Reels & Distance casting

[Jeri]

Fishing reels and distance casting.

Being involved in surf rod design and building, and always looking at issues surrounding the rod's performance, pretty quickly the reel comes under inspection, and during the past year or so, we have been looking at various rod designs and how they are possibly being restrained by the reels. It is a huge factor in our business, as 99% of our customers looking to fish from the coast in Namibia, are looking to put baits into the waters off Brazil!!!!

Our investigation into reels followed on to find out just what is happening in the reel during a reasonable distance cast – say 150 metres (sorry for the metric – but it makes the maths easier). Looking at the 'anatomy' of a cast, we see that upon release, there is the 'launch' phase, where the reel accelerates very quickly from 0 rpm to what is potentially the maximum rpm, then we have for a want of a better expression – the 'flight', where the sinker still has a huge amount of energy, and is drawing line off the spool as fast as the spool is delivering it. This is seen as the critical area of our inspection, for during the 'flight' section, the real distance is achieved. The last section is where the energy in the sinker is starting to come increasingly under the influence of gravity, and the flight starts to slow, and hopefully the spool as well, as the sinker slowly falls to earth (sea).

Not looking too deep into the analysis of the errors of casting, but the usual mistake points for folks learning distance casting, is that they have 'crow's nests' occurring in either the launch phase or just as the 'flight' section ends. During the launch phase, any lack of smoothness in the casting style, results in a very pulsed release, which the reel cannot cope with, and results in too much line being delivered, but the sinker not taking it. At the end of the flight, the problem is again – too much line from the spool for a sinker that cannot take that line – and this just needs a slight slowing of spool speed to correct – an 'educated thumb'.

However, the object of this dialogue was not to look at operator errors, but the reel.  Just what speeds are we looking at, and how do they affect the final result – these were the fundamental questions. Looking at the arc of flight, and trying to get a realistic measurement of that is difficult, especially as I lack an education in ballistics, however some simple engineering assumptions follow. The baseline distance is 150 metres, but the line off the real is much greater for the flight – something approaching say 20% less than a semi-circle, so the flight distance or line off the reel is about 180 metres. Flight time is about 4 seconds, or 0.06667 minutes. The amount of line given off the spool per revolution is a straight calculation from the diameter of the spool – a Fin Nor 20 offers 188mm per revolution, while a Penn 525 Super Mag offers 125mm. Punch all these figures into a basic time distance equation to get the average spool speed we end up with 14,330 rpm for the FinNor, and 21,600 rpm for the small Penn – no wonder the little reel screams when we test with it!!

Bearing in mind that these are the average  spool speeds, as the spool starts off and ends up stationary, the maximum rpm will probably be 30% faster, depending on the rate of acceleration and deceleration. – That produces some very scary numbers – between 18,000 and 28,000 rpm depending on which reel is used. Relate that back to the very small bearings that we are looking at, and suddenly a whole lot of other factors come into serious play, as anyone that has ever used a lathe will testify – balance becomes a huge issue. Get whatever you want to spin at 20,000 rpm out of balance, and the whole system is just going to fall down around your ears.

This was particularly discovered when we first started to use the Fin Nor reels, they have a spun aluminium spool (nice and light), with a little pressed in stainless pin for attaching line. Attach line to that pin, load up the reel, and then try to cast – it is so unbalanced that it is almost painful to hold the rod in the cast – and obviously distance goes right down the tubes. Remove line, remove pin, reload line, and being careful to load tight and evenly, and suddenly the reel becomes a dream machine to cast.

Given now that we are looking at the anatomy of the cast, it soon becomes obvious that apart from the whole issue of balance and alignment of the spool, shaft and bearings (these are in the hands of the automated CNC machines that build our reels), though that said, the alignment issues are upper critical. The next biggest issue is the 'start up' acceleration of the spool, and getting back to the core element, the rate at which the bearings and attendant oils will allow the spool and shaft to accelerate up to maximum speed. It must be accepted here, that the bearings doing this type of work are not going to be subjected to huge amounts of heat over any prolonged period, as the flight time on such a cast is only 4 seconds, so heat build up can be virtually ignored as a factor in what we are doing, as any heat that does arise, will soon be dissipated during the 'fishing' period – much longer than 4 seconds.

What it all comes down to is that in a perfect world, assuming that spool, shaft and bearing alignments are near perfect, we need a bearing type that will allow such huge speeds, and such bearings need to be lubricated with some of the lowest viscosity oils around – for only then will we have a reel that is capable of casting distances. There are other factors that come into the equation, like mass of the spool, as inertia is a big factor in attaining the acceleration, however, fishing situations might well dictate that we need a spool with strength for considerable loads when fighting fish with heavy drag loads – so before we launched into developing hype light weight spools – we need to look at the end of the whole equation – the fishing.

As yet we have not come up with a final solution for our own predicament, in the surf fishing arena, though we do now have a better understanding of just what is happening, and perhaps where we need to address some of the factors to achieve the increasing distances we are looking for from our rods, and particularly our reels. It is also apparent that for heavy surf casting, the use of reels primarily designed of boat fishing are an area of pure compromise, and will need some serious inspection and probably modification to change their performance criteria. Even boat reels that have been designed to cast just super light weights like an Anchovy, need a slightly different criteria to really work well. The key point in all the above is actually spool acceleration, before top speed. Raise the bar beyond the 150m target, and a whole new game is entered.

I skirted briefly over the issues of alignment, and it is here that we personally have had our greatest success with certain reels when looking at rods casting 150 metres plus. The reels that we have been looking at are not the high volume production standards of the general world market, but more the specialist reels that are produced in much smaller numbers, and where attention to the precision of component alignment is a factor in their quality control. The biggest problem we found in using standard mass produced reels, is that once you have the reel in a position to inspect for spool/bearing alignment – there is very little that you can do to rectify any problems, you are stuck with the castings of the reel body – and any misalignment there might be.

Just a few idle thoughts regarding reels for surf fishing – they are significantly different from what might be required as optimum for any other type of fishing, as is the case with reels for all specialist tasks; jigging, trolling, bass, spin or fly fishing.

Chers from sunny Africa,


Jeri

[john2244]

Jeri,
Very interesting, thanks for posting.  What "off the shelf" reels do you consider best for long distance casting.  I currently use a Penn Mag Power 970, 980 and a Squall 15.  The Squall cast great but I don't like the high gear ratio of 6:1.  The gear ratio in the Penn 970/980 is 4.25:1.  The sharks and rays I am catching are not very big but the lower gear ratio does help.
John

[0119]

Off topic, but Jeri I sure hope you get a chance to share some photos of fishing on the Skeleton coast.  Members of my family went to Kolmanskop in the 1900's.  What research I've dont, its a fascinating place to fish.

[beachbob]

lots of variables and dependencies when it comes to revolving spool casting reels and fishing distances.  i think it's a package deal, where it takes compatibility of reel, rod, line and payload ... AND casting technique.

for the longest of fishing casts, the rod must be chosen as the optimum for the payload.  the line should be of the thinnest diameter at an acceptable knot breaking strength.  and the revolving spool reel needs to be "tuned" as "best as can be" - which to me means stripping down a newly bought reel, cleaning the grease out, sparingly re-greasing, de-oiling and cleaning the bearings in naphtha, sparingly lube the bearings with tsi301, reassemble.  

if the reel is a level wind (i use them only for plugging), the worm shaft gets cleaned and only a drop of tsi301 gets distributed on it.  

then i mount the reel to rod and begin casting and setting the spool play, brakes, and mags (if applicable).  

i know that going further in reel tuning, polishing the pivots etc, will increase spool speed but i don't need or want to get *that* involved.  all depends on what distance the bait/lure needs to land - 50, 100, 150, 200 meters.  some of my rod/reels can only do 70m max, whilst others can easily *almost* hit 150m.  *casting technique* is easily at least equally Super Important, too!  ymmv.
   

[Jeri]

Hi John, 0119 & Beach Bob,

Answers in not any particular order –

I had a severe bald patch developing when trying to post the last picture that I tried to put up – just got more pleasure pulling out my hair!!! Justin in NZ has offered to put up a few, and I will try to get a couple together over the next few days – don't want to abuse Justin's offer.

The reels that have been mentioned are all good standard stuff, though as you point out, the lower ratios of the older Penns don't suit the fishing here as at times we want a fast retrieve to get over the reef and any obstructions – it's nice to get end tackle back, rather than spend a small fortune on sinkers and rigs. So, we tend to go for the quicker retrieve reels, and for our needs, the smaller reels just don't have the capacity that we are looking for, as most of our fishing is done with 0.45mm line (14.4kg) or bigger, as we need a lot of abrasion resistance for our location. 0.45mm seems to be one of the norms, some fish slightly smaller, and get that little bit of extra distance – possibly 10 metres. As said we have found that tuned Fin Nor OHC series do well, as they seem to have faster spool speed than Diawa or Shimano equivalents (Saltist or Toriums), even when all the three types have been tuned up the same. The Fin Nor then wins because it already has a carbontec drag system, and has larger diameter bearings which last longer. That covers the 'middle' price range, in the 'upper' price range we find that the Avet 'X' series(SX, MXL & LX)  are great for free spool straight from the box, and the MC series can be tuned to remove some of the drastic magnetic braking, to end up with a seriously good reel. Again the Diawa and Shimano reels are better in that price range, but get nowhere near the spool speed of the Avet. Penn reels are suffering here from too many changes to the distribution network, and no one has been bringing them forward, while some of the reels are good, again they don't yet compare to the Avet, and they haven't earned folks respect for their robust nature yet, as they haven't been in circulation long enough.

All distance casting is a combination of factors, rod, reel, line, sinker and casting style; getting the combination dead right is a very important aspect – what we used to call 'balanced tackle'. Casting style is perhaps one of the more important factors, and it can be demonstrated that a good caster can more often than not get more from a specific set up than most. However, the other aspect that most folks seem to lose sight of in surf casting, is that aside from technique, it is the rod that makes the cast – despite which reel is sometimes put on the rod. Then, we come to the reel, it must have a spool speed fast enough that it gives enough line to the sinker, as demanded, and then have manners enough not to be too fast, or have a very fine tuneable braking system that it can be tamed. Lastly, getting line diameter down low enough to be good for casting is easy, but then the other aspect of surf fishing comes into play – getting the tackle and fish back, so line size is a compromise. Lastly, getting the sinker and bait weight combination right for the rod being used is important, as all blanks have a particular weight that they work best with – what the designer achieved when he built the blank. Nine times out of ten, most folks can consistently improve their distances with slightly revised casting techniques and lots of practice – even over grass, just to get a smooth and balanced style.

One of the biggest factors that we have found with our work on building rods is that folks at times get seriously 'over gunned', and end up with rods that are too stiff for the optimum task they are looking at, or their personal physique. And here, with our shark anglers we have an uphill battle with the issue of long rods (14'), and then trying to bring big active sharks weighing over 200lbs to the shore, they lose sight of the fact that the surf rod is a lever working against the angler, and you can't actually pull huge loads with a long rod, and certainly not for a protracted period of over 1 hour. How this then has a bearing on the reels is that we don't actually need huge drag capabilities from the reels, just a very smooth drag that will sustain the pressure desired. A point in case just 2 weeks ago one of our clients with a 13' rod designed for just 5oz sinkers + bait, hooked and landed a 94kg (206lb) Copper shark on 12kg line, on what we would normally call a light surf rod. He just beat the fish with sustained light pressure, as he couldn't pull that hard as the line would have broke, but with the lighter tackle he managed to place the bait out where the sharks were cruising. Right next to him on the beach in the competition were anglers fishing with 14' heavy surf rods casting huge baits and 8oz sinkers, but getting nowhere near the sharks, and even the few that were hooking up were taking much longer to land the sharks as they were fighting the rod as much as the shark – even a 1 foot length change can improve leverage issues.

The whole issue of surf fishing is back to balanced tackle, but the original point of the posting was to look at what is actually happening within the reel, rather than all the other aspects.


Cheers from sunny Africa,


Jeri

[beachbob]

good post, jeri!

"balanced tackle" - that's the most important way of looking at beach fishing gear. 

to me, it's really ALL about the ROD, not the reel.  yes, i want a decent reel, but even the "best" reel matched to the wrong rod is doing it bass-ackwards.  all my rods have "sweet spots" where a specific payload weight will load the rod best and give me the most casting distance.  don't much matter what reel or line is used, what matters is the rod and it's compatibility to a specific payload weight.  that casting distance will be tempered by the line used and the payload size - there are huge aerodynamic differences 'tween a metal squid and a lead weight w/bait.

and of course, casting technique still plays a major role in achieving distance.

cheers!