Line is your friend ! ....

[Mojo]

Kent Lake again was a blast + challenge. Got to thank you guys again for getting together, what a bunch of great - gweat fellas. 

So I am the line twist king - that really downed my day. All my spin cast reels had line explosions with HUGE nest knots. I understand to specially rig my texas rigged senko now, but maybe I need to get back to the basics so I'll throw out a request. I need to be downloaded by you fellow fishermen, on Fishing Line 101. I have the following baits: Spinner & rattle (15 lb mono), Drop Shot and Tube (8 lb Floro), Jerk bait & crank bait (10 lb P line), soft plastic & jig (10 lb P line). Tell me what you have on your reels, and what you recommend for each bait type. I would truly appreciate it !

[Bender]

Mike,
Here are mine:
4000 size spinning reel: Suffix Siege 10lb for crankbaits & topwater or anything with treble hooks other than jerk baits(yesterday was the first day with this line, no twists) Had XPS mono in 14lb, too heavy, it was like wire.
50 size ultra light spinning: 6 lb. XPS floro, every once in a while a slight twist, After each cast I pull out the slack in front of the reel. I use texas rigged small Senkos with this.
2500 size spinning: 8 lb. PLine floro for tubes. I only used it for 15 minutes this year, but no problems.
I have an extra 4000 size ready in the boat with cajun red cast line on it, the rest are casting reels without any twist problems, backlashes are another story! The reel sizes are all Shimanos, the big ones have less trouble for me. Are all of yours with problems spinning reels?

On that small reel I had big problems last year. To try to get the twist out I let the line out behind the boat when I was moving until almost all the line was off the reel. Then reel it back in, it seemed to help. Hope that helps.

[Revtro]

Mike, I truly don't believe the type of line is the reason you are twisted up.  I used to have the exact same problem with all my spinning reels until a friend of mine enlightened me about how to load a new spool.  If you take line right out of a box onto a spinning reel, you will get one full twist with every revolution of the bail.  It's simple mechanics.  It can't be avoided.  The best way to avoid twist when loading a new spool is to put the spool face up on the ground (no box, just the spool)  Set it down so that the line comes off in the same direction as the spool and you won't get all the twist. 

The only other way is to use a drill motor and clamp (I made one for this purpose) and spool the line from the box or spooling station directly onto the spool (spool is on the drill, not the reel) so that the spool is turning like a baitcaster spool (in-line with the spool of line) on the drill motor. 

Believe me, I've used a line spooling station for years and have had nothing but problems spooling a spinning reel from it.  Twist, twist, and more twist.  Some guys don't have a problem with it, but give it time, they will.  Again, it's simple mechanics.  If the spool is perpendicular to the reel, it must twist right?  The only way to avoid it is to have things in line or spinning the same direction.  That'll fix all your twist problems at least until your line gets twisted from use, but that's normal.  There is no reason you should twist up and ball up your line on freshly spooled reels, no matter what kind of line you use.  Line isn't he culprit here.  Trust me...been there.

[Revtro]

By the way, going to a superline or braid with a floro leader will help because they are so limp, they can twist like crazy without having any casting problems.  I am trying that for the first time this year on spinning reels and I can't believe how nice it is working.  I'm sold.

[Mojo]

Cool input guys. Keep it coming. I'll respool like you showed me on the boat.

I'm am very interested in what type of line everyone is using for each type of bait too !! Please chime in with your set ups !

[dashaver63]

My only different set-up is to use a bearing swivel between 10lb. braid and 8lb. floro when I use tubes with the jig heads. About a 2 foot or so leader. That really helps avoiding line twist when that tube is spinning all the way to the bottom in deep water. Another thing I do is when I respool, I just run my line through the bottom eye on the rod so that I have better control if the line starts to twist. Instead of my line being 7 feet from me, it's right there where I can handle it better.

[degraeve1]

I agree with Tom's comments.  I know that I have line twist because of the way I spool up as well, and I need to change that.  My biggest problem yesterday was losing my rig when I'd get hung up.  The line on that reel was likely in poor shape, because this was my first trip out this year, and I didn't respool before Saturday. 

But I can tell you this... I had a blast out there.  I think the best streak of bites & fish in the boat for Shane & I was when it was raining as hard as it did... then it seemed to us that the bite just died off entirely.