[Mr.McSquidly]

I would like to hear from some of you fellow spey casters about how to fix the problem of tangles in the shooting loops.

It seems as though I often encounter this a number of times during a day of fishing when my loops seem to tangle when the line is shooting out. I notice it most when line speed is the fastest. It is frustrating when you hit the cast "right on the screws" and what follows is a rats nest that will not go throught the guides, aaarg!

I just know that one of these days I am going to get a hellacious grab as I am painstakingly fiddling with this tangled mess.




Mc Squidly

 

[juro]

This could be affected by a number of factors, the line itself being one. If you're not using a big sinktip and need distance, maybe a longer belly line is in order, which reduces the amount of running line to manage.

Also loop management in the hand - one might ask how many loops, how big and are they gradually larger? Are the loops in the bottom hand or upper hand? For me the lower hand loops let the line slide through the fingers with more control but I mess around with both.

Perhaps the line speed is too fast coming off the d-loop, quite often a focused yet more relaxed stroke creates the same line drive as a hard punch but the running line doesn't get ahead of itself.

I've found it useful to start with just the head, slipping a little more line with each cast, working up to several loops gradually and trying to concentrate the energy in the forward cast so that it pulls controllably through the fingers until you reach the desired distance.

That being said, I am not without my moments of running line tangles by any means!

 

[foster reed]

A lot of running line has been a learning curve for me. First of all, the line should be clean, stretched and unkinked - if the line is twisted coming off the reel it will tend to grab itself heading for the guides. The coils are stored in the fingers of the lower hand, from larger to smaller - say six strips, four strips, two strips. When I let it all go on the final I keep it running through my upper hand which serves as a kind of preliminary guide and most impotantly allows me to fish as soon it lands - I tend to get so involved with the mighty heave that I have to grope around for the line when it lands, so letting the running line pass through the upper hand helps with the tangles but also helps me stay connected.