For many years, fishermen have used both spin casting fishing reels and bait casting fishing reels, each having certain advantages and disadvantages. A typical spin casting reel, or spinning reel, includes a spool that is rotationally fixed relative to the spool housing and does not rotate during casting, with the axis of the spool parallel to the axis of the fishing rod. Because the spool is fixed and does not rotate during the cast, the line comes of the spool very easily and the spinning reel is able to cast a lure greater distances than bait casting reels, particularly when using light lures. Thus, a traditional spin casting reel provides virtually unrestricted out-feed of fishing line during casting, which enables for long casting distances. Furthermore, the backlash often associated with bait casting reels is typically avoided when using the fixed spool of the spinning reel because the spool does not rotate, and thereby does not overunwind the line which sometimes happens when casting with a bait casting reel. Thus spin casting reels have the advantage of providing for further casting distances, and do not have the disadvantage of overunspooling which may happen when using bait casting reels.
However, the spin casting reels have a disadvantage because the line comes off the spool during casting in a coiled shape, and when retrieving the line, the bail housing, bail, and line guide of the bail (bail assembly) are driven to rotate about the rotationally fixed spool and serve to wind the line onto the spool. However, the reeling process winds the line back onto the spool and does nothing to remove or alleviate the coiling of the line. Each subsequent cast increases the amount of coiling of the fishing line until the amount of the twist in the line becomes unmanageable.
Thus, with a spin casting reel, while the bail assembly rotates, the rotationally fixed spool is oscillated in and out so that the line guide of the bail lays the line down evenly on the spool during line takeup. The disadvantage of the spinning reel mechanism is that it uses an indirect line takeup, such that the line being wound onto the spool via the rotating bail assembly tends to twist, resulting in curls and coils, and eventually resulting in undesirable snarls and more frequent line replacement. Moreover, with the indirect line takeup used in the spinning reel, the amount of pulling force the angler can apply is reduced, as opposed to a direct line pickup used on a bait casting reel. In addition, an angler may fear tripping or bending the bail if too much pulling force is applied. Nonetheless, the spinning reel is deemed to have several advantages over bait casting reels when it comes to casting distance and lack of overunwinding during casting.
In a typical bait casting fishing reel, on the other hand, a spool is rotatably mounted on a spool hub positioned generally perpendicular to the fishing rod as well as the fishing line when the bait casting reel is mounted on a fishing rod. The spool hub remains in a fixed position with respect to the reel housing and the fishing rod. When reeling in the fishing line, the spool rotates about the spool hub, and a line guide is driven to oscillate back and forth above the spool and spool hub to evenly distribute the line on the spool as the spool is rotated and takes up line. An advantage of a typical bait casting reel is that during line takeup, the angler is able to maximize the test of the line because the line is taken up at an angle perpendicular to the spool and wound directly onto the spool. Another advantage is that less twist or snarl results in the line because it casts the line out without coiling or twisting it, and during the reeling process the line is fed onto the spool during takeup at an angle of 90 degrees, resulting in fewer line snarls due to less twist in the line, and fewer replacements of the line when it becomes twisted.
However, when casting a bait casting fishing reel, given that the line is oriented at 90 degrees from the spool, the spool of the bait casting reel must spin in order to release the line, which restricts the casting distance. Moreover, the momentum of the spinning spool results in an overunwinding of fishing line and creates backlash when casting, resulting in more line than necessary unwinding from the spool. As a result, the line may get tangled and create a knot or birds nest of the fishing line which can cause aggravation to the fisherman and require time to unsnarl. Meanwhile, an undesirable slack in the line may cause an angler to delay his retrieve and possibly result in a lost strike, or lost fish, or result in a lure getting snagged on the bottom. To prevent the overunwinding or backlash of the line during casting, the angler typically monitors the outflow of line and may place a thumb or finger over the line on the spool to apply pressure to the spool in an attempt to avoid backlash. This may serve to further reduce the distance a lure may be casted.
It is apparent that bait casting reels and spin casting reels each have their advantages and disadvantages. It is desirable to create a fishing reel that operates in certain respects like a bait casting reel when retrieving line and in certain respects like a spinning reel when casting line. The inventor of the present invention, has previously invented a fishing reel that combines some of the advantages of a bait casting reel and a spin casting reel into a single fishing reel that is set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 7,896,277, entitled “Fishing Reel,” that issued on Mar. 2, 2011 and is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety. In the patent the rod mount rotates 90 degrees to achieve the advantages of both a spin casting reel and a bait casting reel.
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USPTO Backgrounds