Problem with loop getting caught on butt of rod

[swhite1989]

On my longer casts I keep having the problem that when I release my cast my line goes out fine but the last little bit of it seems to almost always get wrapped around the butt of the rod (only once around though). Its only on cast 50ft+. Shorter casts I do not have this problem. I drew up a diagram of my problem. Its very primitive so bare with me please.

http://img97.imageshack.us/img97/6742/castingproblem.png

Any help would be greatly appreciated

Thanks

 

[Ard]

There must be a cure but after a long haul with fly rods this still happens to me now and then. I remedy it but I could not tell you how I do it...................... For me this is an unsolved mystery of the cast.

 

[gatortransplant]

As a novice, the only solution I can think of would be a stripping basket, and even this might not work. Just a newbie stab here.

 

[swampdonkey]

I feel your pain and battle this often. If I'm consciously thinking about it while casting I can prevent it but if my mind drifts or I'm really focused on the presentation then I often find it happening.

 

[williamhj]

Happens to me sometimes too. For me I think it's just bad line control while shooting line. The line flips up and around the butt of the rod and even the reel.

 

[silver creek]

This is a casting fault that used to happen to me also. Now it almost never does.

The reason that this happens is that your line hand is too close to the fly rod when you release the line to shoot it on a longer cast. When you release the loose line, the line is pulled toward the stripping guide on the reel. If the line hand is close to and/or behind the reel or the rod but, the line may loop around the rod butt.

Note that you said it happens on longer casts and this problem typical occurs when shooting line. Sometimes the line will also loop around the reel.

Remember that the loose line is drooping down from your line hand so it it must fly up in a loop toward the elevated rod once you release the line. Keep your line hand and rod hand apart as you cast. That will cure the fouling of the line.

Glad I could help.

 

[swampdonkey]

[QUOTE

Glad I could help.[/QUOTE]



ME TOO! I think you just solved an issue that has been bothering me for quite a while.

Thanks,

Dan

 

[silver creek]

This additional thought occurred to me.

I bet that when the line wraps around the rod, you dropped the line. I almost never do unless I want extreme distance. I use the O-ring method that Gary Borger taught me. By keeping my left line hand away from my right rod and and shooting line through an O-ring in my left hand, I keep the shooting line away from the rod and reel.

When you drop the line, it is free to fly up to the rod uncontrolled. It is only when I want to cast at my maximum and want to eliminate the friction from the O-ring that I drop the line from my left hand at the shoot.

At the end of the cast, I close the O-ring and I have immediate control of the line in my line hand. I do not need to grab for it and my attention remains on my fly.

Fish, Flies & Water [blog] Blog Archive O-Ring Method (Shooting Line)

 

[Jackster]

Bingo with the 0-ring technique, a fix that is taught by many instructors. Think of it as another guide that is under your control to control the direction and the length of the line being shot to the rod.
Yup... another item in the long list of items under the title, Line Control.

Casting Angle by Lefty Kreh | Scientific Anglers

Beyond Competence, Part II | MidCurrent

 

[caseywise]

funny this came up...
i was fishing at a nearby lake today and was having a horrible time with line tangling around my reel seat and reel handle.
at the time i didn't think much about it and kinda blew it off, just a bad day.
but now thinking back to this afternoon, there was a pretty stiff breeze blowing the whole time i was fishing.
i was making some long casts and had a good bit of stripped line at my feet.
so i'm gonna say that a bit of wind combined with a pile of fly line = problems.


casey

 

[swhite1989]

Good stuff, I will get some casting done this afternoon after work and see if I can get this straightened out.

Thanks for all your help

 

[auriemma]

+1 on what Silver Creek said. That is how my instructor showed me to avoid it, yet it still happens.

 

[wjc]

As Silver and Jackster said, line control with the donut usually does the trick. It happens to me most often when bass fishing and casting from a cramped sitting position while operating an outboard from the stern.

Cheers,
Jim

 

[silver creek]

I think of "line control" this way.

If you release the line from your line hand during the cast, you have given control of the line to the forces of nature. The line between the reel and the stripping guide is free to loop around the reel or the rod, or even tie itself into a knot.

Gravity and aerodynamics then control where the fly goes. What the O-ring technique allows you to do is to control both the line and the distance of the cast during the shoot.

Have you ever tried to land a fly accurately and the fly went too far or not far enough because you put too much or too little energy into the line shoot? Think of it this way. Could you park you car accurately by just using your accelerator and then having the car coast into the parking spot?

Of course not. You need a brake to slow the car down as it approaches the parking slot. For a fly cast, you can "brake" your cast with the O-ring.

Put a little extra power into the forward cast so that it would normally go too far. Shoot the line through the O-ring but then close your fingers around the line as the cast approaches the target. With practice, you can "feather" the cast so that the fly land right on target.

This is exactly what spin fishers do when they place their index finger against the top lip of the line spool to slow down the line or when casting reel fishers place their thumb against the casting reel spool. We can do the same thing by using the O-ring.

 

[flymark]

I've got this problem from time to time too - especially when single-hand casting my switch rod, though I've had the line try to do this (and it usually winds up wrapped around the reel anyway) when shooting a long double-handed cast (overhead or roll cast). I can sort of understand it with the single hand cast on the switch - it's got 6 inches of rod hanging below the reel to tangle up with, but for the life of me, I can't understand why it wants to do this on a double handed roll cast?

 

[muscae_piscator]

Try this: on the back cast, bring your left hand - the control hand holding the line - up to your left shoulder (assuming a right-hand caster), then on the forward cast when you shoot line, bring the control hand forming the O-ring down & towards the rod.

 

[s fontinalis]

This is a casting fault that used to happen to me also. Now it almost never does.

The reason that this happens is that your line hand is too close to the fly rod when you release the line to shoot it on a longer cast. When you release the loose line, the line is pulled toward the stripping guide on the reel. If the line hand is close to and/or behind the reel or the rod but, the line may loop around the rod butt.

Note that you said it happens on longer casts and this problem typical occurs when shooting line. Sometimes the line will also loop around the reel.

Remember that the loose line is drooping down from your line hand so it it must fly up in a loop toward the elevated rod once you release the line. Keep your line hand and rod hand apart as you cast. That will cure the fouling of the line.

Glad I could help.

I would say this is the best explanation.
And i will add that instead of totally letting go of the line, just release it while maintaining a hold of it if this makes sense.

Imagine if your right handed, casting the rod with your right hand, and releasing the line with your left hand. As you shoot the final cast, instead of totally letting go of the line, keep your fingers curled around the line to maintain some control of it, but not holding it tight.

Imagine your left hand, palm up, with your fingers curled back toward your wrist, but not clenched in a fist. Your fingers form a reverse 'C', and thus prevent the line from looping round the reel and butt, but still free to fly out the guides.

This looks WAY better looking at my hand than it does written out.

I'll draw a pic and see if i can upload it.

 

[Pocono]

I get this on occasion and when I stop to analyze what I did wrong, this is what I usually find. I'm almost always fishing in streams with a good amount of current and, since I usually strip off the line that I think I'll need before I start casting, sometimes it ends up floating downstream; to the left, on me (another Line Control issue).

When this happens and with a lot of line in the air on the false casts to get set up for the cast that I want to make (I'm a righty and I'm almost always casting upstream; to the right, away from the direction of the floating line), I sometimes get the line wrapped around the butt of the rod. Frustrating, since it turns what you'd planned to be a nice cast into a shorter cast "puddle" of line.

As a "kicker", I sometimes get a nice strike while I'm trying to get the line mess off the back of the rod. I don't think I've ever been successful hooking and landing a fish when that happens, but I must put on a pretty comical show when I try.............

Pocono