# Help w snapoffs



## FishinAddiction (May 9, 2006)

i keep snapping off like every other cast with my 525.......what could be causing that? could it be because i am using 14 pound test calcutta? i am tying neil's not on the first page of his website.....any suggestions would be appreciated


thx 

FA


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## Railroader (Apr 13, 2005)

You didn't mention your shock leader...opcorn:


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## AL_N_VB (Apr 3, 2002)

a smooth cast .....good technique....laying in the power not too early and not too late...

Work on technique and distance will follow...




> You didn't mention your shock leader...


Like RR said....if ya ain't got a shock leader..yer pi$$in in tha wind



***not a distance caster...but just a regular Joe that had the same problems***


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## FishinAddiction (May 9, 2006)

my shock leader is 30 pound ande


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## CrawFish (Sep 23, 2003)

FishinAddiction said:


> my shock leader is 30 pound ande


Check your mag setting. Did you use sputnic?


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## Railroader (Apr 13, 2005)

What weight are you throwing?

Can you tell where it's breaking?...At the shock knot? Mainline?

If you have a little curly q of mainline left, your shock knot is failing. 

Listen carefully for the shock knot hitting guides on the way out. This will overrun the reel and cause crack offs. I get these sometimes for no apparent reason.


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## Russelpup (Jan 16, 2007)

I had the same problem when I was starting with conventionals. Someone suggested that my shock leader may be to long. Just four to six turns on the reel, then back down to the reel,works for me. At that length, the knots don't slap the guides and break off. As your technique gets better, you will find that your crack offs and backlashs will happen less and less. Keep on slinging em.


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## Tommy (Jan 24, 2001)

Unless you are throwing 3 oz or less then 30 lb shock leader is not enough.

Bump it up to 50-60 and you should be fine.

Tommy


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## Gills McGee (Feb 3, 2007)

Sounds like a crappy knot tying problem. tie something easy that you know you can do and do right.


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## FishinAddiction (May 9, 2006)

ok i'll try the 60lb shock........can someone tell me how many feet of shock leader I should have?


on a positive note......the two casts that didnt crack off were long and beautiful!!


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## Gills McGee (Feb 3, 2007)

60lb shock? good grashes. All you need is 40. What knot are you trying to tie?


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## cygnus-x1 (Oct 12, 2005)

It is probably your knot like the others have said. However if you make the changes suggested and you are still experiencing crack-offs then I would take a close look at 3 things (you should probably do this regardless).

1) Check every guide with your eyes and your fingers and make sure there are no cuts / breaks in the guide inserts.

2) If you are tossing a 525 then I assume this is a heaver to near heaver setup. Your mainline might want to be bumped up to 17lb. But what you need to check is that the line is new and not old or brittle.

3) Lastly the size of your knot matters. I was getting crack-offs on my spinning reels until I switched all my surf poles (spin + conv.) over to my new knot system. I tie my knots A LOT better now and the ones I use are a lot narrower even though there are two knots.

Everyone will chime in on their favorite knot combo. Mine is a spider hitch ( on the 17lb main line ) then I connect the resulting double line to the 50-60 lb shock with a no-name knot.

This site has been posted before but in case you have not seen it look here.

http://www.animatedknots.com/indexfishing.php?LogoImage=LogoGrog.jpg&Website=www.animatedknots.com 

spider hitch is here if you are interested.

http://www.sea-fishing.org/fishing-spider-knot.html 
best of luck


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## FishinAddiction (May 9, 2006)

hey thanks for the help everyone!


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## Tommy (Jan 24, 2001)

How heavy your shock leader needs to be really depends on 3 things.

1 - How much weight you are casting. 
2 - Smoothness of the casters style.
3 - How hard you are hitting it.

With a powerful technique the rule of thumb is 10 lbs of SL for every oz of weight thrown. In reality with a beach style (hatteras) cast 50-60 lb test should do fine with 8nbait. 

Shock leader needs to be long enough to allow 6-8 turns of leader on the spool when the sinker is positioned for your normal drop.

Hope this helps,

Tommy


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## barty b (Dec 31, 2004)

To add to what Tommy said...The extra length on the shock leader lets the rod tip settle down and stop ocilating before the knot passes through it...I used to only do like 3-5 wraps on the spool..but since I switched up to at least 8..I get a lot smoother and quieter delivery. A nice slim albright shock knot works for my applications when beach fishing. This does not apply to my shark set up.


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## FishinAddiction (May 9, 2006)

thanks tommy and barty! great advice that will be followed.........addressing the issue of hitting it hard......i do just that....my cast is very explosive about midway to the release. Could that be causing the problem as well?


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## Mark G (Nov 15, 2004)

FishinAddiction said:


> thanks tommy and barty! great advice that will be followed.........addressing the issue of hitting it hard......i do just that....my cast is very explosive about midway to the release. Could that be causing the problem as well?



The harder you hit it the smoother your technique has to be- especially when you run the reel on the edge of blowup - I assume you are cracking off early in the cast and not sometime after the sinker has been airborne.

If that is the case you may need to slow the spool down at the initial release point and then release the mags after the sinker is on it's way.


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## surffshr (Dec 8, 2003)

*break 0ff*



FishinAddiction said:


> thanks tommy and barty! great advice that will be followed.........addressing the issue of hitting it hard......i do just that....my cast is very explosive about midway to the release. Could that be causing the problem as well?


I see on this board alot of guys don't add the two extra mags to a 525.
But, I, and many others, think it makes the reel more user friendly and increases it's adjustability.


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## Tommy (Jan 24, 2001)

FishinAddiction 

Do you have a video clip?? 

Is the breakoff coming immediately after the hit or is it happening midway through the cast as the sinker slows down at the appex?? 

Tommy


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## FishinAddiction (May 9, 2006)

well the other day they were pretty immediate.....today i had one that was slightly later in the flight........i re-tied Neils standard leader knot, switched over to a pendulum cast and was throwing bombs ( not compared to you ) , but they were long for me, much longer than OTG and much smoother.....plus not one crackoff after that. Does that tell you anything useful? BTW, thanks for all the help you are giving me.


FA:beer:


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## Tommy (Jan 24, 2001)

An immediate snapoff can be several things. Not enough braking (oil, mags, endtension) or it can be someting as simple as abjusting your shockleader so that you have 8-10 wraps on your reel when cast ready.

A mid flight fluff is almost always a tune issue. One of the biggest culprits for a mid flight blowup is too much line on the reel initially. A little more mag, a little thicker oil oil or more end tension may do it but if the problem is still there try dropping the line level by 20-30 yards. The 525 behaves best (for tournemy casting with 8-12 lb line) undespooled about the thickness of a nickel.

You may be hanging up in the grass causing a jerky motion. The ground cast should be a smooth cast, accelerating the lead from a slow start to a fast, hard hit.


Tommy


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## FishinAddiction (May 9, 2006)

ohhhh ok that all makes sense.......i think i was starting off fast on the OTG cast,


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