It's a very strange myth that closing the bail by turning the handle causes line twist. People who believe this are not visualizing the mechanics of how the line goes on to the spool, and this includes a lot of pros (who are good fishermen but downright lousy at picturing mechanical things). I challenge anyone to describe the mechanism that would cause this. Whether the bail catches the line during the time that the head makes a tiny fraction of a turn or while it's stationary makes no difference (the actual line-engagement happens faster than the blink of an eye, so the motion of the reel head during that moment is minuscule, and don't forget that the head is going to continue that same twisting action during the whole retrieve). I haven't had line get twisted on a spinning reel even a single time in almost 50 years, and until a few years ago I didn't even have modern reels which offered the manual bail-closing option (and by force of habit, I still close the bail on all my new reels by turning the handle, every time). The last time I had the line get twisted was when I was 11 years old and I didn't know better than to turn the handle when a huge fish is pulling drag. Lures that spin when retrieved are the other cause.
As to how you spool your reel with line, I run the line off the factory spool in a non-twist fashion with the spool rotating on an axle of some kind. Yes, that means the line twists going onto the reel one twist for every new lap onto the spool, but it untwists by the same amount as it comes off the spool again when you cast. The idea of having the line come off the factory spool from the side, in a direction that counteracts the rotation of the reel head, makes sense on the face of things, but since the factory spool is always so much larger than the reel spool, it won't ever be possible to get the two twisting actions to cancel each other out. And if you did get it right, the line would be untwisted while on the spool but would take on one twist for every turn while coming off the spool during a cast, and is that what you want, a line that's twisted while it's out there working for you? It's not what I want. I want the line to be free of twists while it's out there working, and I don't care if it's slightly twisted while safely stored on the reel spool. So, letting the line twist one turn per rotation of the head going onto the reel and then to untwist one turn for every wrap of the line coming off while casting works just fine.
Now, if you routinely catch really large fish that pull huge amounts of line against the drag, that's a situation where the line coming off the spool doesn't untwist to counteract the twist that took place while being wound onto the spool in the first place. We've all had fish take out short lengths of line but I've never met a fishermen who catches fish that take out similar lengths of line as the lengths being cast. But if that happened, it would create a line-twist problem before too long. In that case (or in any other case where line twist is unavoidable), dragging a free line behind the boat for a while, then reeling it in, will take care of the problem.
Finally, don't confuse line memory with line twist. They are not the same thing. People who use very stiff mono with persistent memory are likely to have problems that some might interpret as line twist.
a piece of leather held tight around or pinched against line as you spool also works takes away twist or coil memory. When you have a coil within the last few feet of line try pulling line through leather pinch tight between fingers / I often use a leather glove this works try it.
I checked out Mike Iconelli finesse bass fishing video from Marathon county library. In it he states the rotation of the line coming off the bulk spook should be opposite of the way it is being wound onto the reel.
Spool clockwise/reel counterclockwise
He also recommended using a cloth with silicone spray to tension the line while being reeled on.
He also manually closed the bail after casting and tensioned the line coming into the reel.
He also changed and checked his line very often for nicks or abrasions.
When spooling any spinning reel, consider that the diameter of the filler spool and reel spool are different by about a 3:1 margin. Wind around 15 cranks, stop and check for twists/curls. If the curls are tight, flip the spool and wind another 10-15 cranks, stop and check for twists/curls. Generally I find that I can get ~30 cranks with the filler spool facing one way and ~10 the other way. Unless done with a machine, you can not fill the reel spool without twists without flipping the filler spool several times.
If the line is twisted on the reel spool from filling it or just from fishing, I will let about 75 yards of bare line off the back of a moving boat. While moving at a moderate speed just let it trail in the water for a few minutes to straighten back out. Then wind it back on under some tension.
Edit: If you’re getting excessive twists while fishing, there are basically two causes. One is reeling against the drag. If you can’t reel in line, don’t crank the reel handle. The other is the lure spinning. Use a good quality (Spro) snap swivel or barrel swivel.
Agree that it may have been spooled up incorrectly. When I just did my daughter's new rod, I started with the label up and it was very apparent that it wasn't right. Flipped it over and it's good to go. Honestly it seems I'm always spooling up with the spool of line label down.
Closing the bail with the handle does not cause line twist,it may cause blupers but not line twist.Its ben only the last 30 years that reels were made to do it by hand if you wanted to.The old green and tan abu cardnals, a very good reel you had turn the handle,the old mitchells and the dam quick also. I never got any more twists than I do now.Reeling when the drag is going out does cause line twist though.
Late post, when I fish with spinning reels and had line put on I go to a lake and leave all the line out with nothing attached and reel it back in, doing this will take out any twists, if you vertical jig, or jig, tie on a two way small swivel and leader line a cpl feet for your jig or what ever.
You are probably spooling it on upside down? You're supposed to lay the spool flat on the ground with the label facing up. I never have issues with mono on spinning tackle and I've used several brands. Flouro is a different story. If that doesn't help then you could try stretching your line by tying it to a tree or something and walking it out completely and reeling it back in.
