What’s the secret to eliminating or at least drsatically reducing wind knots? I respooled with 20# braid last week. When I was on the water I must of have at least 10 wind knots. How frustrating! I know casting into the wind will produce these. I use spinning reels most of the time and only have problems with one. Can anyone provide some help?
Close the bail with your hand after cast and at the same time gently tug on the line(away from reel). This wil prevent and/or remove loops that may occur that later sloughs off as wind knots. Kind of awkward at first but it will soon become second nature to use the other hand to close the bail rather than turning the handle.
When you spool up make sure you are putting the line on light.
Sometimes its the rod/reel combo that don’t match up. As a spare/utility rod I picked up a Penn Fierce 3000 combo and spooled it with 20# braid. I always do the trick RLS is talking about, and I got massive wind knots about every 10 casts or so. I swapped reels, put the Fierce on a ugly stick saltwater series and put the reel from the ugly stick on the Fierce rod - no more wind knots.
I also picked up a Penn Battle 3000 and put it on a TFL rod - no wind knots to speak of.
I have found that overfilling the spool is a sure thing contributor to wind knots. With braid, the line level must be at or below the spool lip. The spool lip helps to separate if extra coils are pulled off. Otherwise the coils come off the spool together and get tangled as they pass through the guides.
Iain Pelto
Sea Hunt Triton 160 w/ 90 ETEC “JB3”
Native Manta Ray 14
quote:
Originally posted by hairballI have found that overfilling the spool is a sure thing contributor to wind knots. With braid, the line level must be at or below the spool lip. The spool lip helps to separate if extra coils are pulled off. Otherwise the coils come off the spool together and get tangled as they pass through the gu
Iain Pelto
Sea Hunt Triton 160 w/ 90 ETEC “JB3”
Native Manta Ray 14What he </font id=“purple”>said
All makes sense. I had it spooled the last time at a local tackle shop. It looked like too much line but the guy said it was ok. Probably trying to get a few extra bucks for more line. I’ll remove the excess. I’m new to braid but have been freshwater bass fishing for 30 plus. Thanks for the wisdom. Will try tomorrow and report success hopefully!
Might be a little overkill, but a great read if you’re interested:
9 out of 10 times wind knots with braid are caused by the reel and not the angler. Some reels just don’t handle certain sizes of braid very well without causing loops because of the retrieve ratio. I take dozens of complete novices fishing every year and use Shimano Saros and Stradics almost exclusively with 8-15 lb. braid. Very seldom do I have to help with picking out birds nests, and I fill them to 1/16" from the brim. There are plenty of other high quality reels that work fine, but those just seem to work best for me.
Went out for a few hours today after taking your advice. I removed the excess line and practiced what y’all said. I’m happy to say not one wind knot! Switched to my Shimano Stradic, along with a different plastic. Smooth fishing and two slot reds and 16" trout. Not bad for a few hours of peace and quiet. Can’t wait for the storm to blow by so I can hit it again. Thaks again for the great advice!