I have a Spinfisher VII 4500 on an Okuma SST 8'6" MH MF spinning rod. It casts fine. Only issue is when fighting big fish the cranking action is jerky because the angle to the first eyelet is so far off every time the reel bail spins to the top or bottom of the spin it has a completely different angle to the eyelet. This causes a sort of pulsing of the cranking action where it goes hard and easy to crank constantly while cranking, making an uneven cranking action.
This is very noticeable when fighting big fish like 20+ lb King Salmon.
Maybe add something under the back of the reel foot to shim it leaning more forward? The reel seat nut should have enough room to take a couple degrees of change.
The red is sort of what the reel alignment is doing now. The green is where I want to get closer. Obviously it doesn't need to aim directly at the eyelet, just a little below it, so when fighting a fish the bend in the rod puts the alignment dead center. The rod has insane amounts of backbone on the lower half, so the flex isn't too great even with a 25 lb salmon shredding line off a 20 pound drag.
While I have been fishing for 40 years, I've never had this issue before. Newer rods seem to put a huge emphasis on casting and lightness with the tiny eyelets. Previous rod, a St Croix Wild River, had taller and larger eyelets.
Posted by Wood_Berry_
6 Comments
What I’d recommend is looking into a Shimano reel with a “G free body”, they shortened the reel stem to bring the reel closer to the rod and angled the reel slightly so the line comes off in the direction of the guide.
The centerline of the spool might not be aligned to your liking, but the line comes off of the line roller on the bail. Spinning reels and rods are designed with this in mind.
I tried putting a piece of plastic shim under the rear of the reel foot. The reel seat nut looks like it has enough purchase to hold fine and the reel now points perfectly into the center of the first eyelet when the rod is loaded.
I didn’t get any help here, just downvotes, haha, but I’ll leave the post in case someone else with the same concern is wondering if it can be corrected a little.
If anyone has a batter idea than using a shim to tilt the reel, I would love to hear what you are thinking.
Thanks!
Could you maybe put tissue in the handle to push the bottom end out farther?
Replace with baitcaster
Maybe try fighting the fish differently?? Pull up on the rod, then reel down.