Fixing twisted line

[J.A. Veil]

I often troll with light tackle and use 10-lb braid line. Sometimes I fail to put the soft plastic tail evenly on the jighead, and the lure spins going through the water. After trolling that lure for several miles, I get a lot of line twist. When it gets particularly bad, the last few feet of line get all kinked up and may get hung up on the rod tip and guides. I found a simple solution to removing most of the line twist. When you are out on the water, take the rod with twisted line and cut off the lure and leader so that only the main line is there. While moving along, let out most of the line on the spool and let it trail behind you. It is often difficult to get the first few yards of line off the spool, but once enough is out, it will unspool itself. Then keep moving around for a while (I trolled back to the launch for about 15 mins). Movement through the water will work out the twist and return the line to a less-twisted condition. When you think you have pulled the line long enough, wind it back onto the spool.

I used this method last week on one rod and again this morning on another rod. Earlier in the year, I also tried a similar approach on land. I tied the end of the main line to the trailer hitch on my van. I then walked down my street (cul de sac) until nearly all the line was off the spool. I cut the line off the trailer hitch and wound all the line back on to the spool under some tension. To the extent possible, I tried to pull the line across grass, which provided enough friction to help untwist the line.

[Mark]

Thanks John.

I've never expereinced line twist with braid but I'm not an avid kayak troller.

In the "old days" with mono, my line would twist if I continued to crank a spinning reel while a fish was pulling the drag. When I got twisted mono, I would use your method of trailing the line with no lure on it behind a moving boat or I would run it through the grass when I got home. Those indeed are proven methods to remove twist.

Also, as I recall, line twist rarely occured on level wind or baitcast reels.

[Red_Beard]

Mark, I can report from recent experience that line twist can be an issue on baitcast reels, but only if you are using a lure that twists a lot in the water. That day I went smallmouth fishing, and caught several on a plopper, I got a lot of line twist because the plopper kept rolling over when I retrieved it across the current. It manifests itself differently than when it happens on a spinning reel, but it did make it much easier to get a backlash as the day wore on. It also didn't help that I have that reel spooled with fluorocarbon. I've largely stopped using mono, but I also hate using braid on baitcast reels unless its really heavy braid. When lighter braid backlashes, it is dang near impossible to get them out.

[Mark]

Cliff,

Thanks for your insights.

I use braid with mono leaders on my baitcasters. Backlash happens occasionally to best of us. But the accuracy, control and distance I get with baitcasters are the tradeoffs. I caveat that by saying a standard baitcaster is not the best choice for lightweight lures or casting into strong wind. I avoid using one in those scenarios.

However, I like feel of a low profile baitcaster in my hands because I can palm the reel with my rod hand while working the lure. That's especially helpful when presenting finese lures. Also, I find it less tiring to grip a baitcaster in that manner for extended outings than using spinning tackle.

I've never cast a plopper with any tackle, but if it rolls in certain conditions, I can see that would pose a line twisting problem.

[dsaavedra]

There are 2 scenarios I have been running into over the last couple years that give me a lot of line twist:

1. Reeling in a lure very quickly. Sometimes when I'm trolling with 2 rods and I get a nice fish on one rod I will reel the other line in to avoid tangles. Naturally, I reel it in as fast as humanly possible so I can tend to my other rod with the fish. Similarly, if I'm trolling and I want to make a tight-radius turn I will sometimes reel in my lines so they don't tangle, and I tend to reel them in fast so I can continue with my trolling route. In both these cases, no matter how perfectly straight my lure is rigged it will spin when being pulled through the water at high speed. Even certain hardbaits spin when reeled in way too fast. Heavier jigheads tend to reduce the issue but most of the time the conditions dictate lighter jigheads, like 1/8 oz
2. Lures spiraling through the air on like a football the cast. This happens with all sorts of lures for me and I'm not really sure what to do to keep it form happening... Some days it's worse than others, so I think wind has a lot to do with it, and certain lures do it way worse than others. Chatterbaits come to mind as some of the worst offenders.

I've done the line-through-water trick that John mentioned and it does work well. I've also tied off to a fence post, walked the line all the way across my yard, untied the line, then walked down the line while pinching it in a gloved hand. This forces the twist out. It works well, so much so that all of the twisted line is condensed to the last few feet and it ends up a knoted mess as you're walking down. I will do the pinch and walk method a few times until I feel like most of the twist is out of the majority of the line, and if the last few inches/feet are still badly twisted I will just pinch and pull the last few feet several more times until it's workable. If it remains too twisted to use I will just cut the badly twisted part off since it's usually just a foot or two by this point.

[Mark]

Dave,

Just a thought...would a barrel swivel on the leader help?

Or maybe a snap swivel connected directly to the lure.

Finally, short of using hardware like a swivel, a loop knot to connect the lure to your line may allow the lure to run truer.

I rarely troll in my kayak today. So I am not speaking from recent experience. However, I trolled frequently when I started in the hobby and I didn't have many incidences of line twist while pulling jigs with paddletails and crankbaits behind my kayak. But I did use a loop knot then as I still do now as I cast lures and flies.

Also, when I trolled two lines and a fish hit one, I would immediately turn my kayak toward the side the fish was on. That allowed me to reel in the fish at at a 90 degree angle to my kayak where it was easier to prevent the fish from crossing the vacant line. I ignored the vacant line allowing it to drop to the bottom while I reeled in my catch. After landing the fish I would leisurely reel in the vacant line and then reset both lines and continue on my trolling path.

When two fish hit my lines simultaneously, all bets were off. I would still turn to one side and reel that fish in first. But crossovers and tangles sometimes occured. That's one reason I don't like to troll now. I'm perfectly content catching one fish at a time by casting.

Good luck in finding a solution.