Alright....fine

[Nineball]

I need to know some facts.

After many years of fishing avets (and many other lever drags) l humbly admit that I don't know about thumbing the reel.

Yes, it seems obsurd, I'm a dumbass.

I've been getting these barely fixable birdnests while 100% trying not to. What I'm talking about is, the free spool seems so free, that the bait will in fact cause the spool to overthrow upon decent. I feel the need to let it unwind accurately, so I slow the overspeed with some resistance from the thumb.

What am I missing? I've been on Colemans boats and listened to this joke of newbs thumbing the reel.

Is there really any manipulation of the reel that directly corresponds to a flagrant mispool?

I'm all too familiar with the wire rope concept on cranes of not letting the drum lose tension.

Please help me not fight birdnests next year.

And yes, I find the problem multiplies of using 40' vs 20', or brand new braid vs. used braid which kind of swells..

I think reel maintenance may solve my problem but I would prefer to know up front if others have similar problems.

 

[mike mitchell]

Do you have cast control? Are you using them for jigs or bait? Braid or mono? Which rods are you using? Are you casting into the wind? How full is your spool? Just to let you know that I have been casting since I was 10 years old and I still keep my thumb on the reel. With my avets I cast with my thumb on the side of the spool. Good Luck!

 

[Nineball]

Mike,

All of the above. I don't consider myself a dumbass and have been bass/bluegill fishing with a light touch since I was 7.

What I'm looking for is how, if it's more correct, does one not thumb the spool if that is indeed what people are capable of with an avet.

And yes, I can (and have) casted my MC avet across the backyard for 50 yards or better. I'm wondering if I'm missing some finesse technique, or if my reels are tuned incorrectly.

I bet that I'm not alone with this problem either.

 

[ledbed6b]

Are you only taking about casting?

 

[mike mitchell]

Are you talking about thumbing the spool while casting or feeding line to a live bait ?

 

[Captain Decent]

I don’t see any problem with using your thumb to regulate. Gotta have touch. I think the issue is when you put too much resistance on a biting fish and pull the hook out before the fish has swallowed the bait sufficiently. Or maybe too much drag on a hooked fish and breaking the line.

if I don’t put any magnetic drag on a bait it can birdsnest a reel if it’s lively enough. And a running fish can really foul it up. Just add I bit of magnetic drag if you’re worried about thumbing.

On the flip side, we hook a lot of fish letting the bait out a while, setting a loose drag and then letting that work while we run another rod.

 

[TonyG]

Thumbing the spool to regulate freespool is good. Thumbing the spool to stop a fish (instead of just relying on the drag) is not good.

 

[sgwill122]

X3- yes on gentle thumbing when letting the bait run, no on thumbing a fish while playing. Sounds like you are talking about casting. If you are using new 30-40# mono then you have a birdsnest booby trap until the line has time to conform to the new reel spool. Thicker braid is the easier to handle(50#) in my opinion.

 

[One_Leg]

Thumb on the line vs. thumb against the edge of spool-not touching line can make a difference to some people.


PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE

All right?

 

[Salmon King]

Thumbing the spool to regulate freespool is good. Thumbing the spool to stop a fish (instead of just relying on the drag) is not good.

This.

MC puts too much drag on a weak bait IMHo. Just use your hand to help regulate the line as you feed it out.

Once I see the line pick up speed, a soft brush on the spool tells me if the chovie is running away from a shark or is inside a descending tuna.

 

[Nineball]

This.

MC puts too much drag on a weak bait IMHo. Just use your hand to help regulate the line as you feed it out.

Once I see the line pick up speed, a soft brush on the spool tells me if the chovie is running away from a shark or is inside a descending tuna.

This is exactly what I'm talking about. Not casting. Just feathering line out with a swimmer with enough resistance (like hardly any) to not let the spool pop back-and-forth. At least it sounds like this is typical technique, as it seems best to me. I will replace line over the off season and tear down any reels that aren't working like butter.

It's easy to tell when a swimmer is getting properly bit, and giving a 3-5 count before easing in on the drag works just fine. My question was aimed towards folks that somehow never touch the spool, if anyone was doing that. Seems like I'm over thinking it and not doing anything wrong.

 

[ledbed6b]

This is exactly what I'm talking about. Not casting. Just feathering line out with a swimmer with enough resistance (like hardly any) to not let the spool pop back-and-forth. At least it sounds like this is typical technique, as it seems best to me. I will replace line over the off season and tear down any reels that aren't working like butter.

It's easy to tell when a swimmer is getting properly bit, and giving a 3-5 count before easing in on the drag works just fine. My question was aimed towards folks that somehow never touch the spool, if anyone was doing that. Seems like I'm over thinking it and not doing anything wrong.

You're overthinking it for sure. When I am freespooling bait I keep my thumb just slightly on the spool, occasionally I will also pull/feed extra line with my free hand to minimize resistance on the anchovy.

 

[RazorJack]

Feathering with your thumb is just fine as long as you're not putting enough pressure to put drag on the chovie. Some days it doesn't matter and they'll eat a dead, trolled chovie, but I've seen many chovies rejected because they were being drug through the water and not swimming right.

Working for Mark and using his Okuma Andros reels I never have to put my thumb anywhere near the spool, so perhaps it just comes down to the reel itself.

Just lightly use your thumb as much as required to prevent issues with your reels and dont sweat it any more than that

 

[Fog Ducker!]

To thumb or not to thumb, that sounds like a kali question!

Ducker!

 

[G-Spot]

You must use your thumb...... period.... when a newbie “thumbs the reel” he is likely referring to over thumbing to the point where you cannot cast worth a shit or stops a bait in mid air because they were thumb happy......

it really takes a lot of practice to get proficient at casting good reels with amazing freespool.... It is like a good golf swing, you must hold spool and cast and release at the perfect time. Live bait is more of a gentle toss, but still the release is essential, casting jigs is different, you must load up the rod correctly and release at the right time.....

My buddies from San Diego who cast a lot and cast very well actually go out to a large field with a jog and no hooks and practiced a lot until they hd it down. For practicing live bait you could use a swim bait without lead head and hook....

Cast control can help, but still is not the answer. The answer is learning the perfect release and loading up the rod correctly, so it’s smooth and not a swing.... Just like a perfect golf swing versus a shitty golfer like me who tries to kill the ball rather than a smooth follow through....

Good luck!

 

[Captain Decent]

Are people casting their live bait? Why not just let it go softly over the side?

 

[wdlfbio]

I rarely make a bait pull line off the spool. I prefer to thumb the spool lightly and pull line as needed with my other hand, the as needed amount is relative to how well the bait can swim off with it. Making our wimpy little chovies pull line off the spool weakens them quicker and results in slower moving bait. That increases their odds of being consumed by a shark rather than an Albert.

I also thumb the spool while fighting fish, but that is a learned touch that most rookies don’t get right. That thumbing the spool generally results in rookies breaking fish off or pulling hooks.

 

[wdlfbio]

Are people casting their live bait? Why not just let it go softly over the side?

Darrel will make fun of you over the radio when he sees you casting our chovies. So I’ve heard...

 

[G-Spot]

Are people casting their live bait? Why not just let it go softly over the side?

chovies are pretty fragile, I wouldn’t cast one.....

Down south we toss sardines or Mack’s to get them away from the boat or they turn immediately and go back under the boat.... when fishing big fish you cast a sardine with a 50 sized reel and that takes a little practice...

 

[Nineball]

I rarely make a bait pull line off the spool. I prefer to thumb the spool lightly and pull line as needed with my other hand, the as needed amount is relative to how well the bait can swim off with it. Making our wimpy little chovies pull line off the spool weakens them quicker and results in slower moving bait. That increases their odds of being consumed by a shark rather than an Albert.

I also thumb the spool while fighting fish, but that is a learned touch that most rookies don’t get right. That thumbing the spool generally results in rookies breaking fish off or pulling hooks.

This is exactly what I do, Also its intriguing that the okuma seems to do so well but I will say that I brought a couple in on Ryan’s Bert with an okuma on a wasabi and it performed outstanding

 

[FVSerenity]

I turn the mag drag all the way up on my G2’s when I give them to newbs. Also I turn the clicker on when they cast, it’s super light but does the trick. Myself I just thumb the spool if needed but on live bait I usually thumb the spool while I pull line out.
But I use 65lb suffix 832 and 150ft of 40lb mono top shot.

 

[TonyG]

I turn the mag drag all the way up on my G2’s when I give them to newbs. Also I turn the clicker on when they cast, it’s super light but does the trick. Myself I just thumb the spool if needed but on live bait I usually thumb the spool while I pull line out.
But I use 65lb suffix 832 and 150ft of 40lb mono top shot.

150' top shot?

 

[Salmonmoocher]

This is all to confusing four wanna be Tuna fishers. Just cut Your Fucking Thumb Off and let the drag on your reel do the work. A Peanut bite Vs. a 20+ Longfin are two different hits. Maybe one day you’ll learn. Less two thumbs

 

[FVSerenity]

150' top shot?

Yup, I like the forgiving nature of the mono and I get to load up a bunch of thinner braid, if they swallow the hook I just break it off and tie another. Plenty of mono to go round

 

[Elkfins]

Thumbing the spool to regulate freespool is good. Thumbing the spool to stop a fish (instead of just relying on the drag) is not good.

This.

You're overthinking it for sure. When I am freespooling bait I keep my thumb just slightly on the spool, occasionally I will also pull/feed extra line with my free hand to minimize resistance on the anchovy.

Also This.

Are people casting their live bait? Why not just let it go softly over the side?

Sometimes if the Blue sharks are around I will toss (not really a cast) the chovie out away from the boat and behind the sharks to get it where the shark won't see it and give it a chance to dive to where the tuna are holding underneath the sharks.