Help ....Airknots

[brenton 637]

Hi guys I,m having a bit of trouble with airknots when casting this nitlon braid off my sienna and flickstick,i don,t reckon the spool is overfilled(because i,ve cut heaps off {SMILIES_PATH}/angry.gif:(" title="Angry" />) but its still happening about every 15 casts or so.Someone told me if you take all the line off and hand wind on a base with more line on the front (i think) of the spool and then wind the rest on as normal this will stop it.does anyone know if this works or do you have another remedy....thanks in advance {SMILIES_PATH}/smiley.gif cheers brenton

[coonta kinta 1]

G'day Brenton. Not sure how that will stop the wind knots but I also wonder how the line will stay that way on the spool. I think the best way to have the line yaying up the top of the spool is to add / remove washers to the spool until. I believe tournament casters use this method to increase casting distance also {SMILIES_PATH}/wink.gif

[David Ciaravolo 34]

Hi buddy, make sure there is sufficient tension when you wind the braid onto the reel. When using light lures try winding the line through your fingers for added tension every 4 or 5 casts, this should help. Also a longer leader 3+ metres might help. Overall u will struggle a bit with light braid on that reel, it does not lay it the best but with some extra care you might make it mannagable.

[Ranger 48]

Hi buddy, make sure there is sufficient tension when you wind the braid onto the reel. When using light lures try winding the line through your fingers for added tension every 4 or 5 casts, this should help. Also a longer leader 3+ metres might help. Overall u will struggle a bit with light braid on that reel, it does not lay it the best but with some extra care you might make it mannagable.

All top advice!I don't believe you will EVER eradicate wind knots, especially when you get down to 4lb and/or under, but all these steps will help to reduce them, especially the bit about winding it back on under tension through ya fingers!

[Cal 480]

G"day Brenton, yes good advice, as said the main problem arises when winding slack line onto the reel.When I use to spend plenty of nights casting for mulloway with lures[before braid] it was even a problem getting tangles with mono, and I just wound it in under tension regulary, which worked.I also found new line would do it , and after a while , and a few tangles later [cutting them off] it would find a level that behaved itself.Even if this level was slightly lower than ideal, I found that sacrificing a bit of casting distance is better than undoing tangles all the time.Also some brands seem to do it more than others, not having a go at nitlon from all reports great stuff, but I have only used fireline and yeah it may be inferior to many people but personally have found it to behave itself.Cheers {SMILIES_PATH}/cool.gif

[brenton 637]

Thank Fellas I think its 14lb nitlon so its not that light but winding it through my fingers every few casts does seem a bit of a pain,i,ll try the washer method but i,ve used the same method to stop line building up on the front of the spool which is what i,ve been told will help reduce the knots.And Cal...so true i,ve got fireline in 6lb on my bream stick,the spools loaded right up and over the 6 months i,ve fished S/Ps i,ve hardly had a problem.Oh well back to the drawing board {SMILIES_PATH}/grin.gif {SMILIES_PATH}/grin.gif cheers brenton

[bennyboy 0]

I'm using nitlon braid aswell brenton, not sure if it was 14 or if they make it in 15lb? ( josh a little help {SMILIES_PATH}/tongue.gif )So far i haven't had any problems with air knots, and i've used it for salmon down at yorkes, and a lot of unweighted bait fishing aswell.When i loaded the spool up i then took it outside and hooked the line up to a tree, ran down the street under 3/4 tension, and then wound it back up tight.I looked like a total kn*b-head to my neighbours, but so far the line has been good for me....

[David Ciaravolo 34]

Unfortunately that Sienna is not designed for braid buddy. I use reels designed for it and i still wind through my fingers for extra tension and better casting, its par for the course really.I doubt stacking the line at the top will help as u will probably catch more loose line and have bigger knots!Are you ending up with single tight little knots which look like u've tied an overhand granny knot in the middle of your line, or do you get 'clumps' with loops of line wrapped around the main line? The reason i ask is they are caused by different things, the former being the hardest to deal with, an the latter being entirely fixable.yak

[Cal 480]

G"day Yak, How can you tell if a reel is braid suitable or not?Apart from older style reels, which obviously werent designed for it,how do you know?Cheers {SMILIES_PATH}/cool.gif

[David Ciaravolo 34]

Generally if the reel is designed for use with braided lines it will have a mechanism tobetter control line. This can be done by way of a Wormdrive, other reels have variable speed rotoroscilation this is usually achieved by way of an eliptical (not round) drive gear.The aim of this is to "crosswrap" the line on the spool.By layering the line across itself and not merely stacking it up parallel to the line before it, there is no danger ofthe line leaving the reel, catching the line above it on the spool, and peeling off loops (or clumps) of line. If you are trying to spot if your reel is braid friendly look at the spool if the line looks a little "messy" or "overlapping" it is probably designed for braid, if it looks uniform and even it is probably a standard layer of line.Having said all that if the reel you use seems to mannage the line well but does not have these features: Fish Away it'll be fine.ABU cardinals (older ones) are like this. Not necassarily designed for braid but handle it fine!hope that can be of some help buddy.Yak

[Cal 480]

Cheers Yak, great info, I actually have a cardinal and it is a great reel {SMILIES_PATH}/cool.gifI have heard that Seamartins , believe it or not with their cross wrap line lay are actually very good for braid, so that explains why.Cheers for your help once again. {SMILIES_PATH}/cool.gif

[brenton 637]

thanks for all your input guys i,ll have to try out the tips and see if i can get away with the sienna or not. cheers brenton

[Ranger 48]

Even though I wouldn't admit it under normal circumstances, I have a Sienna here loaded with 6lb braid! Not the greatest reel I've owned, but it still throws braid and catches fish ok!

[brenton 637]

I had a flick in the rain this morning with the Sienna after i hand wound the first 5o metres or so of line on by hand with a bias towards the front of the spool and so far so good, no air knots this morning but no mully either {SMILIES_PATH}/sad.gif.I may....have it sorted,fingers crossed. cheers brenton

[Smiley 8]

Another thing to remember is that with supple braids like Nitlon, Sensor etc you can get away with under filling you reals by quite a bit without affecting your casting distance too much. If anyone out there is having problems with wind knots try leaving a decent gap between the lip and the line (1-3mm) With a good braid you won't notice much, if any, loss of distance in your casting but will reduce wind knots considerably. I have done this on my braid setup (sol 2000 reel) and never have to pay any attention to the line tension etc. even when fishing plastics unweighted. I love not having the headache of wind knots! Best 10mins I ever spent!