How To Reel a Fishing Rod

  • October 19, 2009
  • 1,312 Views
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Reeling a fishing rod has small quirks that can be easily overcome with technique.

You Will Need

  • A fishing rod
  • A reel
  • A net
How To Reel a Fishing Rod: Hold the pole

Step 1: Hold the pole

Hold the fishing rod tightly in your non-dominant hand, with your dominant hand even with the reel.

Step 2: Wind it up

Turn the crank clockwise with your dominant hand to bring the line in.

The small bar that loops around the reel locks it and prevents it from spinning counterclockwise.

How To Reel a Fishing Rod: Don’t flip the bar

Step 3: Don’t flip the bar

Avoid opening the locking mechanism. It will allow the fish on the other end of the line to swim farther away.

Step 4: Reel it in

Continue turning the crank to wind the line around the spool. This will be increasingly difficult the bigger your fish is.

How To Reel a Fishing Rod: Let out line

Step 5: Let out line

Manually pull extra line from the reel when you’re reeling in a big one. This will give the fish more room to thrash about, tiring itself out before it breaks your line.

Use a lighter line with certain lures and baits that cause twists. A ball-bearing swivel will minimize twists.

Step 6: Play it

Slowly raise your rod until it is at the eleven o’clock position. The rod will bow. Lower the rod again and repeat the process.

How To Reel a Fishing Rod: Step 7

Step 7

Drop your rod to waist height, grab your net with the other hand and lead the fish into the net.

The heaviest fish recorded by the International Game Fish Association was caught in 1959 off the coast of Australia and weighed 2,664 pounds.

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Comments (1)

HeatherM

Beautiful!

over 2 years ago by HeatherM

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