( 12 o’clock position ) that is what I mean by top and 6 o’clock is the bottom. By lifting the rod tip a little 100-200mm as you wind the handle to close the bail it removes any slack line between the spool and bail arm . I think I had a similar issue with one of my Daiwa reels when I switched to X8 Platypus braid as it way more limp than the old fused braid I used to use .

It flips at about 4 o'clock. Where did your Daiwa flip over?

[XD351]

Both my Daiwa reels hit the flip ramp at 6 o’clock and the bail flips at around 8 o’clock. Both these are running the Platypus braid .

Both my Penn reels hit the ramp at 4 o’clock and flip around 6 o’clock but these reels are running prymil and power pro braid - don’t need anything special for bait fishing !

I think the only problem I have had with the Penn was the braid getting caught on the drag knob but that is a design issue .

I think at the time I just put it down to the braid being very limp when wet as I used to run power pro on these and can’t recall any issues but thought I would give the Platypus a go .

When casting are you fingering the lip of the spool to stop the lure or just casting and winding ?

[Green Hornet]

I don’t know if this helps, but I learnt early when fishing braid never to use the handle to flip the bail. Flip it directly with your hand, pull a few centimeters of line off against the drag, then commence your retrieve. That way not only does it prevent problems like yours, it also prevents those loose loops that can cause wind knots.

It sounds like a pain, but after a short while it becomes second nature and you do it without thinking.

[Little_Flatty]

6 hours ago, XD351 said:

When casting are you fingering the lip of the spool to stop the lure or just casting and winding ?

A bit of both. Depends on if I'm casting at close quarters or not.

6 hours ago, Green Hornet said:

I don’t know if this helps, but I learnt early when fishing braid never to use the handle to flip the bail. Flip it directly with your hand, pull a few centimeters of line off against the drag, then commence your retrieve. That way not only does it prevent problems like yours, it also prevents those loose loops that can cause wind knots.

It sounds like a pain, but after a short while it becomes second nature and you do it without thinking.

It does sound like a pain (!) but might be worth a go to avoid wind knots. Never happened to me before though, so it still strikes me as an odd problem. Thanks for the advice, will give it a shot.

[rickmarlin62]

Looking at foto your picking up loose hangin line its not gettin caught in a crack or anything  close bail by hand and pull line   that looks like loose loops hangin in breeze is your issue not the reel

[noelm]

I have that happen using even mono on a couple of old (but decent quality) Shimano reels that use the "wind the handle to flip the bail" feature, it's not earth shattering, but it is a constant "issue" so I manually flip the bail, and never, ever have the issue! I think if you took a video of it, then actually watched it in slow motion, you will see it's caused by the line being loose and the handle being turned to flip the bail, it just kind of wraps around when loose "loops" are present after casting.

[DerekD]

Hi @Little_Flatty

Do you wind to flip the bail arm closed or do it manually? If it is the former then start flipping the bail over by hand when the lure hits the water.

Might be a bail design on that reel which is grabbing that loop. Had to look closely at the photo to realise what happened but puzzled as to the why. How often has it been happening?

Regards,

Derek

Edited December 11, 2022 by DerekD

[noelm]

My guess (and I am pretty sure if this) he winds the handle to close the bail, I have looked closely at this "feature" many times.

[Little_Flatty]

1 hour ago, rickmarlin62 said:

Looking at foto your picking up loose hangin line its not gettin caught in a crack or anything  close bail by hand and pull line   that looks like loose loops hangin in breeze is your issue not the reel

Thanks Rick, it could be. I do a lot of fishing with quite light jigheads. Still, it's strange it's never happened on other reels.

47 minutes ago, noelm said:

I have that happen using even mono on a couple of old (but decent quality) Shimano reels that use the "wind the handle to flip the bail" feature, it's not earth shattering, but it is a constant "issue" so I manually flip the bail, and never, ever have the issue! I think if you took a video of it, then actually watched it in slow motion, you will see it's caused by the line being loose and the handle being turned to flip the bail, it just kind of wraps around when loose "loops" are present after casting.

Thanks Noel, I wouldn't have been that bothered if the bail didn't actually cut the braid!

14 minutes ago, DerekD said:

Hi @Little_Flatty

Do you wind to flip the bail arm closed or do it manually? If it is the former then start flipping the bail over by hand when the lure hits the water.

Might be a bail design on that reel which is grabbing that loop. Had to look closely at the photo to realise what happened but puzzled as to the why. How often has it been happening?

Regards,

Derek

Happened three times in fifteen mins. That said I did fish one session prior to this without any problems.

48 minutes ago, noelm said:

My guess (and I am pretty sure if this) he winds the handle to close the bail, I have looked closely at this "feature" many times.

You're right! 🤣