How to stop a multiplier reel turning into a birds nest!

[TonyD 3]

Being new to sea fishing I have purchased a decent rod and multiplier reel with a view to catching Tuna, shark etc at some point. I spoke to the guy at BCF who was helpful and reccomended a rod and reel combo and also suggested the line most suitable. I filled the reel up keeping the line under reasonable pressure and every time I cast, despite putting my finger on the line as soon as the bait touches the water, the reel overuns even on a gentle cast. If I cast with any force at all it goes into a birds nest of mono - have I made a basic mistake? Any advice from you experienced multiplier users would be much appreciated.

[Yorky 309]

Need to know what the reel is, if its not a reel designed for casting you may find it very hard. Also are you running mono or braid

 

Cheers

Yorky

[plankton 725]

Some reels are better casters than others. Some overheads are designed more for trolling or just dropping stuff straight down. That doesn't mean you can't cast them, it just takes more practice. I've seen guys surf cast with Penn Senators.

 

The key is training yourself to use your thumb to control the spool. If it starts spinning faster than the line is leaving the spool then it will blow up, often in spectacular fashion. You also need to stop the spool as soon as you bait/lure hits the water.

 

Best way to practice is to load the reel with some cheap, heavy mono and have a go. Use a fair bit of thumb pressure at first and slowly back it off until you're getting close to a birdsnest, then practice repeating that amount of pressure until it becomes second nature.

 

If your casting with a lot of force, like in surf casting, you'll want to apply thumb pressure on the flange of the spool instead of directly on the line, otherwise you'll burn the crap out your thumb.

 

What's the reel you bought?  What test line are you using? Might be able to give you some more specific info if I knew a bit more.

[Squid Inc. 71]

Sorry I'm not to good at explaining but have you adjusted the speed of the line coming off by doing up the knob on the side of the reel?

You do it up tight then hold your sinker off the ground, release the line & slowly undo the knob until the line starts to peel off. You only need a bit of tension on it & you adjust it with different sinker & bait weights

It will shorten your cast but as you get better at it you can loosen it off more.

Once again sorry for lack of correct names & poor explanation.

Hope this helps

Cheers

[Seeseacol 381]

Squid Inc has pretty much said it, and some reels do cast easier than others. If you are leaving off thumbing the spool when it hits the water it may be too late as the line has already started to slow and overrun itself, try lightly thumbing the spool lightly once the bait starts slowing on it's downward progression, dont leave it until it hits the water.

 

Most of all be smooth in your cast, not jerky and practice practice practice

[plankton 725]

Sorry I'm not to good at explaining but have you adjusted the speed of the line coming off by doing up the knob on the side of the reel?

You do it up tight then hold your sinker off the ground, release the line & slowly undo the knob until the line starts to peel off. You only need a bit of tension on it & you adjust it with different sinker & bait weights

It will shorten your cast but as you get better at it you can loosen it off more.

Once again sorry for lack of correct names & poor explanation.

Hope this helps

Cheers

 

This is the advice that Abu gave in their owners manuals several years ago. Unfortunately this can damage many newer style reels, including Abus.

 

The side tension knob should be adjusted so you feel what is called "perceptible float" which means you notice slight side to side movement in the spool. Some reels have tension knobs on both sides which are used to center the spool, but should still be adjusted so you feel that perceptible float.

 

Using those tension knobs to control the speed can damage the spool shaft and bearings.

 

Some reels have magnetic braking which is controlled by a knob on the sideplate, sometimes by a sliding switch. Many reels have centrifugal casting control which consists of small plastic brake blocks which sit on metal spindles alongside the spool. This can be adjusted by adding, removing or changing the size of the blocks.

[waterbird 17]

I used to head to the local oval and practice casting with my old Abu many years ago.

Got a few looks from people, but who cares.

I just kept throwing sinkers and adjusting the spool tension until I felt it was right.

I recon I got to throwing around 100m or so, its good practice.

When doing the real deal you need to hit the brakes when you hit the water or 'you know what' will happen.

[adamibinfishin 224]

The old proven method was to tighten your spool tension so it slowly feeds out under the sinkers weight and hits the deck and not fuzz the reel. This is good advice for the beginner and also smooth constant weight on the rod tip as you proceed with the casting action. Just requires practice and conditions can also play a part like heavy baits and head winds etc. Once you get more proficient you will find yourself backing off the spool tensioner which will aid with more distance. Hope this helps.

Cheers

[hoopsy 697]

yep tension ya brake abit till ya get use to it mate ..with casting everything has too be smooth as hard jerks of any sort will nest u up they also tend too nest in the same spot once u have nested it a few times..once u have it sussed re-spool it with quality line

[Rybak 622]

I had the same problems when I bought my first ABU 7000 many many years ago. My mate who has used these reels showed me how to set up & cast. I now almost exclusively use overhead reels from the baby versions to the larger TLD's, Penns etc.

 

My best advice is have someone who uses overhead reels show you how to set up & use the reel. Much easier then trying to explain here

[Dad 25 123]

   As said they can take some practice but once learned you'll be happy

with them ,I used to set mine up by  attaching sinker and bait ,raise rod

tip in the air , say 8ft off ground/deck release spool and let drop to ground and

adjust cast control until the spool turns 1-1.5 turns after hitting the ground

without any thumb pressure on spool , then cast away with thumb pressure

at point bait  is about to contact water then let bait sink on it's own .

You really need to adjust every time you cast until you have done it a

while and get faster with you're thumb , different weight has a huge

difference on cast control setting as you'de imagine .

                             Mike

[jackmac 307]

Spent many days casting Abus on Browns beach it takes a lot of practice casting into the wind on a dark night which makes it hard to see when to thumb.I used to take a spare spinning reel with me because it was only a matter of time before the dreaded birds nest.Practice makes perfect and you soon learn how to untangle the bloody thing which is a skill in itself.