[Reddrum]

I have a 12' Tica Rod w/ a Shimano 6500B. I just spent a week cobia fishing (not catching) at Cape Hatteras. 4or 5 times I had the bail close on the cast. At first I thought I was an idiot and forgot to open the bail, but after that I was very careful to be sure the bail was open and the line was clear of the bail. And it still happened. It usually happened on the release, but at least once thebait was well airborn when the bail closed. Any ideas on whats happening, why, and cures for the problem?

 

[Joe S]

Recently, a friend of mine experienced the same problem while we were fishing the surf near San Francisco. He was using a 10' Tica rod, popular American brand spinning reel (to remain nameless), 20 lb. test monofilament line, 50 lb. test shock leader, 4 oz. sinker and soft plastic baits. We had been fishing for about a half hour (lots of casts) when his bail accidently closed upon release of a cast. He then inspected his equipment and couldn't find any problems. He blamed the incident on operator error. He continued fishing. A few minutes later, the bail accidently closed again! He inspected his equipment again and couldn't find anything wrong. On subsequent casts, the bail failed again, so we called it a day. He called a few days later and said he found a problem using a magnifying glass. The bail arm had a hairline crack that was invisible to the naked eye. He replaced the bail arm and return spring and hasn't had a problem since. I wouldn't say he found the cause of the bail accidently closing, but close inspection of a reel using a magnifying glass may be good place to start. Just trying to help.

 

[1obxnut]

Hey Red!
LongRanger taught me that before you cast. Open the bail and then turn the rotor (the side with the line roller) until it comes to a stop. That is where the internal bail trip is at, and since you have the "B" model, there is no "play" for the rotor/bail to turn and trip itself. Since early last year, I have yet to have the bail trip on my "A"model. The shocker knot getting caught in the guides is a different story!

 

[LongRanger]

Hi Obxfihman1,

You are right about getting the line roller under the rod blank before you open the bail. You did not say you had this problem, but just in case someone is having a problem with the shock knot catching on the guides here are a few things for them to consider.

1. If the line level is too high, coils will leave the reel in a bunch and tangle on the guides.
2. If you jerk the rod during the cast extra coils will leave the rod in a bunch. The cast must be smooth and easy with gradual acceleration throughout. The final push/pull is an extension of the speed build-up and not a sudden shock to the rod.
3. The first guide may be too close to the reel or too small.
4. Each rod model should be handled differently. Once you discover how the rod should be handled the problem should vanish.

I hope this helps.

 

[skunked]

If you keep having this problem you can take off the bail and use the reel as a manual pickup reel. At least I think you can. I know you can on my big Penn.

 

[JerryB]

this is timely, i had a similar problem on my new rod/reel last week, i found that trying to cast too hard combined with the angle of the rod was the culprit most times, but i am going to check out the bail trip issue as well.

thanks
jerry

 

[Baran013]

shamano baitrunner

I haven't had that problem on my 6500s but have had them not fully close when tripped after the cast.