Line for Spinning reel

[DADAKOTA]

Got a couple of spinning outfits that I obviously need to change the brand of line on.  Been using them primarily when I troll, but took a nephew fishing over the weekend and he used them for casting frogs, chatterbaits, etc.  What a nightmare.  The poor kid had numerous bouts of severe line twist.  Tried running all the line out with no lure on it to get rid of the twist and added a swivel for him, but still line twist.  Pretty sure I had spooled them with 10# AbrazeX fluorocarbon.  Apparently that was a poor choice on my part.  What line do you wire reel experts recommend.  Planning on using one of the outfits for drop shotting. 

[Nitroman]

SUFFIX 832 BRAID ( & / OR ) DAIWA J BRAID 8. With a fluor. leader ( OR MAYBE NOT ) depending on the lure. 

[grizwilson]

I will beat Ham to it Nano Nano.....

[Dutch]

I doubt the line is the culprit here.  Generally it is the bait or the way you close the bail.  Closing the bail by hand is the best way.

[Al Agnew]

Had a big discussion about this on the Riversmallies board.  Fluoro tends to be stiffer than mono, and the stiffness causes more problems with line twist.  However, ALL spinning reels twist the line; it's simply the nature of the beast.  It's like having a garden hose on a hose reel, and pulling the hose off the side of the reel instead of unwinding it off the reel.  Each loop of hose that comes off puts one unit of twist in the hose, and after you've pulled off several loops of hose your hose is badly twisted.  Theoretically, as you wind the line back onto the reel after a cast, it removes much of the twist that was produced by the cast.  But in practice, it never seems to remove all the twist.

One big reason a lot of anglers turn to braid is that although it twists just as much as mono or fluoro, it's so limp that the twist doesn't cause as many problems.

The main way twist causes problems is that when the line is loose, the twist makes it form loops unless the line is as limp as the usual braid.  If you close the bail on a loop, it remains on the spool and causes those snarls on the next cast attempt.  Closing the bail by hand, IN ITSELF, does NOTHING to remedy this--if you close the bail by hand over loose line, you'll still end up with the loop.  In reality, what closing the bail by hand does is it usually makes you lift the rod, thus taking out any loop formed because you tighten the line, before you begin to reel.  After all, you're having to close the bail with your reel hand, then move that hand to the reel handle to begin reeling, and almost automatically you also lift up on the rod before you begin to reel.  On the other hand, when you close the bail by turning the reel handle, you're closing it on loose line and beginning to reel over the loop at the same time.  You COULD train yourself to close the bail by turning the reel handle, then immediately stop reeling, and lift up on the rod tip before starting to reel again, but in practice that often doesn't work.

Over and above the "natural" twist that is inherent to spinning reels, the other things that add MORE twist to the line are improperly spooling the line onto the reel, using lures that tend to spin themselves, and reeling against a slipping drag when you're playing a fish or reeling up to a snag.  Any of those will add horrible twist to the line.  Another thing that, although it doesn't add more twist, makes the existing twist worse, is a bail roller that isn't rolling freely enough.  If you start out a retrieve with some twist spread all along the line you have out, and the line is rubbing against the bail roller, causing friction, as you reel in, the friction will push the line twist toward the end of the line where your lure is, concentrating it.

[Mitch f]

The first thing i do when applying line to a spinning reel is put the spool on the floor so it comes off counter clockwise. Then I try to spray a little KVD or reel magic on a rag and pinch the rag tightly on the end causing a pinch point that eliminates some twist as I'm spooling. 

As far as closing the bail by hand, I always do it followed up by grabbing the line and giving it a tug to remove that nasty little loop that sometimes happens. You know the nasty little .5" diameter loop that looks so innocent and then causes all you line to spring out on the next cast.

Anyway I so dislike fishing spinning rods unless I absolutely have to.

[DADAKOTA]

I have always spooled the line onto the reel with it coming off the spool counterclockwise.  I also close my bail by hand and start my retrieve on a tight line.  Not sure what the nephew was doing although I had suggested he do the same.  I grew up fishing a spinning rod and switched to a bait caster many years ago.  Other than my ultralights a bassin sized spinning outfit feels funny now.  Going to learn how to drop shot and figure I best get used to the spinning rod again.

[Al Agnew]

Had any of you spooled a couple of the old Garcia models by letting the line come off the spool on the floor counterclockwise, it would have been a disaster.  On them the bail turned in the opposite direction as most spinning reels, and that's the key...the line must come off the spool on the floor and go on the reel spool in the same direction.  If in doubt (though I don't know of any modern reels that spin clockwise) turn the reel handle while looking at the reel from behind it, note how it turns, and make sure the line comes off the filler spool the same way.

Even doing it that way puts SOME twist in the line, by the way, because the filler spool diameter is almost always larger than the reel spool diameter.  So you have more loops going onto the reel than coming off the filler spool.  But it usually isn't enough twist to cause problems.  However, if I'm shopping for a spinning reel, I'm always looking for one with the largest spool diameter I can find for the size of the reel.  The larger the diameter, the fewer coils come off the reel on the cast, and the less twist you'll get if you're doing something just a little bit wrong.

[Mitch f]

As you said, you can never eliminate all the twist, it's just part of the problem of a spinning reel. The ability to back reel would be one of the pluses. 

On a different note, the guides on a spinning reel and how they perform hanging upside down instead of up, while under line stretch, seems to be a better system. But I've been too chicken to buy a spiral guide rod for a baitcasting setup.

[DADAKOTA]

From the research I've done it seems that most folks are going with braid and tying on a fluoro leader.  Anyone drop shot with their baitcasters?