Wind Knot

 Wind knots are probably the most irritating thing known to man or beast. Just when you are looking to ‘Gooi’ that spoon to the other side of the planet, the first 5 metres leave you spool perfectly and then ‘gggwwaaaattt’ and all of a sudden it looks like Bob Marley’s hair stylist got hold of your line. So why does it happen? Well there are a few reasons.

1. Certain reels are obviously made for braid and others not but the biggest element you need to look at is how the braid is being fed onto the reel. If you have uneven areas of line on your reel, for instance your line almost cones in the middle and has a gap at the top or at the bottom of the spool or both, chances are you going to get a wind knot. How to improve the line feed on your reel is by using the little spacers that are provided in the box your reel comes in..Aaaahhhh so that’s what they are for! Yip, that’s what they are for gents. Take that and your reel into a shop and get them to do it for you properly, that way you won’t waste money on good braid and any fishing time.

2. One thing to remember the better the braid i.e. more expensive it is, the more supple and soft it is and the bigger chance you will have of getting wind knots if your stuff isn’t right. But, when you get it right, that braid will be the best thing that’s ever happened to you.

3. Overfilling your spool..A lot of us really want to get our metres worth. When filling a spool with line, remember though, when it comes to braid you can do yourself more harm than good. Overfilling the spool is one of the main causes of Wind Knots.

4. Not reeling your line back with enough pressure. Reeling slack line onto the spool can contribute to wind knots but sometimes it is unavoidable and I think if you have the correct setup it shouldn’t really affect it.

5. Join in your line…Generally your leader shouldn’t be wound into your spool on a spinning stick, I prefer a metre long leader for casting with and it must sit just outside the eyes. But any sort of tag end from a knot could cause a wind knot and the line catches on that tag on the way off the spool.
Bottom line is that it all comes down to local knowledge and if you can find someone close by to you that knows his stuff he will be able to tackle you up the right way so you can avoid this hell of an irritating situation….