Well, all of the advice will be taken, but am uncertain about the swivel. Since my eyesight is not the greatest as when I were younger, I guess re-tying will have to be my biggest dilemma and  especially trying to see at  night, even with a light, it becomes somewhat difficult. Am glad there are not many night tourney's I will be attending through the year because I would surely be last if it came to just dropshotting for fish. All in all, I will try your recommendations and see how it goes. I will be attending the fish-in at Sawyer, another night excursion so I better go find my reading glasses.


I hate getting older, can't even see this post.HAHA
 

Thomas

I have also found that if you put a glass or plastic bead above the swivel, that will stop you from winding the swivel through the tip of the rod.  I use a red bead so I can see when I'm getting close to the tip and stop winding a little early. I also agee with Chuck about the retrieve speed contributing to twist. I used to use 14lb fireline with a 6lb mono leader about 5 foot long.


Faz

Great hint Rev!!!!  With the drop shot technique line twist do happen more, one item that wasn't mentioned was the type/style weight used.  My experience is that the Quick Drops Sinkers do work for me.

Good tip, Chuck!

Thomas, a lot of time when a person is using a dropshot, it is actually the shape of the bait that can cause some of the problem. An angler may have spooled the line on perfectly that morning, but in an hour or less on the water, they can be cursing the line manufacturer for being inferior when in reality it is due to an improper retrieval technique when reeling in a drop shot rig.  This is especially true of minnow imitating plastics, but it even happens with straight worms, etc...  When you reel the bait in too quickly (after deciding to cast it to another location)  it begins to spin around the line on the way up to the surface and line twist is but a dozen casts away.  

A friend of mine once told me to reel it in a little slower and I'd discover it doesn't twist.  Too simple I thought.  But I tried it, and the extra few seconds it takes to bring it up is well worth the lack of frustration that line twist causes.  Experiment in the shallow water (6-8 feet) and watch the difference in the twist at various retrieval speeds - you'll realize it doesn't take but a minute reduction in speed to make a huge difference in stopping line twist. It has to do with water displacement, and there is a point at which the speed causes enough turbulence to cause the bait to spin wildly.  So if you learn where that point is for a particular bait and stay under that limit when bringing it back to the boat, you can fish all day and not have a problem.

I use 10lb power pro and 6lb flourcarbon leader and never have line twist without a swivel.

Fluorocarbon will give you lots of line twist no matter how well it is put on. I recommend trying the new Spiderwire Ultra cast fluorocarbon. Also when you do get twist remove your bait not the hook and sinker just bait & toss the line out as far as you can then pinch the line between your fingers drop the rod tip in the water & reel it back When you see the hook stop & let it spin out the rest of the twist in the water Repeat one more time if needed.
Your bait choice might be causing twist make sure it runs true (no spin) when you reel it up.

A quality ball bearing swivel will help like Bill said.  For those that are too cheap and know they will destroy rod tips if using a swivel, you'll have to drag the line behind the boat after every day of fishing, sometimes during the day.  To do this let the line out while the boat is moving slow, with nothing tied on the line.  Drag it about a mile if you can.  Better hope there aren't any other boats around or you may lose all your line in someones prop 

Dropshot =>>>>> line twist 

I also use 6lb. P-Line FluoroCarbon and as the day went along the line twist was so frustrating to me that I finally just added a tiny high quality ballbearing swivel three to four feet above my weight in self defense and at least for me the problem has gone away.   

I know this is not new to alot of you, but for those who have not tried it, it is definately worth a try.  The only hang up is that is takes a bit more time to retie after the unavoidable occasional breakoff.

Good Luck
BillB

I received a Johnny Morris mag spool spinnig reel for my birthday last year and have been using it for my dropshot. I have it spooled with 6# P-line Halo fluorocarbon. Now if I am correct,  are these bigger spool reels supposed to minimize line twist. I have my reel spooled at OE, but am still getting line twist. I thought at first it was a bad spool of line, but after the 3rd spool, maybe it might be something else. I know I will still get line twist but does anyone have any suggestions on how to minimize it.

Note all the above mentioned means of removing line twist are all valid but the one inherent problem is they take way to much of my time on & off the water. I am more then happy to bring my spooler to the meetings & let anyone who wants to use it so there I saved you $150
My contribution to the club.

Xsftballer wrote on 03/17/09 at 02:15:42:


Thats what I do.  Pain the A to do in summer though 

I just let a 5lb Smallmouth take all the twist out



Thayne

Try this when you get line twist again.

Cut off any lures that you are using at the time. You don't want anything on your line when you are trying this. Next let all but a few yards off of your reel while you are SLOWLY cruising down the lake. The line, when it's behind your boat with nothing on it uncoils itself. Troll around for about 5 minutes or so then reel in and you are ready to go.

Mike

Joel,

I throw the same under docks. The thing I hate about braid is if it ever wraps around your rod you end up having to cut it cuz it nots up so easily.

Also when your flipping heavy brush it has a tendency to "dig in" like a drop shot weight and never come out. Thats why I throw copolymer or mono for this app.

Russ