what am i doing wrong
 

bought a new baitcasting rod & reel, I thought pretty good quality ($150) 75% of the casts I end up with a big rats nest. Not bad to untangle but a major pain, ready to give up, what am I doing wrong

Get better line. your probably using mono filament. Try getting some braided thread. Powerpro makes a wicked thread that's red.

You'll want to check and see if there's a spool tension control. If so, tighten that up a bit, if your reel is totally free-spool then you will end up with a lot of tangles. Also, make sure you're using your thumb on the spool to control it, especially at the start and end of the cast. You want the spool to be spinning at the same rate that the lure is travelling, meaning the spool should stop when the lure hits the water. Lastly, I would advise to just use the mono for now and not try the braided line as either way you will get tangles when you start, and the mono is a lot cheaper if you have to cut a lot off. Keep at it, it's tough to learn at the start, but gets better as you use it more.

I switched to Fireline Crystal. Also increase tension on your reel. Use your thumb to slow and stop the spool when the lure is a couple feet from the water.

One other good tip is to put a hook (spoon,crankbait) whatever your going to be casting on the line. Hold your rod parallel to ground out in front of you, hit the casting button, your lure should fall to the ground, you want your tension set so once it hits the ground it stops. Adjust your tension until it does this.

what model/ make of reel do u have?

i also had the same problems when i got mine for a birthday gift, what u want to do is use a heavy bell sinker and tie it to your line u also want to u 10lb test and up, once u get the bell sinker tied to your line u want to look to the left or right depending what reel u have and u will see a knob that well be able to be turned clock wise and counter clock wise (clock wise for more pressure) (counter clock wise for less pressure) and essentially this knob controls how fast the spool will spin once u cast out (less tension more birds nest unless your a bass professional angler :lol: ..... know once u have set that u want to find a another knob that well be small then the first and u want to adjust that so your lure will fall once u open the bale at a slow pace.

there hope that helps .

JD

Thumb
 

Thumb on the reel to control the release. BEL

i was having the same problem so i asked bigbore tonight and said the same thing "thumb control"!!

Merk on the side where your handle is should be spool tention as well as drag tention. Fiddle with those as well make sure your using a heavy enough lure.Also your better to use a braided line with a mono backing and a mono leader. Braided line has less memery in the line. If you give us the reel ttype anmnd modle ill search up some info for you .

2x :wave:

thank's a million guy's, all the help I got from you guy's helped, only end up with a rat's nest about 10% of the time. Now I just have to hook something with it. Thank's again guy's.