As my ski-boat, “Kaspaas” rose and fell with the rolling swell, I spotted several dark shapes in the crest of an oncoming wave. They headed straight for the tight baitball of tiny sprat, bunched up against the surface by a swirling shoal of feeding Natal snoek below them.
 I immediately knew what the dark shapes were – yellowfin tuna! I shouted to my companion, Willa, who was fighting his umpteenth snoek, “Cut the line! Cut the line! Large tuna coming in! If I hook one, you’ll have to give chase with the boat!”

I grabbed my large spinning rod and waited for them to come within casting range. Willa was still looking for a knife, but I couldn’t wait any longer so I cast my line. As the little spoon landed a few metres ahead of them, one of the tuna shot forward and took it. Feeling the hook, it almost jerked the rod out of my hands as it streaked away at blistering speed. Anglers who have never hooked into one of these “torpedoes of the deep” can’t ever imagine how strong and fast they are. In the first 400m, you can’t stop them and this one was big – around 25kg.
To land such a fish on a spinning rod with only 400m of line on the reel, would’ve been quite an achievement, but unfortunately Willa was too slow. In less than 30 seconds, and before he could get behind the wheel to start the engines, the reel emptied and the line broke – fortunately at the knot connecting it to the lure.

On later fishing outings, we got our act together and I managed to land several yellowfins on spinning tackle and even on fly.

The launch of the spinning reel
Contrary to what many people think, spinning reels aren’t modern, but over a century old. The first side-cast reels appeared around 1880 in the US and Scotland. They could be swivelled 90º for casting and were similar to the Australian Alvey. Soon afterwards, English textile magnate Holden Illingworth developed the first spinning reel as we know it today.
The launch of the spinning reel has been the biggest development in light tackle lure-fishing. Although it has limitations, it’s unique in that the line is cast off in spirals and spooled back by a winding mechanism rotating around a stationary spool. Its launch also made it possible, for the first time, to cast a tiny lure weighing less than 2g to a considerable distance.

Spinning reel names and types
One can be forgiven for thinking there is some conspiratorial approach to the naming of fishing reels. The name “spinning reel” is used by Americans for the only reel in which the spool doesn’t actually spin, but the spool isn’t totally fixed either, as suggested by the British name, “fixed-spool reel”. Actually it does turn, when the line is pulled from the reel against the drag. In South Africa, it’s often referred to as a “coffee grinder” or koffiemeul, but for our purposes I’ll stick to spinning reel.
Spinning reels are by far the most common reels used around the world today, because of the ease of operation and the fact that they make light and even ultra-light lure and bait fishing enjoyable and frustration-free for millions. There are three types: open-faced, semi closed-faced and closed-faced. The open-faced reels are by far the most popular, while the semi close-faced reels are very rarely seen locally. The slightly more common close-faced reel is mounted on top of the rod and both the spool and the rotating head are entirely enclosed inside a funnel-shaped cowl. I believe this is the best reel to start off any small child or beginner as it’s almost impossible to get it tangled.

At one time, the best and most durable spinning reels available locally were made either by ABU in Sweden, DAM in Germany and Shakespeare in the US. There were other splendid American reels like Orvis and PENN, but they were rarely available locally.
Most of these reels had three things in common – they had expensive, precision-engineered, almost indestructible worm-gear drive assemblies and cup-shaped rotating heads, which sometimes allowed the line to slip annoyingly behind the spool. Most of them were also exclusively fitted with the crank handle on the left side of the body except the DAM – its handle was interchangeable and made it more popular, together with the Mitchell from France, which had an inferior pinion-drive system, but a choice of left or right-handers at a lower price.

The ever-alert Japanese saw a gap in the market and started to mass-produce much cheaper reels (in quality and price) with pinion drives, easily interchangeable handles and skirted spools, solving the annoying problem of the line catching. They took the market by storm.
First Taiwan and later China copied their designs and today, almost all spinning reels, including those still marketed under the big names of yesteryear, are made in the Far East. They aren’t cheap anymore, and with their flashy exterior and cast instead of machined gears, most are inferior in quality to the old precision European products.

Compared to other types, spinning reels are almost trouble-free, except for the twisting of the line. Often the problem starts right at the beginning when a new line is wound onto the reel. Never wind a line off a revolving spool. Let it spiral off in the same direction as the rotating head is turning.
When spin fishing, use small swivels and never turn your crank handle while a fish is taking the line. If the line does become twisted, pull it behind a boat, with nothing attached, enjoy your spinning and remember to release the big fish and eat the small ones instead – it’s good for conservation and your health.
Contact Abré J Steyn on 083 235 4822 or e-mail abrejsteyn@vodamail.co.za.     |fw