Seems as though I have constant problems with line twist on my spinning reels and I've done all the suggestions, such as periodically pulling the line behind the boat, etc.

A while back, I built two, 8 foot spinning rods, equipped one with a Penn reel and one with a Shimano, and spooled each with Berkley Vanish line. When I first installed the line, I slowly towed the empty line behind my boat and then, on the first real fishing trip with these rods, I did the same after that trip. Today, the second trip out fishing, I'm still getting enough line twist to be totally aggravated. The lures we're using are crank baits and Storm swim baits, so nothing is rotating.

Finally, my question.......Might it be possible for a rod builder to unwittingly build a rod that has guide sizes and guide spacing that might be contributing to line twist ???

I'd appreciate any advice.

Pete Kornegay
Camden, NC

No, it's not your fault - many lines are actually "pre-twisted" by the manufacturers these days. Some years ago, line was spooled directly from the main line machine onto line spools. You could use a line winding machine to put line on a spinning reel spool exactly as it was put on the plastic line spool and you would have no twist. Today, if you do that, you'll have twist. This really bothered me because it indicated that the line was twisted as it was put on the plastic spool by the manufacturer. Why would they do such a thing?

I finally got ahold of a guy at Berkley who explained that most consumers don't have line winding machines and simply drop the spool on the floor and then wind the line onto the reel. If the spool is placed one way, things were okay, but if the spool was placed with the opposite side down you'd have twist. So they printed instructions as to how to know that you were doing it correctly.

Trouble was, most people didn't read the directions. So, Berkley (and others I assume) found that most consumers were causing line twist when they installed the line onto their reels. So, they began pre-twisting the line as it was put on the spool so that when the consumer used the incorrect method for spooling his reel, the twist would come out. Of course if you did it correctly, the twist became even worse.

This is without a doubt one of the most bizarre and idiotic things I think I've ever been privy to in over 40 years of fishing and messing with tackle. But you can take nearly any brand of line today, and even removing it from the spool head-on, and put in on the reel spool just like that, and you'll have twist right out of the gate.

The only solution I've found since this came into effect about 10 years ago, is to spool up the reel, then pull all the line off out in the grass and wind it back on. Then do it again, and then again. Three times is usually enough to straighten it.

...............

It would also help to use mono instead of flouro. The second flouro gets a little bit of twist the line will tend to jump off the spool and potentially knot up. If you must use flouro, switch to vanish transition, by far the softest flouro I've used(I've used just about every one there is). Spinning reels naturally twist line, it's the nature of the beast that we all have to deal with. Every time you pull on the drag and pull out 12" of line, then reel it in you just put two rounds of twist in it. If you get hung and reel against the drag you are actually doubling the twist. Line stretch will put small amounts of twist in the line. The only way to not have twist is to have none when the line is spooled, then have no sterch and a straight running bait and pull no drag. I hate to say it but it sounds like you are doing everything you can and maybe the flouro is a bit too stiff for your applications, it would help tremendously if you under fill your spools a little if you must use flouro. Later Bryan.

Pete:
Go to your favorite sporting goods store and get a bottle of "Tangle Free". Highly recommended by Bill Dance, and me too. A few drops on your reel spool and the twist will virtually disappear.
Murf

You said you were use crank baits and such that do not turn. Are you using swivels?
Every time to cast and retreive a crank bait with a spinning reel you add twist to the line
unless you attach one or more swivels between the bait and the spool.

Raymond Adams
Eventually, all things merge, and a river runs through it..

Yep florocarbs have a higher memory then most monos. That Vanish drove me nuts on spinning reels and spinning reels just evenually give you line twist, again stretch it out, do it again and then one more time. Sounds like that guy from Berkely was trying to feed Tom some horse puckys. I got a good laugh reading that. There is another product called Reel Magic that can help some as well. Spray it on the guides, line and moving parts of your reels. You may even see increased distance in casting after useing the Reel Magic. When I have it I spray it on even freshly spooled reels and then put my reel bags on for the so I am ready for next trip.
Are your line rollers on the bails spinning as freely as they should? Could be that you might need to take a look at them.


Tight wraps and lines,
Wylie

There are a couple of other things that will put twist in your line. First off, you should always close the bail manually and not use the reel handle, then pull on the line so it is somewaht tight before reeling. The process of using the handle to close the bail will put a twist in the line. The other thing, and this is a real pet peeve for me, is watching someone trying to reel in a fish as it is pulling drag out. All this is doing is twisting the line very badly. One thing that I do is to make sure you don't fill the spool 100% of the way, try to leave like an 1/8" of the spool exposed, it does seem to help with the line wanting to just spring off the spool.

Bryan Thompson hinted at the rooto f the problem. The spinning reel has inherently imparts line twist to the line as the line is cranked in, can't do anything about that. That roller on the bail should be free, it helps reduce but not eliminate line twist.

Bryan Thompson hit the nail on the head when he suggest not using "florocarbon" line, i.e. a "hardline". Instead opt for the softer "easy cast" style of line. Identify the softer lines and use those on spinners. At this end of the spectrum you'll find the braids which absorb all normal line twist, but IMHO can cause problems on in spiining reels.

I have only two spinng rigs in my pile of offshore and surf rods, both under 20lb class, both used for casting lures, both loaded with soft lines. I have had not had any problems with line twist, not that it is not there, just not evident.

Lou

You can decrease line twist by back reeling while fighting a fish instead of using the drag on the reel.

Hi Ray,

Most std swivels don't period. That's the trouble with them especially when under load. Might as well use a split ring.

Regards

Mike O.

Good point Mike,
I don't even think about it anymore, I just close the bail with my hand.


Tight wraps and lines,
Wylie

ANATOMY OF LINE TWIST

Lou has almost hit the nail on the head. The spinning reel itself can put alot of the twist back in the line, it comes from an UNUNIFORM LURE RESISTANCE combined with the fact that the line can roll on a rounded line guide roller bearing , producing alot of twist, Daiwa came out with a twist buster concept to combat this and in effect it amounted to moving the whole line roller guide closer to the spool to even out the lure resistance and then cut a square slot in the line guide so it did not have a a rounded surface to roll on when lure resistance was weakest as this happens regularly and rythmicly each time you just reel in.

Also, everytime a fish or you pull out drag by hand alot or a fish pulls alot of drag, it gets reeled back on the spool in a twisted fashion. When Respooling a spinning reel from a spool of line which is spinning on a pencil (through the central axis of the spool) twists the line up badly. Both spools (reel and line) must be oriented in the same orientation as line is transferred. As stated in an eariler post; when hand filling a spinning reel the line spool should remain flat on the floor. Reeling several turns of the handle and then allowing some slack to accumulate between the line spoool and the reel, allow a "U" to hang down several feet, if it wants to twist, then turn over the line spool, and repeat until you find out which face of the line spool you need to face up for tangle free spool filling for that specific reel.

Whats really scary is the way to fix this is to drag the line behind the boat at speed for a 1/4 mi and reel back in, you can also let the line whip in the air at high speed for a shorter distance , this will clear any twists. If your still having twist troubles you must be somehow putting twist in your line very quickly, a crank bait should not require a swivel unless it tumbles in the air alot on the cast, or puts a leg/ hook up over the main line alot and revolves back in fouled. If you reel in through your fingers (palming the reel) before the line goes into the reel then you can force some of the twist to be ahead of your fingers and if you then leave about 10 feet of slack out when reeling back in, you can hold your rod straight up and let the lure dangle a spin off the twist occasionally throughout the day.

Working retail with a commercial winding machine which places the reel and line spools in their correctly mirrored orientation, I have still had a customer cry foul with too much twist, and even after I respooled him up, and the line was still twisted (we proformed the twist test described earliler) . So we gave him the line for free, but this was a fluke. The next guy spooled up just fine, and it was not the RARE OLD Mitchell's 300's that spins counter clockwise to all the other reels( Have seen an old Heddeon do this also)

As for a MFG deliberatly putting twist onto a bulk service spool, well it should be simple enough for them to orient their spools correctly in unicin? They may be picking up twist in the MFG process somewhere but you'd think it would be easily dectable and something done would be about it, especiallay with negitive twisting feed back from customers. Pourposly adding twist is just causing the customer an uneeded headache and might turn a customer off where their PRE-TWISTED product was concerened and hardly seems business like, or like this product would soon disappear because of poor sales.

With regard to rasing the rod tip after a cast to apply tension to the line prior to closing the bail and reeling in, this is commonly done to avoid reeling in over a loose loop that has occasion to jump off the reel spool when there is slack line, which will cause a big birdsnest on a future cast. If this also prevents line twist it is new to me, and I can't see how closing the bail by hand helps prevent twist either, So long as there is no twist on the line as it came off the spool, reeling back in should not add twist due to hand cranking the reel handle to throw the bail closed. I learned to operate spinning reels by throwing closed the bail by hand after lifting the rod tip, I have never used the reel handle to throw a bail closed, one less thing to break, and guess what you have to do if it does break..throw it closed by hand!

Twist coming from some where but I would rule out the rod, its the reel, the lure , or operater error when fishing or respooling.Setting the DRAG to loose and the spool is spinning on the retrieve producing line twist, just like when drag is being pulled out. when reeeling in the spool should never turn, if line is slipping out DO NOT REEL , tighten the drag first then reel , or grab the line withj a finger, pull the rod up high, then quickly reel as you quickly drop the rod , then grabing the line once again as the rod points at the fish, but be ready to let loose of the line if the fish decides to run hard.

I have had a customer bring back a reel spooled with fireline stating the drag does not work ..after a close inspection I notice the whole wad of inheriantly very slick line was spinning on the reel spool as the anchore knot was not taped down, (Was not an arbhor knot taped below for the knot and encircling loop to bite into and over the tightened arbhor specific slip knot to reinforce) Needless to say that guy felt like a chuckle head, but I do check my spool when reeling in a lure to see if it spins, if it does I tighten the drag until it does not spin.

If you understand all the way it is possible to aquire line twist, then your half way home towards avoiding it entirely. The 2nd half fo the process is to adapt your fishing so as not to incurr it

Thanks to everyone for weighing in. Judging from the number of responses, this is a topic that would definitely benefit from some research and development by the major spinning reel & line manufacturers. I was also glad that no one said "Oh yeah....it must have been the way you placed your guides!!"

A couple of things jump out at me here:

#1- I think I'll first try to find & use the "Tangle Free" product that Murf mentioned.

#2- A lot of the other suggestions; either I'm doing them if you're supposed to or not doing them if you aren't and that's what led me to think it might be my guide placement.

#3- My affection for and only experience with flouro comes from using it on small trolling rigs so until now, I haven't used it on a spinning rig. Maybe the two are just plain incompatible. Very often, I'm really good at discovering the obvious !!

#4- I'm going to try untwisting the flouro through the grass a few times as Tom mentioned and a few of the other suggestions. If I discover something that really, really works, I'll re-post. Otherwise, I'll be going back to mono.

Thanks again, guys.......

If you want to save a little money, the products sold as "Reel Magic" and such are simply silicon sprays which are available at any hardware store for a fraction of the price. Additionally, when trailing the line behind your boat to remove twist, it is absolutely essential that you have NO weight on the end of the line. I wasn't sure if anyone made this clear. Finally, you can remove twist by stripping off line and then reeling it back while holding it between a finger and thumb (with light pressure). You can also use a leader straightener sold in fly shops.
Tight lines,
Hunter

P.S. Berkeley Vanish does not belong on spinning reels.

Vanish line and spinning reels don't go together in my book. Spooled up 3 reels for Canada trip, had trouble with line twist on all 3 (3 different rods) and immediately took the Vanish off and went back to the old trouble free XL. Iv'e tried a bunch of different new lines and keep returning to Trilene XL.

Rog