Crack off's!

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NopikeAlex
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Crack off's!

Post by NopikeAlex »

Hello.. enjoying a nice little morning session lure fishing on Sunday and I suffered a crack off after having a fluff up on a bait caster. First time that had ever happened to me, quite p****d off and felt a bit sh*t about leaving something a bit like a baiting rig on the bottom of the lake. I put this down too having the same trace on for quite a long time and the knot maybe taking a bit of a hiding with the repeat casting 100g + lures. Then about an hour latter an 85g Ricky the roach flew off into the horizon. Gutted. Does anyone have any idea what might of caused this?? The line I'm using is 100lb spider wire and the knot I've been using is twice through the eye of the swivel and a 5 turn grinner. Btw It was another birdy that caused the second crack off
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alan behenna
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Re: Crack off's!

Post by alan behenna »

How old is that last length of line? Is it old? If you have never suffered' a c-off before, it might need taking a few yards off, or perhaps maybe reverse it, if you have not yet done so?

:shrug:
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Re: Crack off's!

Post by Crackoff »

Crackoff's for a min I thought you where talking about me :laughs: :boing: :boing: :giggle:

Grant :smile:
Grant Everson :smile:

To that one soul reading this
I know your tired fed up and close to braking
But theres strength within you even when you feel week
You've come too far to give up now
Stay strong and keep fighting
NopikeAlex
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Re: Crack off's!

Post by NopikeAlex »

Thanks for your reply Alan. The line was only put on in July but that's not a bad shout ripping a couple of meters off incase it's rubbed up against something thing rough. While I'm thinking about it on a similar line of thought I'm going to check my eyes on my rod. That's only a few months old but I didn't check that. I was a bit hungover Sunday morning and it didn't Acura to me at the time
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Re: Crack off's!

Post by NopikeAlex »

Hahahaha 😀😀 you must have some experience on this subject with a user name like that!! I've had my fair share beach fishing.. leader wrapped around the rod tip etc. But it's a new one for me lure fishing and a much more heart breaking/ expensive turn out with a lure!!
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Re: Crack off's!

Post by NopikeAlex »

My eyes are ok. The ones on my rod at least!
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John Milford
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Re: Crack off's!

Post by John Milford »

There is nothing like a 'fluff up' or overrun to cause hidden embedded coils which are not obvious - until they suddenly bring everything to a catastrophic stop, mid-cast. I'd do a long but slow lob cast with a heavy, aerodynamic lure - and then strip off yards more line until you're certain everything is OK.Then rewind it all back on the reel under slight tension.

Whenever I get an overrun, I always strip back way beyond it before rewinding and often find another embedded coil or two a few layers down.

(Anyone who says they never get overruns isn't trying hard enough! :pipe: ).
"He's some sort of lure savant. Or just has an unhealthy addiction to old lures. We are not quite sure . . . . . "
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Re: Crack off's!

Post by NopikeAlex »

Yeah I'm with ya John, one other thing I will say is this happened on a much more open
Water ressie then the smaller rivers I fish if conditions allow. Maybe I've exposed some
Shagged up braid from a bit of the spool from other over runs.. I ve only been using a bait caster about six months. Used a 7ht off the beach for years with far less trouble but using much better casting diameter of mono off the beach
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davelumb
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Re: Crack off's!

Post by davelumb »

NopikeAlex wrote: Wed Dec 04 2019 23:11 -
Yeah I'm with ya John, one other thing I will say is this happened on a much more open
Water ressie then the smaller rivers I fish if conditions allow. Maybe I've exposed some
Shagged up braid from a bit of the spool from other over runs.. I ve only been using a bait caster about six months. Used a 7ht off the beach for years with far less trouble but using much better casting diameter of mono off the beach
Maybe on the bigger waters you're trying too hard?

Stripping some line off to lower the level on the spool will help reduce overruns. :wink:
Last edited by davelumb on Mon Dec 09 2019 11:11, edited 1 time in total.
NopikeAlex
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Re: Crack off's!

Post by NopikeAlex »

Hello Dave I did wonder that myself a bit, because there's no oppersite margin to have to worry about I was maybe over hitting the castsa bit! I've striped a fair bit of the braid off now to rule out any damaged line and lower the level on the spool. I've replace the two lost lures now and I'll be going out again sunday.. if it happens again I think I'll respool the reel, if it and the rod don't end up going in after the lures
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Re: Crack off's!

Post by davelumb »

NopikeAlex wrote: Thu Dec 05 2019 20:07 -
Hello Dave I did wonder that myself a bit, because there's no oppersite margin to have to worry about I was maybe over hitting the castsa bit! I've striped a fair bit of the braid off now to rule out any damaged line and lower the level on the spool. I've replace the two lost lures now and I'll be going out again sunday.. if it happens again I think I'll respool the reel, if it and the rod don't end up going in after the lures
:thumbs:

Good luck. :smile:
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Re: Crack off's!

Post by NopikeAlex »

Thanks Dave appreciate that mate. I blanked today but my mate had a couple of small fish. I didn't loose no gear though!
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Re: Crack off's!

Post by JasonR »

One morning a couple of seasons ago, i was fishing a spro frog. It cracked off on the third cast along with the trace. Peed off, i tied a new trace on, put on a new frog and cast out - it too cracked off on the next cast! £20 of lures gone. I could see the lures floating but couldn’t get them. Completely fed up i went home. I went back next morning with a towel, stripped to my grundies, swam across the lake and got the two lures back!
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Mike J
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Re: Crack off's!

Post by Mike J »

Hi Alex
I use 100lb Spiderwire with +250gm lures and have never had a crack off.

Your connection between your 100lb running line and the leader is where the fault lies.
Think of it this way, a pull of 20lb will break your balance, so a pull of 50lb would have you flat on your face (well almost) and your line is 100lb !!!!

The rule of thumb for braided lines is a loop formed by a doubled running line so it can be looped or knotted to end tackle.
The easiest loop is a three turn Water Knot, this will break at apx, 50-70% if the strands are crossed and +80% if they are even.
Make a 5" or larger loop and use either a Catspaw connection (100% test) or 5turn Grinner/Uni knot to attach the end tackle.

The strongest 100% loop is the Bimini Twist, correctly formed it will out test the running line.
Learn the Bimini and you will never look back, beleive me, you will really advance your connections if you do.
The Bimini's strength lies in the fact its not a knot at all, its actually a wrap (the lines do not cross) so it cannot slip or the line cut through itself.
PM if you want a how to,

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Re: Crack off's!

Post by Cod »

Alex,

You say your "crack-offs" were caused by a birdy, I would recommend the following.

1, Check the end-float tension on your spool, it might be to loose, the tension should be re-set with different lure weights so the lure only just drops slowly.
2, Check your braking system hasn't got a fault, for example broken brake blocks or the blocks are to small.
3, If the above are all ok, remove the bearings, soak them in a thicker oil, car engine oil for example is a good trade off between casting to the horizon and birds nests.

PB
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Re: Crack off's!

Post by NopikeAlex »

Argh thanks lads for all the replies. I was thinking it may of been my knot connecting the trace to main line being the main problem. As you say it's alot of force when suddenly coming to a stop on la fluff up. I'm sitting in my van eating my lunch at the moment but i.'ll be practicing them knots later. I will check the brake blocks when I get home tonight too , The reel is only a couple of months old but I didn't really know how to set it up to well other then adjust end float tension between changing lures. Another thing I have also noticed with a bait caster that I hadn't had a problem with a normal beach multiplier is casting into a strong wind with a big ish lure can cause over runs too.. with me anyway! Is this just because the stream line beach rig cuts thourgh the wind alot better
Cod
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Re: Crack off's!

Post by Cod »

Alex,

The lead or lure needs to pull line from the spool, it sounds to me like on your lure set up the spool in turning to fast, in other words the lure is moving to slow to pull line off quick enough. The knock on effect is a birds nest, followed by a "crack off". Try to concentrate on the root cause. From what you are saying, it seems to me, you need to slow the speed of the spool down.

PB
Last edited by Cod on Mon Dec 09 2019 21:05, edited 1 time in total.
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NopikeAlex
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Re: Crack off's!

Post by NopikeAlex »

That's fair comment cod. And I do agree with ya, I might I been slacking off a bit to much to try and gain a few extra yards, but it will be useful to know a better way of connecting my mainline to my trace as a back up for when things do go wrong
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Mark Phillips
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Re: Crack off's!

Post by Mark Phillips »

I'd also check the swivel for any imperfections before putting it on a leader - surprising what you'll find with some brands - particularly those aimed at carp anglers! A pal of mine had a couple of crack offs when spoding with braid and that was the root cause - fecking Korda swivels!
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NopikeAlex
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Re: Crack off's!

Post by NopikeAlex »

That's one of the first things I checked mark because it looked like like such a clean cut through the knot. But it all looked ok in that area. I've just been looking at knots with a double running line as mike suggested. Been practicing the offshore swivel knot after starting with a surgeons loop. It looks a pucker knot.
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Graham Benyon
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Re: Crack off's!

Post by Graham Benyon »

Are you using the old style spider wire which flakes or the new smooth stuff. The old stuff is susseptable to losing it`s strength but the new one I am using
is excellent but it wont cast as far as the whiplash crystal I have on my other reels although it is slightly thinner. Re the second loss. Maybe you didn`t wet the knot?
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Re: Crack off's!

Post by NopikeAlex »

It's the green stuff with a coating? always moisten my knots, I think you would struggle to get a knot to pull up tight with that stuff without a bit of jib on the knot. I'm putting it down to the type of knot I've been using and possibly line damage from over runs. I've not had the same thing happen since I striped some line off the reel and changed my knot.... I have only been out about twice since though to be fair because I think we've had about two dry days in the last two months and any where I like to fish is over the bank or high and like liquid mud
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Re: Crack off's!

Post by Squaze 123 »

I would scrutinise every eye on the rod very closely, it only takes one crack in them ceramic bloody rings to cause havoc, had a similar problem on a boat rod and under inspection it couldn’t be seen but definitely felt with the finger,I was wreck fishing at the time and lost a full setup and 300 metres of braid with probably a pollock for no apparent reason so made me look real hard at my set up.
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Re: Crack off's!

Post by NopikeAlex »

I have managed two sessions with the lures since that happened and since changing my connecting knot to the trace it ain’t happened again but I will give the eyes another check before I go again just to be sure. I’ve had that happen with beach rods before
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