Line Twist and the Parallel Universe

[Paul Arden]

Viking Lars was asking me about line twist yesterday. This can occur when Spey Casting, Belgian Casting, basically any change of plane cast. The theory is simple, draw the rod tip in continual circles and you will twist the line. It’s the opposite of pulling line off a spool sideways instead of by rotating the spool.

Why then does line twist not occur for Morsie, Chris Dore and Stuntman Ronan? Is it, as I first believed, because they all live in a parallel universe? Knowing these three as I do, I can confirm that they do indeed live in Parallel Universes but this alone does not explain their lack of line twist.

So I’ve looked into this a bit deeper and I think the problem is not simply the circular movement of the tip, but what you do with your line hand. The problem is the twists slipping from in front of the line hand, to behind the line hand where they stay. On the other (fly side) of the line hand they just untwist again through casting.

So the next question is why do Lars, myself and others get twist here while others don’t? I believe it’s because we twisters release tension, whole slipping line, allowing the twist to pass to the reel side of the fingers. When I talked to Ronan he said he rarely slips line on the backcast. I almost always slip a little bit of line to cushion the boing. In fact the only time I don’t slip at this point is on the final backcast in distance competitions - when I really have to stop myself from doing it subconsciously.

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Incidentally to remove line twist I find the easiest way is to shoot the line to the reel a few times, this helps puts the twist outside the tip ring where it can unravel.

Another little trick I have, is when spooling nylon - or flylines - is to do five turns right hand followed by five turns left hand and so on. Put twists in, put reverse twists in. I have been known to put entire flylines on spools this way - until I was taught to spin spools around a pencil/pen/screwdriver by Akos.

Cheers, Paul

[Lasse Karlsson]

Have a look at what your linehand does at the end of the haul... most twist comes from a nice little cirkular motion there...
Been saying that for a few decades now btw.

Cheers
Lasse

[Paul Arden]

Sure but that doesn’t make you right, just wrong for longer

[Viking Lars]

I really can't make my line hand twist more than say 30 degrees and even that feels uncomfortable to me. I don't believe that the primary reason for line twist is the line hand. If that was the case, it should be hard to create twist when casting rod hand only. I'll try that this weekend.

We all release line at some point, more or less every cast if we do any real-world fly fishing and what I find very mystifying is why the twist doesn't just disappear, travel down the line when retrieving it for instance. Or even just when false casting it - unless of course it's the falsecasting that introduces the twists in the first place. Which I tend to beloieve for that very reason...

Lars

[Paul Arden]

Of course it’s not the line hand otherwise the line would twist when making straight over head shots when hauling, which it doesn’t. I’ll make a video

[Paul Arden]

I can’t it’s too loud out there! Try this - with a short line throw the line under and over the tip and watch twists form in front of the hand, slightly relax grip with the line hand and you can see the twists move to the other side of the hand. I’ve just done it and if the digger stops for ten minutes I’ll make a video!

Cheers, Paul

[Paul Arden]

The reason that they don’t unravel during retrieve or while casting is because the twists are put in the slack line below the reel. It’s possible to shoot them out, which is why shooting to the reel a few times moves the twists down the line and eventually out of the system. The reason not everyone gets twist problem with Belgian and Spey casts is because they grip the line in a way that prevents the twists moving to the reel side of the hand!

Cheers, Paul

[Paul Arden]

It’s dark now but I’ll try to film this tomorrow before Ashly disappears to her island to work. A video will clearly explain it. I couldn’t understand why others don’t get line twist with Belgian and Spey Casts but I understand it now!

Cheers, Paul

[Paul Arden]

OK I've made a video. Please do try this and you will see what I'm trying to explain



Cheers, Paul

[johnnybg]

So, when you have accumulated a lot of line twist and it doesn't disappear when shooting the line to the reel, what do you do?

I have been taught 2 solutions that work reasonably, but none of them are perfect.

1) Rotate the rod axial a few times. I'm a right handed caster and believe I introduce the line twist due to a tracking error, so I rotate the rod counter clockwise seen from the fight butt.

2) I was to once told, by a friend and former trolling angler to cut off the fly and drag the entire fly line in the water behind. After a few hundred meters the twist would be removed. I tried it a few times and it actually work quite well but is not a "quick fix". He told me that when trolling they always cut off the lure at the end of the trip, started the engine and sailed with the lines in the water for some minutes to remove any twist.


Cheers
JBG