Level wind or not?

Hi Guys
Been at Lucinda since May, mainly fly fishing but unfortunately I didn't bring my trolling gear this year,
I need to upgrade my reel for the spaniards here, (too small), rod is OK
Was looking at a Fin-Nor the other day, about $200, looked like a very capable reel but no level wind,
With out level wind I guess less parts to wear out?
How do you guys deal with it? do you use a leather thumb stall to level the braid?
I'm back to Adelaide soon but will be better prepared next year
...........Gary

With my gear a big Spaniard will strip the level wind gears, they don't seem to be capable of the fast turnoff the reel. In fact one of my smaller reels literally exploded when a big Spaniard hit, fortunately only the level wind gearing disappeared over the side, got the fish in and never bothered replacing the gears.

Yea I prefer reels without level wind, less parts to sieze and if it siezes whilst on the water makes it hard to use.

A bit of tape on your finger or a glove will help stop the braid from cutting into your hand.

Tks Guys
Much appreciated, thank you for the heads-up on the level wind, a FinNor it will be

One of the funniest things I ever saw offshore was a mate get absolutely steamrolled by a big fish - unfortunately for him when it hit he had his finger wrapped around the front edge of his reel and the level wind jammed onto it. He was hopping around and being fairly vocal but couldn't quite get the words out to tell me to cut the line (apparently it was painful) and as such had to put up with it until such time the fish busted him off - I was in stitches once he could actually explain to me what had just occurred - sympathy is not one of my strong points.

Personally I am not a huge fan of level winds but they have their place. Small volume reels are a bit painful without them as it doesn't take long if your not paying attention for line build up to jamb against the frame. For beginners they are useful so long as it is made absolutely clear of the inherent dangers but for heavier line classes (anything over about 30lb IMO) or experienced fisho's most of the time they just get in the way - especially when you are trying to bust off a snag. You shouldn't need anything to protect your thumb while guiding the line on the reel under normal fishing conditions - if you do, your doing it wrong.

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Originally Posted by scottar

One of the funniest things I ever saw offshore was a mate get absolutely steamrolled by a big fish - unfortunately for him when it hit he had his finger wrapped around the front edge of his reel and the level wind jammed onto it. He was hopping around and being fairly vocal but couldn't quite get the words out to tell me to cut the line (apparently it was painful) and as such had to put up with it until such time the fish busted him off - I was in stitches once he could actually explain to me what had just occurred - sympathy is not one of my strong points.

Personally I am not a huge fan of level winds but they have their place. Small volume reels are a bit painful without them as it doesn't take long if your not paying attention for line build up to jamb against the frame. For beginners they are useful so long as it is made absolutely clear of the inherent dangers but for heavier line classes (anything over about 30lb IMO) or experienced fisho's most of the time they just get in the way - especially when you are trying to bust off a snag. You shouldn't need anything to protect your thumb while guiding the line on the reel under normal fishing conditions - if you do, your doing it wrong.

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Scott, reminds me of the time trolling in the Daly River and the lure got snagged, with inattention as it was a long time between strikes my thumb was a little too far over the top of the reel, when the level wind pulled up tight as line started to peel off the level wind very conveniently jammed my thumb up against the body, extremely painful and very hard to remove my thumb. Haven't done it since.

Watch this lad go - and we're worried about level winds:LMAO:

https://www.facebook.com/TopFishingC...4402471618344/

Biggest problem with level winds is people letting them get out of sync with the line position on the spool.Next time out they drop down get a decent fish and all of a sudden the line is pulling off the opposite side of the spool resulting in a failure.Having said that they are not great for trolling.I'm not a big fan of braid for trolling either.