INDIANANGLER

Before leaving Pune i was eager to get my reel (Shimano Alivio 4000fx) spooled and got it spooled by my friend, who i dont know was experienced enough. I used some old line (still in its packet) and i now know that it was .6mm mono. On the reel the max specifications given was .4mm - 100m. Now, i experienced many problem with the line, line twists, and alot of excess line jumping of reel when i gave it any slack. Ultimately ive just removed all the line and thrown it. I dont know if the problems were due to usage of an excessive thick line, or the line was old, or it wasnt very good quality line or what. I went to the beach today and say many big fish feeding pretty close to some rocks, im eager to try using some lures for them. Im planning to put on .4mm line, except i want to be sure that i wont experience the same problems again. Also, will .4mm line be sufficient for using lures targeting maybe 3,4 kg fish (just an approximation). Any tips to keep in mind while spooling would also be helpful, thanks.

Diameter to breaking strain ratios vary quite a bit between different nylon formulations but generally speaking 0.4mm diameter tends to come in at about 20lb (9Kg) breaking strain and 0.6mm diameter tends to come in at about 35lb (17Kg).
Unless you are throwing big lures for big fish or fishing at close rage into very rocky water, both of these are overkill for shore based lure fishing and will have a serious adverse affect on your casting distance.
Personally, for general lure fishing on the coast, I would look to be using a line of about 15lb (7Kg) breaking strain and with a diameter of about 0.3mm and would probably have a couple of feet (40 - 60cm) of heavier line knotted to the end as a rubbing leader.
Lines of this strength are about right (probably still a little heavy) for a 4000 size Shimano and will have absolutely no problems landing fish to well over 20Kg's from an open beach provided you pay propper attention to using the right knots and correctly setting and using your reals drag system.
Correctly filling your spool with line of about 15lb breaking strain will also see you able to cast at least twice as far as with 0.6mm and most if not all of your line twist problems should vanish as well.
If it's rocky, you may have no choice other than to use the 0.4mm line but you'd be using because the additional abraision that heavier line can withstand gives you an edge, not because you can put any more pressure on a fish.

Some basic tips on spooling up can be seen here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDYquiQKa1A
There are two things that I would add to what's in the video about spooling up. Firstly, it's a good idea to leave a good 7mm or so of tag end on your spool knot. This makes it easy to overwrap the tag end and make sure that it lies flat instead of having a short tag sticking up and snagging your line as you try to cast. Secondly, make the first dozen or so wraps on the reel by hand under a lot of pressure before engaging the bale arm and filling the spool under light pressure. Nylon is elastic and doing this ensures that the first few turns really grip the spindle of the spool. There is no worse feling than cranking up the drag on a big fish only to realise that all the line on the spool is rotating and the spool isn't going round so you have no real control at all - that's mainly a braid problem but I've seen it happen with nylon as well.

Mukund,

Ken has given you precise instructions and that should solve your issue. Also make sure that when you spool your reel "DO NOT OVER SPOOL THE REEL". From your description it appears that you have over spooled your reel and thats the main cause of causing snags, especially in case of mono lines. Use a mounting tape before you tie a not to the reel before you feed the line and follow the instructions above. When you reel in make sure you dont reel in loose line as this can also cause you to loose your line over the spool whist casting.

Have a good one ahead mate.

DeZZ

Hi,

I do not think there is a problem with the reel or the line.

My friend lost his line while fishing so I had to give him around 50 mts of .6 mono from my reel. The mono that I use is couple of year old and is a local brand bought it for Rs 10 for 50yds.

After he spooled in the line in his Shimano 4000 it just worked perfectly. The problem of line twist I suggest is while spooling the line in the reel you need to check the direction of the line spooled in the plastic reel before spooling in your fishing reel. If it happens to be in the reverse direction than it would have line twist.

Also if you over spool any reel it would have the tendancy of line jump.

Mukundh if you can make your way to Undri,ill fix your problem,i am due to sign off shortly ill give you a buzz.

I will be sure to do that before i go fishing again, that wont be for another 3 months but i look forward to the day!

I faced the same problem...so, I experimented.
1. Whenever I wound the line back, I kept one hand on the line to ensure its being spooled tight
2. Since the line was already on the reel, I ensured that I got as much line wet as possible and kept point one in mind while spooling

This seemed to have solved the problem for time being.