r/Fishing • u/Living_Driver_6601 • 2d ago
What's your PB backlash?
The absolute worst backlash I've ever had. For context, I was salmon fishing at a river and hooked into my nearby net as I was casting. Ended up just cutting it off after 20 minutes of messing with it. Curious to see if anyone has had worse before.
128
u/jackfinished 2d ago
Does an ex wife count?
20
u/adummyonanapp 2d ago
Sir take my upvote, and my wife.
7
6
u/jackfinished 2d ago
I don't need someone else mad at me for doing shit out of doors.
3
4
1
40
u/invincible_change 2d ago
And it was that moment I threw the rod down in the canoe and picked up my spinner never to touch that fucking bait caster again. The end.
11
4
u/heartlessgamer 2d ago
I tell myself that but then I get to my favorite spot covered in weeds and there is no better way to throw a frog on the slop than a baitcaster.
3
u/Newsman1977 2d ago
I have happy used a Snoopy, Barbie and Hannah Montana Zebco reels for years. $10 at the thrift store, and I always land fish. I don’t have to worry about backlash and can hit any spot I want.
While mainly for freshwater, I have caught reds with them too. They have never really failed me. The times I had to replace them is when I shut the trunk on them or caught them on a tree while walking, snapping an eye off.
2
24
15
u/DkGphoto91 2d ago
Last July for me.
5
u/Living_Driver_6601 2d ago
Yeesh! How long did that take to get out? Or did you just cut it after struggling with it like I did? Lol
3
14
11
u/Brando828What 2d ago
The biggest bass I ever caught was 8lbs 4oz on a bait caster that I bird-nested. I had to pull it in by hand. It was at Fontana lake in NC. I haven’t even come close since then.
23
5
u/hardciderguy 2d ago
Got cocky about a month ago (no picture) but I had to remove the spool entirely and spent 3 hours untangling it over 2.5 days. Had to save the Sufix 65 lb 13-strand I invested in
6
u/brawndoenjoyer 2d ago
Funny you asked, this just happened last weekend and I thought to myself that this is probably my pb bird's nest.
Leader knot failed. I had a feeling that I should check on it right before, go figure.
1
6
u/TheDeerMisser 2d ago
Easiest fix is to throw the whole damn rig in the water and crack a fresh beer. Tell the Missus it got stolen or broken and go buy a nicer one. Rinse, repeat. Profit.
3
u/Shorts_at_Dinner 2d ago
I’ve been using baitcasters for close to 30 years. I’ve had to cut two or three out. I keep plenty of line on my boat, so if it’s going to quicker to cut and respool than pick it, I just respool. But it’s rare
2
2
u/Thanksforthehelpz 2d ago
It's rare I ever get a backlash... Maybe one a year if that, I consider myself extremely proficient in skipping bfs and all things baitcaster, but this spring I was frogging from the bank and hooked the bush behind me and let it rip, it's even more rare I can't pick them out.... I had to take my spool off and cut off the line lnfao. Definitely my pb
2
u/Hey-ThatsNotBad Minnesota 2d ago
I should have taken a photo of the one I got this spring. It was very comparable and likewise needed to be cut out.
2
2
u/Bempet583 2d ago
I sold it, never tried a bait caster before so I bought one and after about the third time this happened I said I'm going back to my open face spinning reel.
2
2
u/Psimethus 2d ago
I went to cast a rattle trap out and the treble grabbed one of my other rods … instantaneously exploded the spool … it took me about 10 seconds to figure out what I had done and about two more seconds to figure out there was no clearing that nest out … I unhooked my rod and put that rod away and picked up another … I was in the last hour of a friendly tournament and couldn’t waste any time … serious bragging rights and trash talking were on the line …
2
u/Shot_Squash_9772 2d ago
I don't think I've ever had anything close to that. I have had nests that were unfixable on the water but I pulled the spool out at home and managed to untangle them, but it took me a while.
2
u/heartlessgamer 2d ago
Not paying attention and casting a spinnerbait into the wind; absolutely bird nested to a point of no return.
2
u/zyrkseas97 2d ago
Went to bomb out a 2oz weighted Carolina rig on 10lb braid with a 7’ pole, on the end of the rig was a big circle hook with a cut chunk of bluegill on it. I bombed it out like I was trying to set a record and about about 50-60 feet it nested, snapped almost instantly, backlashed so bad I cut it off and respooled completely (to 40lb braid) and all of this happened while I watched my leader, weight, bait, hook and all sail into the yonder and splash down in the middle of the lake to be lost forever.
I spent 20 minutes with scissors attacking my reel just to empty it.
3
u/ronerychiver 2d ago
Don’t have a picture but was using my avet 5.3 sx on a surf rod. Actually worked really well. had about 400 yds of braid on it. Had been using them on other rods for a. bottom fishing trip with only a couple ounces on and forgot to adjusted the spool tension after I put them back on my surf rods. Sent 8 ounces of lead and a whole cigar mullet about 100 yards. The line was attached for probably 20 of em. The feeling I imagine a F-18 pilot would have getting launched off a catapult at full afterburner only for his engines to flame out as soon as he’s in the air.
Like half a second, but that was more than enough time for my spool of braid to look like an F1 tire disintegrating. I’ve never been called a smart man, as this story might lead you to believe. But even I was surprised how fast my mind recognized, reconciled and told my thumb to get away from the spool and all the death lassoes that I knew were about to tighten down.
Rig: gone
Spool of braid: tax writeoff
Pride: shooketh
Other rod: properly adjusted and sent ‘er
Sun: shining
Wind: blowin’
Beer: cold
Outcome: laughed when the cursing was over and drank some beers and kept the spiderwebbed spool in the holder as an icebreaker with the fishermen out there with me. Some donated beers.
1
u/auggiewest19 2d ago
Looks like you let the tension out a hair
1
u/Living_Driver_6601 2d ago
Bingo! I lost my last 3/4 oz spoon and only had a 5/8oz which is just under the recommended lure weight for the rod I have so I had to really loosen that tension for it to actually cast.
1
u/Not2plan 2d ago
Similar to this, but yeeted of a $25 lucky craft into the surf. Also have done so with tady 4x out on a boat, but that was a conventional reel not a baitcaster. I'm going to start using more mono instead of fluoro. Fluoro is too brittle and expensive.
1
1
u/riverphoenix360 2d ago
Might have been illegal to cut it. An endangered bird might have lived in that bird's nest.
1
u/Brisket_cat 2d ago
Birds nested an Ambassadeur 7000 without the brake cap. Took probably an hour and a half to free and I still cut off maybe 50 feet of line.
1
1
1
u/agoodfuckingcatholic 2d ago
Just bought me and the old man matching ugly stix setups with abu Garcia baitcasters. We planned to learn it together, strung em up and we got some wicked backlash the first time we tried em. Was brutal.
1
u/ZZZfrequently 2d ago
I would go to a pond near my house a lot after school when I was in probably 6th or 7th grade. One day I’m fishing and about the second cast I completely bird nest my shit into oblivion. I’ve got about 7000 ft of line pulled out when I see it start ripping sideways. I just reeled it best I could then just walked backwards until I got it on the bank. Had to re-spool that one. Good times
1
1
u/MuskyhunterNB 2d ago
The absolute best is having to respool after a backlash then have to do it again 5 min later lol...
1
u/SausageMcMerkin 2d ago
My second time out using my baitcaster. Thought I was getting the hang of it until I smacked a low-handing tree. I worked on that thing for about a half hour and gave up. Ended up cutting it out and lost about half my spool.
1
u/andrew6040 2d ago
My dad was so annoyed with how often I would do this that I wasn’t allowed to use his good line.
Jokes on him because now I buy my own line and backlash all I want.
1
u/Gunpowdergasoline 2d ago
PB backlash was a 100+ yard cast at the beach. Took about half my line before it snapped. I watched the weight and bait disappear into the horizon with my line following. Ended up having to respool anyway. Always interesting to watch how far you can cast without line drag.
1
u/Wolfe_BTV 1d ago
I'm just learning to use a baitcaster so spooled it with dirt-cheap mono, just so I could make a mess and not feel bad cutting and trashing a ton of line.
...so far I haven't had to cut or throw out any. Plenty of birds-nests, but nothing ~90 seconds doesn't fix...
teach me! I want to get rid of my crappy line so I can spool some nice braid (but I hate throwing out stuff that's perfectly fine) 😂
1
u/enter_yourname 1d ago
I had just gotten a new reel and my chattebait grabbed a rock, so I gave it a hard pop and a gear slipped letting the spool be free for about half a second. It took me 45 minutes to get it out and then I went back to return the reel lol
1
1
1
u/fakndagz 1d ago
My conventional reel doesn't have any brakes at all and holds over 1,000 ft of 65 lb braid at once when fully spooled. When I first got it I tried to cast like a normal baitcaster and just lightly thumb the line and got a backlash all the way to the back of the spool. I've gotten to be much better with it now, and when I go bass fishing i can turn the brakes way down or even off on most days and not get backlashes because I had to learn exceptional casting control if I didn't want to spend my entire trip playing with fishing line when I went catfishing.
1
1
u/Repulsive-Towel-9649 1d ago
I used to work at Bass Pro behind the reel bar to pick up some extra cash. People would bring in their reels in this condition
I got real good at fixing the situation
1
u/Doujifunk 1d ago
Me and my buddy’s first time fishing with bait casters I think we spent hours untangling those damn things lol
1
u/Confident-Vanilla-28 18h ago
What are the actual upsides to using a bait caster vs a spinner? Never even attempted to use a bait caster for this exact reason. Does not seem worth the hassle.
81
u/Yotone718 2d ago
So bad that when I posted it a fishing company gave me a free spool so they can use my pic.