yellow door 1

I finally got my issues sorted today.
It took some unspooling and re spooling in the park. ( and a tangled Labradoodle 😒)
I did replace the only shim in the reel, with the skinniest version I had.
I also used several small swivels above the weight to ensure I removed any line twist when winding back on.
I had a suspicion the store machine may have put in a bit of line twist, As they initially did not put enough backing on. So they unwound and rewound the new line. That may have contributed to the problem. However rewinding the spool several times with extra swivels seems to have ensured it was removed.
Casting trouble free for now. 👍
 

Yep, it probably is a combination of everything, the shim thing for sure, as a kid I'd even make my own (well pre braid) for an even lay, my Grandfather taught me that, another thing he told me relevant to this was always have tension on the line when winding in, if you don't have weight on use your finger otherwise you get loose coils which will cause tangles.
I still do as he taught me and have NEVER had a wind knot, I do occasionally overfill a spool though and get the same experience.....

There are also guys that swear that manually closing the bail arm after each cast (instead of tripping it by using the reel handle) is a good idea.

The explanation Ive heard is because you take on loose line and it adds a half twist every time you do it.

Ive always manually closed the bail arm. So I havent got to experience the issues related to using the reel handle to do it. But I am very cautious not to take on loose line while coming up tight to my lure
 

There are also guys that swear that manually closing the bail arm after each cast (instead of tripping it by using the reel handle) is a good idea.

The explanation Ive heard is because you take on loose line and it adds a half twist every time you do it.

Ive always manually closed the bail arm. So I havent got to experience the issues related to using the reel handle to do it. But I am very cautious not to take on loose line while coming up tight to my lure
 

Agree - something I forgot to mention.
And also 'feathering' the line with your fingers just before lure hitting the water - then manually close the bail arm.

There are also guys that swear that manually closing the bail arm after each cast (instead of tripping it by using the reel handle) is a good idea.

The explanation Ive heard is because you take on loose line and it adds a half twist every time you do it.

Ive always manually closed the bail arm. So I havent got to experience the issues related to using the reel handle to do it. But I am very cautious not to take on loose line while coming up tight to my lure
 

You're a jinx Des. I went for a fish on Monday night, throwing soft plastics for tommies. I grabbed my Atomic Arrows Bream Surface and Stradic Ci4+ 1000. This combination has worked great for years, but on Monday night I ended up with an ugly mess of a wind knot.
This was the second time I used the reel after I had fully stripped it down for a complete service. When I got home and had a closer look, the line lay was top heavy and a bit loose. 
I've stripped the line, added a shim and re-spooled. The line lay looks perfect again, so hopefully it should be fine next time.

Im my experience reels loosen up and shims compress over time - so what was perfect straight out of the box may need adjusting after a year of big fish and even bigger snags😉

Even tiny shifts or changes can have a big influence on line lay - nearly all my reels need reshimming after a year or 2
 

It always helps to watch a few vids on the subjects before Diving in

Someone will phrase something in a way that really helps it all click into place.
 

 

Heres a guy addressing my most common problem - his doesnt even look that bad compared to some of mine in the past

NB - his reel is massively underspooled (Probably a result of all the wind knots) (I'd be packing more backing on before respooling that reel) and not all diawa reels have the same shims - some are much smaller and require the removal of a rubber band to get to the shim stack.

So find a tutorial for your reel before doing it - some will require little picking tools to dislodge bands and shims - a straightened fish hook is a handy tool for reel maintenance if you dont have a dedicated picking tool -  You will be tempted to try with fingernails and that will just get your hands messy and waste alot of time😉 - Its very easy with the right tool but a mental break down inducing task with out one

The long and short of it is - if your line is top heavy - add a shim and vice versa
 
 

 
 

Its important to note that Im no pro - but In my experience - adding a shim will actually accentuate that bulge at the bottom and will make your issues worse. And make sure your shims are properly bedded and laying flat

I'd be taking a shim out and slightly underspooling the reel - give yourself a 1-2mm gap from the actual edge of the spool - at a glance it looks like your reel is over spooled and has a bulge down the bottom. One of those issues on its own, is enough to cause wind knots in my experience.

That can be a problem when you get a reel spooled up at the shop on a machine - due to the unnatural line lay, they can sometimes pack more on line than your reel can handle.  Once all the tension is released by casting,  the reels natural line lay kicks in and its not the same as the one from the machine at the shop

Underspooling means you will sacrifice some distance in casting but its way better than wind knots, where you will lose the line anyway. Start with 1mm and underspooled and see if that helps - if it doesnt go to 2mm and if that doesnt help - smash the reel with a hammer and chuck it in the bin because there comes a point when lifes too short to put up with that mental anguish😉

I havent come across a reel that winds line on tight, then loose then tight again, but it may have something to do with that bulge down the bottom - line may be stacking up on the bulge then slipping off.

Only problem with artificially creating a line lay is - the first long cast with a deep drop you make - your reel will have to take all that line back in.

If your shims were out of whack - its going to lay the line back on the way it wants to. Depending on how out of whack - you may end up with 20m of line that wont go back on.

Ive had reels where I've hand laid the line on with a bottom taper because I know it will be reversed and even out with a long cast into deep water.

Getting the shims right is the best way to fix line lay issues

The spool below was the first time I put line on with a drill - looked great until I punched out an 80m cast into 10m of water  - then it went back to the wavey mess that bait runners are famous for and not all the line would fit back on the spool😉

 

hey Des can you take a photo of how your line lays on the spool.

I recently went through a very similar experience and misdiagnosed my problem as line twist. This happened due to a coincidence in timing. I was  using a new lure that was helicoptering, when these wind knots came along

I built a little swivel swivel rig and went down to the park and undid all the twist - packed it all back on tight

Turns out my line lay was the problem. Mine was way too top heavy and I spooled it too close to the lip.

I added shims to both my reels and respooled the top shot, so the line lay would be much more even. I'd like it to be more even but I cant be stuffed adding more shims and walking around the park again.

In my experience, wind knots are from excess line getting dragged over the spool lip while casting. So packing it on tight - having an even line lay and not spooling too close to the lip are the ways to stop clumps of line coming off at once.

Heres my 3 most used reels at the moment - the 2 on the left still have a more pronounced top heavy spooling that the one on the right - so you can imagine how bad it was before I added shims.

Any spooling that encourages line to leap off the spool, like really top heavy spooling, needs close monitoring or fixing, in my experience. Especially on reel used to cast maximum distance often.

Slightly under-spooling so there is a 2mm gap between the edge of the spool and your line - can really help with wind knots aswell.

You can often hear when your line is over spooled - it makes a messy sound as its cast - "plat plat plat plat plat" as it comes of the spool in the early stage of the cast.

The spooling pattern on the far right has been extremely well behaved over the last couple of years - Straight out of the box the line has performed bewdifully
 

I use to get wind knots quite regularly whilst luring for Salmon with 15lb braid.
It was always time consuming trying to get the knots unraveled and of course it was always when the school was in front of me.
I read on Google that lip balm helped 'untangle' the mess (some just use saliva).  But it seemed to work and tangles/knots were easier to 'release'.
Now, I can't remember the last one I had. 
Reading more from Google, it seemed the most important thing to do was making sure the braid was spooled on reasonably tight/firm.
And don't over load the spool.
And that's it - 2 basic things I do and as mentioned, I can't remember the last wind knot I had.
When walking to edge of the water to cast out, I always just cast a few small distant casts to luber up the line too.
It all seems to help.
 

hey Des can you take a photo of how your line lays on the spool.

I recently went through a very similar experience and misdiagnosed my problem as line twist. This happened due to a coincidence in timing. I was  using a new lure that was helicoptering, when these wind knots came along

I built a little swivel swivel rig and went down to the park and undid all the twist - packed it all back on tight

Turns out my line lay was the problem. Mine was way too top heavy and I spooled it too close to the lip.

I added shims to both my reels and respooled the top shot, so the line lay would be much more even. I'd like it to be more even but I cant be stuffed adding more shims and walking around the park again.

In my experience, wind knots are from excess line getting dragged over the spool lip while casting. So packing it on tight - having an even line lay and not spooling too close to the lip are the ways to stop clumps of line coming off at once.

Heres my 3 most used reels at the moment - the 2 on the left still have a more pronounced top heavy spooling that the one on the right - so you can imagine how bad it was before I added shims.

Any spooling that encourages line to leap off the spool, like really top heavy spooling, needs close monitoring or fixing, in my experience. Especially on reel used to cast maximum distance often.

Slightly under-spooling so there is a 2mm gap between the edge of the spool and your line - can really help with wind knots aswell.

You can often hear when your line is over spooled - it makes a messy sound as its cast - "plat plat plat plat plat" as it comes of the spool in the early stage of the cast.

The spooling pattern on the far right has been extremely well behaved over the last couple of years - Straight out of the box the line has performed bewdifully
 

Thanks Kelvin
 
yeah I’m doing a head to head bait series  winner stays on
 
im going to revisit carp as I had encouraging results from salted and skinned carp but the fresh stuff with the skin on wasn’t quite as good  
Salty-ness had been a common denominator in all the victories, but the kfc had been the most dramatic victory I have witnessed so far
A guy who used to run a Barra camp up north said KFC would out fish every other bait 10 fold . And if I’m being honest I didn’t give it a chance against my sardines which had beaten everything up until then.
id had other gurus with extremely impressive resumes, tell me their gun bait would smash mine and it didn’t  
So I was basically doing the test to crush such bold claims
but for once -  an internet guru was right😉 
 
one guy who had 15 years experience at yabby farms told be raw potatoes would be 15 times better than my current champ
raw potato was amoungst the worst performing baits I’d tried
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Haha - my lawn is 90% dandelions and the other 10% is ant hills - so it could do with a bit if TLC.

I think a bit more metal would be required to get it looking good though
786.jfif 787.jfif

Just worked out if you clean the burrs off with a filleting knife - the drill bit actually leaves a cleaner hole - so this contraption was a waste of time. (but i wouldnt have worked out the fillet knife hack, with out making the dumb thing in the first place - so it has served a purpose in a round about way😉)