High hopes turned to humble pie... then pizza pie

[xjchad]

Well after reading all these great reports it kills me to post this one.  You guys get me so amped up reading them and then I finally get my chance to get out and I get shot down again.  Don't worry, I'm not giving up, just realizing that it doesn't come easy, and all the great fish you guys catch are the result of lots of hard work and experience. 
So anyway, I get all my gear out to my spot and get set up.


I'm super confident since I have some good info on the spot, some new rigs from Tom, and some fresh perch ready for some big leo's. 


Breakaway cannon loaded and ready to fire, I wade out waist deep, get the rhythm of the waves, and launch it...

WHAT THE!?
15-20 yards of line come off the spool and then a snarl and pop.  Actually got good distance out of the sputnik and perch head, but they're no longer connected to my line  I look up to see a big tangle of braid around the 3rd guide from the top.  I wade back in and look everything over but nothing else looks weird.  Oh well, so I get the tangle out, tie on a new shock leader and terminal rig, and pin on a fresh slab of perch.
Double checking everything, and I'm ready to go.  Water seems a little colder this time, especially once you get balls deep 
I get out just past the waves and launch it...
Repeat of the first cast!!     
This time I get pissed.  I wade back in, pack up my gear, and head for the car.  The walk back down the beach gives me some time to cool off and I decide to head down to ventura harbor and see if I can do any better there.
This was my first time at the harbor so I'm not sure where to try, but pick out a spot that looks good and climb down the rocks to the water.  This time I've got my shorter casting rig (not my 12' spinning set up from earlier).  After tying on a cannon ball rig, I impale a whole squid on the 6/0 hook and toss it out.  Finally have some bait soaking so I sit back and enjoy the sunset.
Well nothing big found my bait temping so it kept getting shredded by the critters.  After 5 or 6 rounds of rebaiting I decide it's time to go and start reeling in. This time I felt a little tension and pull this overly ambitious croaker out of the water.  LOL, not sure if this completely erases the stripe, but at least I got my hands fishy 


Well it was a bummer of session, but I'm chalking it up to experience and planning some casting practice next week.  Any advise or criticism(constructive or otherwise) is more than welcome.

At least my awesome wife cheered me up with this when I got home!
Her first try at chicken alfredo pizza, it was delicious! 


As always, thanks for all the great info!  One of these days I'll have some big game to post about!

[raychavez91]

It happens man, that would happen to my spinning setup... So I started doing shorter shock leaders..helped big time

[Pinoyfisher]

Ouch. I may have missed it in your report, but are you using spinning or conventional gear? Also, have you checked your guides? Particularly the 3rd guide since you tangled up in the same spot.

[sasquatch]

First, good for you putting up this report. We have all been there. Don't sweat it.

Maybe try conventional

[xjchad]

It happens man, that would happen to my spinning setup... So I started doing shorter shock leaders..helped big time

Thanks Ray, How short?  I had about a 15' shock leader.  Just enough 60lb mono make it 4 or 5 turns around the spool.

Ouch. I may have missed it in your report, but are you using spinning or conventional gear? Also, have you checked your guides? Particularly the 3rd guide since you tangled up in the same spot.

I'm using spinning gear.  12' Daiwa Sealine with an Okuma Avenger ABF65 reel.  I'll take a closer look at the guides tonight.

First, good for you putting up this report. We have all been there. Don't sweat it.

Maybe try conventional

Thanks Steve.
I'd love to, but it's not in the budget.  I've got 5 other mouths to feed.  Maybe if I could feed them by catching some big fish I could justify it LOL 
I got a great deal on the spinning setup and I thought it'd be easier to start with.  At the harbor I was using my conventional but not getting great distance, maybe 40 yards.  It's a Penn 500 on a 7' Penn power stick.  I'll think about selling or trading the spinning combo for a decent conventional long rod to put the jigmaster on but I want to do some casting practice first to see if I can figure out the problem.

[sasquatch]

I get the budget thing. I always get two huge knots after I spool up a spinner with braid. After that it seems to mellow out. Never used big spinning gear though. Good luck.

[Latimeria]

Well a pizza pie will always fix some humble pie in my opinion.  Bummer boss, but this is the crap that happens when using bigger gear.

I found using my big spinners worked best with having 100 yards of 40lb connected to the 65lb braid.  The 40 is not ideal for sharks, but it helps my break offs in that fashion.  Also make a few practice casts could gage how big you make your baited cast.

I hope at least some of this information is helpful.

[Pinoyfisher]

Does your spool have too much line on it? If it's over spooled, you'll get a bunch coming off at once and then get knotted up on a guide.

[Latimeria]

Does your spool have too much line on it? If it's over spooled, you'll get a bunch coming off at once and then get knotted up on a guide.

Definitely! I forgot about that until you mentioned it, especially new line.

[xjchad]

Does your spool have too much line on it? If it's over spooled, you'll get a bunch coming off at once and then get knotted up on a guide.

Definitely! I forgot about that until you mentioned it, especially new line.

I don't think so, but what do you guys think?
Also, I'm connecting the mono shock leader to the braid via an Albright knot.

[Eric H]

Great job on getting out, your soo close to getting your leo. I really miss fishing that spot a lot. The place totally feels like home.

We all go through our days, it's always worth it in the end when we drag nice ones onto the sand.

I can't provide any help with the tangles since I've never used baid.

Hope you get it figured out, those leos are waiting for you.

[Fish Jerk]

sorry to hear about your snapoffs, I do have a possible reason and suggestion that may help.  One of the problems you see sometimes with braid and a mono shockleader is caused by the mono itself.  Mono has memory and has a certain amount of stiffness to it, while braid is the exact opposite. As the shockleader comes off the spool dragging the braid after it, the tail end of the mono is semi-coiled and gets whipped around as it goes thru the guides dragging the braid. Occasionally the coiled end will curl and whip the braid into the  guide supports where the braid can easily get tangled or the knot can get pinched. 

One solution that I found helped to alleviate this, is to stretch your shock leader prior to your first cast. This will help to remove some of the coil memory from the mono. The easiest way I found to do this was to take 2-3 foot sections with the line wrapped on my hands and gently stretch the line a couple times, then move down and repeat untill the whole leader is semi-straightened. Pay particular attention to the last 3 feet or so right before your mono->braid knot.

This will never completely eliminate a wrapped guide, but may help to keep it in check.  I have actually read where some anglers use 200+ lb braid as a shockleader instead of mono for this reason on their spinning gear.

That sick feeling when $10 worth of gear goes swimming by itself is one of the reason's I switched to conventional gear.  Although conventional gear has its own issues that can cause the same thing to happen.

[vdisney]

My advice, invest in some cheap pyrmads and practice.  It takes some getting used to the cannon and the only way to get it down is practice.  If your timing is a just little late in realeasing the trigger you're gonna break off.  I think the coils in the guides is the line springing back and not the fault of the guides themselves.  Swallow your pride and take your gear to a park and practice, practice and practice some more.  Also Chad try to remember when casting, it is more about a fluid movement and not brute force.  Good luck, Verne

Sent you a PM Chad

[xjchad]

Thanks again for all the advice and encouragement everyone!
I'll be spending some time this week practicing my technique.

[BackBayMan]

I still don't get the whole shock leader thing, especially with spinning gear. There's just no part of two different lines and a knot that I like, conventional or spinning. I tie my braid straight to the leader with a 5 turn double clinch and never have an issue. I also only use PowerPro braid. I've seen way too many guys have problems with other brands and they are all converts now.

And about the whole wade out thing, until it's summer, I'm keeping my balls dry