Has anyone used these ? Pros,cons,thoughts?
You have to put the line on the roller and don’t have to flip the bell. Pros 1 less part to break con you have to put the line on the roller. Really not a significant difference when I used 1 but I was soaking bait not casting non stop.
The idea was pioneered mainly by New England guys plugging with heavy surf plugs or heaving large amounts of lead weight. The main advantage is not having the bail accidently slam shut on a strong cast with lots of weight (that can snap rods and crack skulls if stuff comes flying back at you)
No matter how many variables I have control over, I never expect a bite. I only hope.
Also, manually placing the line on the roller versus snapping the bail shut by cranking the arm of the reel equals way less wind knots.
No matter how many variables I have control over, I never expect a bite. I only hope.
A long time ago, we used to cut bails off of spin reels, when we were casting non-stop for bass. The reason was those bails would break and/or hang up frequently. For example the old Zebco 2052 from the early '70’s had a terrible bail system. As reels improved we moved on but with just a little practice we got along fine with no bail.
The main concern might be that the line would flip free while fighting a fish. But I never knew of that happening. That said, some tension must be kept on the line.
Thanks I’m going to order one. I hope I’m still coordinated enough to use one,it looks so simple.Maybe I’ll take a pair of dikes to one of my old reels haha