[fishordie]

Yo Rotti,

I am a west coast guy who just loves to throw jigs and have for over 40 years. I have met a lot of folks who also felt the Avets and Accurates had too much free spool as they were backlashing way too much and of course way more than their previous conventionals.

What I realized, when I watched their techniques, was they never learned to cast using a pendulum technique. Additionally, their starting points for both the tip of the rod (10 Oclock and 2 Oclock) and the placement or length of jig from the tip was incorrect. For the majority of these fishermen they used a short distance from the tip and just whipped the jig out there. Next, most of them never wet their lines before making their initial cast and finally most never used a finger and thumb to place additional pressure on the line going into the reel during the retrieve.

With the pendulum cast you start with the rod tip around 2 Oclock, Let the jig drop about 3/4 of the way down the rod or more as you get better, and by creating the pendulum swing of the jig first towards the angler and then, as it begins it arc away for the angler, fire away by loading up the rod both using your arms, shoulders and moving the weight of your torso and upper body from your back leg to your front. The tip of the rod finishes at 10 Oclock. This gives the desired Flight trajectory under normal conditions. As the wind picks up or is directly in your face this will require a straighter trajectory such as ending at 9 Oclock however the pendulum to start the cast is the same. When done correctly you will not need to thumb down on the spool until the jig hits the water. This is where developing a "Feel" for the spool speed in relation to the amount of line the jig is taking out is again of utmost importance. If the cast is not so perfect this "Feel"
and use of light thumb pressure will keep that backlash from happening.

For those of us who use these free spinning reels on a regular basis, we LOVE the free spool but like any other high performance piece of equipment the room for error in technique is minimized and the penalty is high. Once the technique is established you can go for days or an entire trip without snarling or backlashing. I just got back from an 8 day, where I threw jigs for the full 6 days and some nights of fishing and never had a backlash. I might add the wind was blowing anywhere from 10 to 25 knots. My jig weights are anywhere from 75 grams to 200 grams.

As far as wetting lines before casting this is imperative especially with wind but still mandatory in calm weather. As the boat is running to the spot I will let out my 100 Yd. mono top shots, without anything on the end, and rewind the line on again using my finger and thumb to assure I place line on the spool evenly and with at least some pressure.

If we are at anchor I will either pour some water over the line in the reel or if we have enough depth I will drop down slowly and reel in again using my fingers. Additionally in all cases my fingers are placing the line on the reel evenly.

All the above becomes even more of an issue when casting straight solid spectra attached to the jig. Except in Kelp, where I straight tie, I have determined for this fisherman 100 yds of mono, on top of my spectra, is just the way to go on these super free spool conventionals.

To date, every person I have shown this technique to has removed any and all magnets from their reels and is just digging the silky smooth free spool.

Just one persons opinion.

Jamie