‘Reverse, Reverse!’ Why Your Spinning Reel Can Spin Both Ways

It’s happened to many anglers before; you’re out on the water looking for a bite when suddenly your spinning reel starts turning backward!

Thankfully, a small switch on the bottom of the reel sets things back to normal.

But why does this switch even exist? Why do some spinning reels spin both ways?

Let’s rewind for a moment to explain the powerful (and underutilized) technique that is back reeling!

Table of Contents

Why Does My Fishing Reel Spin Both Ways?

Most spinning reels come with an ‘anti reverse’ on/off switch located under the spool. When this switch is OFF, your spinning reel can now spin forward and backward both ways. This feature enables you to backreel when fighting a fish, and is used as an alternative to traditional drag.

Why Is This Important?

The long and short of it is that backreeling helps you fight larger fish on smaller tackle.

It’s essentially the same idea as the drag that most anglers are used to, but controlled entirely by you.

Using cars as an analogy, if drag is the automatic option, backreeling is the equivalent of a manual transmission.

Why Your Spinning Reel Can Spin Both Ways
anti-reverse on/off switch

In the car world, an automatic is easier to use and works in most scenarios, but a manual gives more control to the driver, allowing them to pull off daring maneuvers that an automatic car simply can’t.

Backreeling is much the same, with the added bonus that you don’t have to sacrifice your drag to use it!

When the Fish Fights Back: Line Reversal

Put simply, a fishing reel is designed to pull a line in when the bail is closed.

The fish on the other end isn’t a fan of this and will fight against the pull of the reel to try and escape.

But therein lies the problem: if the fish is strong enough, it just might pull hard enough to break the line, leaving you empty-handed and without whatever (possibly expensive!) gear you had tied on.

To prevent this unfortunate outcome, modern spinning reels are actually designed to spin backward, too… but only under certain circumstances.

Giving the fish some ground back when it makes a heroic run allows you to stay attached and pull it right back in once it’s tired itself out!

Drag and backreeling both take advantage of the modern spinning reel’s ability to let line back out when required.

Don’t Drag me Down: How Drag Lets Line Loose

Drag is the form of line reversal that’s most commonly used by anglers, and that’s because it works without you having to think about it.

Drag allows the line to reverse if the force pulling on it exceeds a certain pressure, and tightening or loosening the drag simply raises or lowers what that pressure threshold is.

That famous screaming sound that so many anglers love is caused by a hard-fighting fish overcoming the drag pressure and taking line with it as it runs.

It’s music to the ears, but only while it’s under control…

A few years back I made the mistake of taking my light-duty creek rod to an Atlantic Ocean pier for some cut bait fishing, only to watch in dismay as whatever I hooked (likely a large skate) ran and ran until it swam away with over a football field’s worth of line trailing behind it!

No amount of drag from that little reel was ever going to get in its way, but if I had known about back reeling, things could have ended differently.

The Technique of Backreeling

When the anti-reverse feature of modern spinning reels is enabled, you can only crank it in one direction to take line in.

Trying to crank the other way, you’ll find that the reel simply won’t do it.

But if you’ve ever hit that switch on the bottom of the reel, either by accident or purposefully, you’ll know that it turns off anti-reverse, allowing the reel to spin both forwards and backward depending on which way you turn the handle.

This is what backreeling is all about. Simply put, you reel in when the fish is coming towards you, and reel out when it’s trying to fight.

Of course, that simple explanation hides a staggering amount of technique!

You need to be able to let line out by cranking backwards while still keeping tension on the line so the fish can’t take off or spit the hook, and you need to be able to feel for a break in the pull to start reeling forwards again.

The key to getting backreeling right is to know your tackle; you need to develop a feel for the specific line and rod you use to know how much pulling force warrants letting some line out.

Watching for a certain amount of bend in the rod can also be useful. Just like driving a manual car, it takes practice to get right, and you only get better with time!

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What can Backreeling Do for Me?

According to those who swear by it, a whole lot! In yet another parallel to cars, many old-timers swear by backreeling as the ‘traditional’ method of fishing, as it was the only way to handle line reversal before modern drag systems were developed.

But beyond the tradition, there are numerous reported benefits to backreeling.

For starters, trying to reel in a fish while it’s taking drag can cause your line to twist. While this may not matter immediately, it can weaken the line and increase the likelihood of it snapping later on, maybe even when fighting a trophy fish!

While this risk is admittedly not the biggest, especially with braided line, backreeling completely avoids it.

Of much more importance is the ability to use much lighter tackle for a given fish.

Backreeling puts significantly less strain on fishing line than modern drag does while a fish is running, so by using it effectively, you’ll be able to land large fish on much smaller line without an increased risk of a break.

Adjusting the drag in between fights or even mid-fight can be a challenge too, and backreeling means that you never have to fuss with it and risk having it set too low or too high for the fish you have on.

You don’t have to completely forgo drag to use backreeling, either! Modern drag systems will still work perfectly regardless of whether the anti-reverse is turned on or not, so a combination of the two methods may work best for some scenarios.

The traditionalists backreel with no drag at all, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to. Experiment and find out what makes you feel the most in-control.

Conclusion

Whether you choose to give back reeling a try or use drag as normal, it’s always enlightening to learn about the vast array of ways there are to fish.

Backreeling may not be necessary under many circumstances, but it’s certainly an interesting technique to keep in your arsenal, just in case it might be.

You never know when a fish that’s way bigger than you expected may slam your light tackle, and when that day comes, backreeling will have your back!

Growing up in Florida, I’ve been surrounded by saltwater my entire life…and I love sharing my passion with others.

To learn more about why I started Saltwater Mecca, visit the ABOUT page.

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