Power Pro

[Al Agnew]

Al, the reason closing your bail by hand helps is because when you close your bail by turning the reel handle, it sometimes throws a loop on the spool. As you start the retrieve, you burry a loop and sometimes the loop will end up exposed on the lip of the spool. The reason for bird nests on a spinning reel is a loop gets partially buried on your spool, then on the next cast, the outgoing line catches on the loop that is partially buried and pulls line out from under itself. When I close the bail by hand, I also give a quick tug on the line to pull any loop on the spool tight. Again, this may seem tedious but I have been doing it so long that it has become effortless. I don't even think about it and honestly, I never get bird nests. I guide warmwater here in Colorado and fish mostly spinning gear when guiding. I teach my clients how to do this and by the end of the day, most not only become proficient at doing this but are also impressed by how effective this technique is.

One other point... when spooling up a spinning reel, label up is not always the best way to spool. Some line mfgrs spool up line differently than others. Seaguar spools up in the opposite direction than Trilene. The best way is to lay the spool on the floor; point your reel directly at the spool. The line should come off the spool the same direction the bail is spinning. If it is opposite, flip the spool over and proceed. If you do this, it will greatly reduce line twist when spooling.

Yeah, I know that it's the loop that you get when closing the bail that causes the problem, I just don't get why closing the bail by hand alone fixes it. If your line has any twist, the loop will already be there when you close the bail, by hand or not. It's that tug on the line after you close the bail that gets rid of it.

Back in the days many many years ago when I used spinning tackle a lot more than I do now, I cut the bail off my reels. You just leave the roller and maybe a half inch of the bail sticking out, removing the rest of the bail. When you get ready to cast you pick up the line on your forefinger and back off on the reel handle a half turn or so, which gets the line off the bail roller. Make the cast, and at the end of the cast pick up the line again on your forefinger and start reeling. The roller comes around and automatically takes the line off your finger. On some old reels this worked beautifully. But it doesn't work well on many of the new reels because the mechanism is so finely balanced that cutting off the bail throws everything out of whack and it feels like you're reeling a squirrel, it jiggles so much. You can fix it on some reels by adding some weight somehow where the now missing bail attached to the reel on the other end. But the reel has to fit your hands perfectly so that you don't have to reach at all to pick up the line on your finger. Still, if you can find a reel on which it will work and you have the guts to butcher your reel, it's really, really slick once you get used to it. No bail springs to worry about, picking up the line on your finger at the end of the cast eliminates the loops, and it's quicker and more efficient than having to open (and close by hand) the bail.

[Stoneroller]

closing your bail by hand is more about longevity of the cam and gears inside the reel that operate the bail than it is about line twist

. I had to watch some video to see what I do, as it happens so fast and by muscle memory I wasn't able to slow down to pay attention. I brake the line with my left hand (if needed) and flip the bail close, then I lift the rod tip to remove slack before making the first handle turn. before every cast I do a quick lookover of my reel and guides to make sure there are not loops or snags. if anything looks or FEELS abnormal I fix it before it gets worse. once you get the movements down it all happens so fast you don't even notice you are doing anything.

i have seen some saltwater reels without the bail wire on the reel. they are made for deep jigging and not for casting. although with practice and patience I'm sure anyone could master casting without a bail wire as all it does is guide the line back to the line roller.