When to Stop Reeling In Line.

Lawrence, 

Could you describe how you know it is time to stop reeling in your bait, and time to send it back out again? 

I have difficulty when I am reeling the line in, most of the time I reel too long, and the lure hits the top eye of the rod. 

Thanks for any suggestions

Rodney

Hi Rodney, 

Reeling a bait right up to the tip of the rod happens to everyone.   

After a while you will feel the lure pendulum under the rod tip.  Add a little motion to your rod tip when you think the end is coming.  The tighter the swings of the pendulum, the closer the bait is to your tip.  

If you want to know just how much you have hanging from your rod tip, lower the lure to the surface of the water until you hear the lure splash, or pull the extra line in through the guides with your free hand until you feel the lure touch the tip.   

I use a Shimano Spirex spinning reel with the quickfire trigger.  The trigger flips the bail arm over.  You position your finger on the trigger by reeling back on the handle and the reel stops when the trigger is directly below your finger.  This ability to reel back also serves to back the lure off the tip a bit if you have reeled too far.  The only down side of the quickfire trigger   option is that you don’t have the instant anti-reverse that other reels have which is handy for setting the hook when finesse fishing.  However, when finesse fishing, you aren’t casting a lot so you can use a reel that has the instant anti-reverse, and use the Shimano with the quickfire when tossing spinnerbaits or crankbaits.   

Anchors up,

Lawrence