I've been cleaning my reels for two afternoons now and was looking at the drag knob guard on my Ahab 12. This is the culprit for many wind knots in braided line. So I pulled the guard off and hopefully eliminated the problem. I love the ahab's ability to get soaked in saltwater and dropped in the sand and still work like a champ-and only require a quick freshwater rinse after a nite of being in the sudz. We shall see soon enough:cool:

I have an Ahab model 12, use Whiplash and don't have troubles with knots, after each cast I manually close the bail.It's a great reel, a little heavy but a great reel.:) johnny "tRB"

I have an old Ahab 8A I use with a 7'er. Awesome drag. I had a problem with the anti reverse lever and sent it back to Finnor. They sent it back fixed with no charge. I think I'm gonna get the bigger Finnor's for my plugging efforts. I have a VS and they just sent it back to me with some bumped up charges. My buddy has a few VS's and he got raped with his bill. Finnor definitely has awesome customer service. How do you guys feel about your AHAB's and service. I don't use braid so I can't elp you there.

Bet you don't need to get rid of that guard. I fish the 12A and 16A. Both are spooled with 30 lb. Fireline, and there's been no problem with windknots, as long as I close the bail manually and make sure the line is tensioned as I begin the retrieve. It took about three casts for this to become automatic behavior for me.

By the way, I like the Ahabs a lot. Well made, rugged reels, with excellent drags and strong main gears. The 16A's a big, heavy reel, probably at its best on a boat, although I sometimes plug or fish baits with mine. The 12A, for all the allegations that it weighs too much, is no heavier than a Penn 6500. I've thrown plugs with my 12A for hours at a time, no problem, and I'm 5' 9" and 160 lb. with a shot rotator cuff, and not built like Superman by any means.

Originally posted by davess23
Bet you don't need to get rid of that guard. I fish the 12A and 16A. Both are spooled with 30 lb. Fireline, and there's been no problem with windknots, as long as I close the bail manually and make sure the line is tensioned as I begin the retrieve. It took about three casts for this to become automatic behavior for me.


I fish power pro and close the bail manually and still had the problem with the line getting caught between the drag knob guard, hence the guard removal. Tried the fireline and didn't like it.