Post by dknappy on Feb 29, 2008 16:00:09 GMT -4
TAMPA, Fla. -- Perhaps the biggest drawback to using spinning reels is the formation of loops and tangles while retrieving line after a cast. Birds' nests become even more acute when the spool is filled (or overfilled) with nonstretch, or braided line, or when casting in heavy wind.
Doug Hannon, 62, an outdoors writer, inventor, consultant and underwater cinematographer best known as the "Bass Professor," seems to have solved this problem with his new WaveSpin reel.
"Nobody reduces loop," Hannon said. "We make loops irrelevant. It's not a claim - it's a promise."
Not only that, he promises, but the WaveSpin casts up to 30 percent farther than other spinning reels.
The idea for the WaveSpin came to Hannon as he prowled around his house in the middle of the night thinking about how boats run faster over the top of choppy waves downwind.
Translating this principle into reel design, he decided fishing line would travel farther on a cast if it was in infrequent contact with the spool.
Inspired, he filed rippling notches resembling ocean waves into the smooth lip of an old spinning reel spool and took it outside for some test throws.
He was amazed to find that when loops formed in the line, he could throw them off with the next cast - no tangles.
To further improve the reel design, Hannon made the spool lip detachable so line can be quickly peeled off instead of slowly unwound. He sealed the gear case to make it watertight. He included nine ball bearings and washers of stainless steel, and felt for smoothness. There are three styles of reels designed to hold more than 200 yards of eight- 10- and 12-pound test mono or braided line - all with a 5-to-1 retrieve ratio - priced between $80 and $110, which includes a two-year warranty. WaveSpins are sold in some tackle shops and online at www.wavespinreel.com.
I tested the new reels in a half-day outing on Tampa Bay recently, with Hannon and local light-tackle guide Bret Gamrot.
We encountered a large, happy school of redfish rolling and tailing in about a foot of water near the Courtney Campbell Causeway.
Hannon caught and released a 27-incher using an Exude shrimp. Then I got up on the casting platform of Gamrot's skiff, armed with a Berkley Gulp "new penny" shrimp, and got ready to take my shot.
I didn't cast the 10-pound braided line particularly strenuously, but the quarter-ounce lure sailed out so far in front of me, I barely saw it land among the milling reds. I jigged it once - and a red immediately snapped it up and charged away. Not bad for my first cast of the day.
Hannon caught and released another redfish - after purposely making several loops in the 14-pound braid on his spool before casting.
The only mishap of the day occurred later, when he hooked and fought another red, and the line went across the drag nut on top of the spool.
The nonstretch line managed to tighten the drag as Hannon turned the handle, and the fish broke off at the fluorocarbon leader.
From this, Hannon concluded that the drag nut needs to be tapered so that the line can't get hung up.
The WaveSpin is the latest of 16 patents Hannon holds -- perhaps the best known being the weedless propeller used in trolling motors around the world. But the new spinning reel already is receiving acclaim from professional tournament fishermen, guides and outdoors publications.
Outdoor Life magazine fishing editor Jerry Gibbs calls it "the first significant improvement in saltwater and freshwater spinning reel design in more than 50 years."
The magazine honored Hannon as one of 25 people having the greatest positive influence on hunting and fishing, and Field & Stream just named WaveSpin the "Best of the Best" in spinning reels.
Looks like it might be the next ting in the boat!!!
Doug Hannon, 62, an outdoors writer, inventor, consultant and underwater cinematographer best known as the "Bass Professor," seems to have solved this problem with his new WaveSpin reel.
"Nobody reduces loop," Hannon said. "We make loops irrelevant. It's not a claim - it's a promise."
Not only that, he promises, but the WaveSpin casts up to 30 percent farther than other spinning reels.
The idea for the WaveSpin came to Hannon as he prowled around his house in the middle of the night thinking about how boats run faster over the top of choppy waves downwind.
Translating this principle into reel design, he decided fishing line would travel farther on a cast if it was in infrequent contact with the spool.
Inspired, he filed rippling notches resembling ocean waves into the smooth lip of an old spinning reel spool and took it outside for some test throws.
He was amazed to find that when loops formed in the line, he could throw them off with the next cast - no tangles.
To further improve the reel design, Hannon made the spool lip detachable so line can be quickly peeled off instead of slowly unwound. He sealed the gear case to make it watertight. He included nine ball bearings and washers of stainless steel, and felt for smoothness. There are three styles of reels designed to hold more than 200 yards of eight- 10- and 12-pound test mono or braided line - all with a 5-to-1 retrieve ratio - priced between $80 and $110, which includes a two-year warranty. WaveSpins are sold in some tackle shops and online at www.wavespinreel.com.
I tested the new reels in a half-day outing on Tampa Bay recently, with Hannon and local light-tackle guide Bret Gamrot.
We encountered a large, happy school of redfish rolling and tailing in about a foot of water near the Courtney Campbell Causeway.
Hannon caught and released a 27-incher using an Exude shrimp. Then I got up on the casting platform of Gamrot's skiff, armed with a Berkley Gulp "new penny" shrimp, and got ready to take my shot.
I didn't cast the 10-pound braided line particularly strenuously, but the quarter-ounce lure sailed out so far in front of me, I barely saw it land among the milling reds. I jigged it once - and a red immediately snapped it up and charged away. Not bad for my first cast of the day.
Hannon caught and released another redfish - after purposely making several loops in the 14-pound braid on his spool before casting.
The only mishap of the day occurred later, when he hooked and fought another red, and the line went across the drag nut on top of the spool.
The nonstretch line managed to tighten the drag as Hannon turned the handle, and the fish broke off at the fluorocarbon leader.
From this, Hannon concluded that the drag nut needs to be tapered so that the line can't get hung up.
The WaveSpin is the latest of 16 patents Hannon holds -- perhaps the best known being the weedless propeller used in trolling motors around the world. But the new spinning reel already is receiving acclaim from professional tournament fishermen, guides and outdoors publications.
Outdoor Life magazine fishing editor Jerry Gibbs calls it "the first significant improvement in saltwater and freshwater spinning reel design in more than 50 years."
The magazine honored Hannon as one of 25 people having the greatest positive influence on hunting and fishing, and Field & Stream just named WaveSpin the "Best of the Best" in spinning reels.
Looks like it might be the next ting in the boat!!!