How do you dismantle a bird's nest?

[Dakota Kid]

How ever you pick the nests out, just make sure your line doesn't have any kincks or any thing of theat nature in it. I have lost fish cause I didn't bother to check my line out on a bad backlash.

[fishincreek]

On my worst backlashes I pull most of my line backwards. Seems to get the job done quicker than pulling it out the front.

[DJD]

This works like a charm!!!!!

I heard of this but wasn't doing it right. I was holding the spool down so hard that it would not spin...

[Chubminnow]

No two bird's nest are alike...can't get all of them out using the same technique. However one technique I found that someone else used which seemed to be pretty effective is this guy I was fishing with one time got a birds nest and what he did was he cut the line and retrieved the lure by hand so he wouldn't lose the lure. Then he proceeded to remove the reel from the rod. There I was sitting there wondering: "What the heck is he doing?" Well the next thing I know he's standing on the front deck of the boat doing his best impersonation of major league baseball pitcher Nolan Ryan, he looked behind him and to the side before aiming for an old tree stump on the bank and throwing a 96.7 mile per hour fastball, err, I mean reel.

He never had any more problems with bird nests out of this particular reel.

[smljaw]

I've never had one. You're talking about backlashes, right? I prefer to call them professional over runs...

I had a pretty bad one the last time I fished. I ended up cutting out about 1/3 of my spool. Which reminds me, I need to re-spool that reel. About 95% of the time I'm successful in picking them out. My hands/fingers are somewhat small which helps.

[Tyme2fish]

Follow up question on the thumb trick. Do you have need to tighten your drag pretty hard before turning your crank handle? I've tried the thumb trick but the reel didn't move when I cranked.Am I using too much thumb pressure on the spool?

[Bonefish]

The drag must be tight enough to allow the spool to turn.

[Tim_T]

Ok, I use a method somewhat similar to the above video, but it's quicker and easier.

First and most importantly, don't pull hard on the snags! As soon as you feel the resistance of the snag, stop and use your thumb to simply spin the spool (winding the line just as turning the reel does) a time or two. Now, take the thumb that's already sitting on the spool and firmly slide your thumb left to right and back again. After a time or two back and forth with your thumb, then try to spool the line off again.

Each time you hit a snag while peeling line off, just give the drum a couple of turns back with your thumb, then do the left/right/left/right with your thumb, then try peeling line agin.

Again, the most important part is not binding the line tighter by pulling on the sangs too hard. Also, when you slide your thumb back and forth, you should feel some wraps moving while others stay put and your thumb slides over them.

This method has worked flawlessly for me, and I never cut, pick, or respool.

That is the way I usually do, but sometimes the loop is to small and you can't back it out so I use the pick on my trusty nail clippers.

[smljaw]

I like that thumb trick. I'll have to try that out! This reminded me of another trick I've tried with getting loops out of a spinning reel spool. You know what I'm talking about. You make a cast with a spinning reel and that big loop appears in the spool. You can open the bail, pull and hope for the best. For me this works about 75% of the time. The tip I recently read about said to loosen your drag, keep the bail closed, and pull the line out.

I recently read this tip from Skeet Reese so it must be a winner!

[Tyme2fish]

Spinning reel loop. Yes, just loosen the drag, do NOT flip bail open, and pull the line out. Works everytime for me.

[chasmo]

Throw your baitcasater into the lake and go buy a spinning reel!

[RoadToad]

I'm relatively new to the world of baitcasters, so obviously this is a tip I can use. Thanks for posting that! I had always just cut and re-spooled.

Just how do you use those little hook-picks, anyway? They remind me of the little picks you use to eat roasted walnuts.