Stella Line Lay Problem

[Jay Burgess]

On a recent trip to Oman I encountered a line laying problem on one of my stella 18000's where it would actually start to lay line below the bottom spool lip and then not continue to keep laying all the way to the top of the spool. It was interesting as it only happened on about 1 in 10 retrieves but the result was wind knots from hell if you try to cast it and the only way I could solve the problem was to let about 100m of line out the back of the boat and re wind it onto the spool. This reel is due for a service anyway so I'm going to send it away and hope that Shimano sort it out but was just wondering if anyone else had encountered this and if they know what the cause of the problem is??

I've attached a pic to help try to explain the line lay.

[Brandon Khoo]

Normally, coning is solved by either removing or adding washers but your case sounds extreme. Also, it doesn't happen every retrieve but one in ten which would indicate something is causing the line to be caught lower down the spool. This happens sometimes when the is excessive slack line flying all over the place in windy conditions because as the reel starts to wind the line on, there is slack line behind the spool already.

What you probably need to do is go out and try to replicate what happened.

[Sam Morrison]

This happens when the line isn't captured at the line roller properly, instead of laying the line off of the roller it is laying the line off of the bail arm rotor. I have had it a few times when I am lure watching.

No biggie, like you said just let the line out and re-wind on to spool. Don't cast it as you found out 

[Mark Harris]

Never seen this happen but Sam's explanation sounds very logical.  And I could see this happening when loose line is flying
about in the wind as Brandon suggests.

[Jay Burgess]

Thanks for the response guys, I suspect Sam is on the money.

It was a very calm day when this was happening although I was using a much lighter lure than I usually use on this outfit so perhaps that could have had something to do with the line capturing on the rotor arm when I closed the bail?

[Graham Scott]

Slack line sounds like the problem to me too. While there is no tension on the braid it will often catch in all the wrong places and often not make it to the roller and lay on the spool from the bail arm itself. Often a problem with very light braid and tiny lures.
For years on all threadlines I have always closed bail manually and then "feathered" the line at the start of the retrieve to get it into the roller and laying with a bit of tension. Hard to explain but basically the line hits my fingers on the foregrip and taps it into the right place...especially important for the standard of reels I use.

[Jay Burgess]

Thanks Graham... starting to make sense now, was a light pencil I was using so not much tension on the braid at all.

[Kamalu Charlot]

Thats funny Mr Scott I have the same habit from an old real that would throw wind knots.  I would manually start the line lay on every cast.  I have been trying to break it with newer reels and when I catch myself doing it I have a horrible vision of a strike on the lure hitting the water and my fingers wedged between the spool and the braid.  As far as the loose line you might want to cone it a bit more to the top.  But it is as described earlier light lure and the slack between tugs.

[Graham Scott]

Kamalu,
I don't get my fingers that close to the reel as I have the same nighmares. I basically hold the foregrip of the rod a bit closer to the reel and point my index finger down towards the water so the line just slaps against my finger which helps push it into the roller. So if I get a strike I don't actually have a finger in danger.

If you grew up with reels like Mitchell 489's and sometimes Mitchell 499's (they were dangerous) and early daiwas, DAMs and Shakespears you learnt these things. 499's had no bail arm at all and you had to hold the line and place it into the roller, sounds good until a big mackerel hits your lure on the drop and you end up effectively handlining, that would be interesting with braid.
I also have a habit with overheads of never throwing them into gear with any load on the spool as I learnt overheads with Seascape 6:1 reels that basically had a manual clutch. Like driving a geared car with no synchro in the gearbox (now I am really showing my age). My kids don't even know how to drive a manual car.

[Karl Nelson]

That use to happen to me to bro, when trying to work Gammas.
just my bad technique.