I used to put my right thumb over the spool from the rear and my left index finger under the spool from the front. Well one very frustrating night (that damby mag casting control on the mag elite had accidently gotten pushed forward and bang , I overrun. While clearing the overrun , the jig got stuck on the bottom and I had to break off) I roughly shoved my index finger in to grab the spool but instead of going under the spool as planned , the spool turned and my finger went under the levelwind bar then up over the spool. YEOW!!That thing hurt for 3 months and I couldn't tighten an Albright the rest of the season cause the finger was useless. Its all better now though.
BTW , thats the same night I I broke my Sabre 1089. I had gotten 9 fish , all about 26 inches long. We were suppose to leave but I had to get number 10. Number 10 , I hooked up to a fish about 12 pounds. Since I had no problem lipping the smaller fish with the hand with the broken finger , I lipped number 10 with the bad hand and my broken finger let go sideways and I dropped the fish. The ull weight of the fish snapped the rod tip off my pole!!
To make matters worse , when the tip broke , it wacked me across the back and I had a big welt like I had been caned in Malayasia or something. Despite the broken finger and the broken rod and the lash across the back , it is remebered as a pretty good 10 fish night!!
