Bail Arm Trouble !

[George]

When I cast with one of my fixed spool reels about 50% of the time the bail arm snaps shut in the middle of the cast. It has been like this for quite a while and I have to use an elastic band to keep it down. I use strong shockleader, which saves me from snapping off but it is really annoying and wastes time. Is it a problem with the reel or is my casting technique too snappy. Does any one else have this problem or have a solution or explantion as to why it happens?

[Read]

I also had this problem. It was happening because I had the bale arm at, or near the snap point before I cast. Very little rotation of the spool was then required to cause a snap back.

The solution is to rotate the spool to just beyond the snap point before casting. This allows for almost 360 degrees of movment in the spool before a snap back.

[Wes]

I had a Mitchell 300 a while back and the first time it happened, I had to get the spring replaced. It happened again after that and i ended up just using a bit of elastic, the same as yourself. A friend of mine also had and I think still has the same reel, same prob, same solution.

[drseafish]

I have a shamino Aerlex 8000 which comes with most of the bail arm removed, only about 1 cm long. YOu can cut the bail arm off so it just small enough to trap the line and as the weight and size are reduced its unlikly to snap back if your cast is jerky. Even if it does its unlikley to catch the line and therefore avoids the problem. The only point is that you have to manually place the line inside your reduced bail arm to wind back the line. Trust me its works a treat.

[Adam S]

Hello

I had a similar problem with one of my beach reels a while ago, to solve it i opened up the casing which houses the return spring and reduced the size of the return spring by about 10% by cutting it off with a snips. it solved the problem.

Of course not all reels have the same type of return spring and this might not be possible with your model

ADAM