New to fishing

Hi All,

I am new to fishing and have been using a whip successfully for the past few months.

At Christmas I got a rod and this weekend have managed to try it out for the first time - it was a nightmare.
My line curled and tangled around my reel, the hook got caught on the pond floor and I had to cut the line and re-thread it onto the rod again.
I really want to enjoy fishing but I spent more time untangling my line rather than fishing. Should I resort back to my whip and leave rods alone?

Why is my line tangling so much? I don't see anyone else having to go through the some, frustrating untangling excercise.

Also, how do I weight my line so I am able to cast out successfully but at the same time do not make the line too heavy resulting in the float being pulled under water?

As you can see I am new to fishing so any help is more than appriciated (tip, info, pointers or links).

Cheers,

G_O.

[asoftuk]

Ok first off lets deal with the line tangle.

Possible reasons are as follows with cures.

1. Line strength may be too heavy for your type of reel.
(cure) check the line capacity of your reel and adjust the line strength to its maximum capacity rating i.e 4lb 6lb 8lb etc.

2. You may have wound too much line onto your reel which will cause it to burst over the reel rim.
(cure) take some line off the reel so you are not at the top of the rim which will cause it to spill over.

3. There is a wrong way and a correct way to put line onto a reel. Not a lot know this but there is a correct way to wind line onto a reel from a spool.

Take your spool of line and peel off aboult 15 inches of line. Hold the spool of line in 1 hand and hold the end of the line in your other hand. Now move your hand that is holding the end of the line towards the spool of line. If it starts to twist and curl up as you get towards the spool then that means you are taking line off the spool the wrong way. Cut the line off that you took off the spool. Turn the spoool upside down and take some line off it and repeat the above. You should notice that it does not curl up as easily but coils up instead of twisting. This is the way that you need to put the line onto your reel.

4. Casting out and retrieving line with any kind of hook or rig attatched causes twist as the line comes back in. There is one of two ways to reduce the line twist.

(cure) 1. Put a lead on by itself with no rigs etc cast as far as you can and retrieve at a regular pace. Do this several times and the twist should be almost gone.
(cure) 2. Get yourself one of these excellent little Gardner Spin Doctor leads they do the job of getting rid of line twist easier.

One point to needs to be said though. Line requires a slight bit of twist in it to perform at maximum best, not a lot of twist but a bit is required to keep it sat on the reel .

Putting lead shot onto a float is trial and error with old type floats. Most moddern floats have the lead shot rating written onto them. The way to put lead shot ono a float that is unmarked is to add 1 and cast out, continue to do so until the float sits at the correct depth. The following link may help you with setting up floats. Float Fishing

Hi Asoftuk,

Many thanks for the tips and info, I'll give them a good read and see it if it improves my luck!

Cheers,

G_O.

hiya i'm in the oppersite corner no probs with a rod but my mate was selling up so the last thing he had was a 6m pole hardly better than a wip from what i've heard and haven't got a clue as what to do with this thing i'm going to get the new book most sites are plugging but i have pole books ,n, vidieos it just gose in one ear and out the other.
never used one held one not a clue all i know is it;s got an 8/10 brand new elastic rigs brand new in there Middy packets spose the only way is the deep end .so i know how you feel only way is to make mistakes ,just hope i don't bust my top kit as it's all i have. and would canals be the best place to start or stillwater. Iain