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How do you use a spinning reel fishing rod properly?

I recently started using a spinning reel fishing rod. How do I use it? The guy at the store explained it kinda vaguely since he didn't know exactly how to. I flip over the spinning part and grab hold of the line with my finger. When I cast I let go of the line. But when I cast it, it goes forward, and then comes back or stops letting out line. I haven't been able to cast it more than 15 feet. Another thing is I repeatedly get bird nests the line on the reel always gets tangled. What am I doing wrong?

Public Comments

1. if you are getting birdnests, there is likely too much line on the reel. it should not quite fill the spool to the edges. it is possible that through bad form (nothing personal, you are a beginner) you may be introducing line-twist that is leading to tangles. practice throwing gently at first. do not touch the crank handle, and be careful not to knock the bail (the spinning part) back over until the lure has gotten to where you want it to be. start slowly, with small casts. you will figure it out a lot quicker in your yard than online.
2. Like mentioned you either have too much line on the reel or too heavy line. Spinning reels very rarely ever birdnest on you. If you look at the bottom of your rod you'll see something like 6-12 pound line and how much line it will properly hold. As for casting and the bait coming back on you theres either a knot from when it birdnested on you or the bell is flipping back on you. If the bell isnt coming back in the middle of your cast then you must have a tangle. Pull the line out until it comes to the knot and either cut the line and reset everything or if theres not enough line on the reel just respool with new line. Casting is very simple once you get the hang of it. Flip your bell, grab the line with your finger, then let go and cast.
3. It's hard to explain but I know exactly what is happening. Certain reels that have very good bearings will automatically flip the bail back on you unless you open the bail before it gets to the part on the reel that sticks out near your hand. Man this is hard to explain. Grrr. Let's see. .. Ok When you open the bail make sure it is stopped against the bail closer. The bail closer is just a piece of plastic or metal that sticks out near where it mounts to your rod. If you open the bail and it seems like it wants to spin before you cast you opened it in the wrong spot. Ahh.. Maybe someone else could explain. Penn reels are like this.
4. nice hair jimbo There are a couple separate things that you are describing, and a couple of possibilities as to why i'm assuming your sincere in your questions so I'll start from the beginning You have the casting part right, but at a point the line stops feeding off of the spool The are two possibilities. the most likely is your line is digging into the spool, the second would be an under wrap, which we wont even get into. so to solve the first problem, cast out until the line stops coming out, and then carefully pull or feed the line off of the spool what you might notice is that the line is buried somewhat, almost as if it is coming out from underneath the line on top If this is happening, then you have identified your problem and it is this: you don't have enough TENSION on your line during retrieval this can be accomplished in two ways, the first would be to use a heavy enough weight, or lure so that even the slowest retrieval will spool the line tight to the spool, OR you can take your index finger and thumb, if you have both, of the hand that's not turing the handle and pinch them together over the line, creating TENSION. The way to fix this first is to, if possible, have someone hold the end of your line and let out about a hundred feet or so, then have that person LET GO of the line, use your index, thumb technic and wind in the line slowly, this will help remove the twist that other posters have mentioned When the line is properly wound on the spool, it shouldn't feel spongy, that's usually a sign of loose line from now on refer to the wire piece that flips over to allow a cast as the "bail"