Can you reel the fish in with the AMS reel or do you pull it in by hand , then just rewind the line later?

You reel them in by hand, then use the retriever to put the line back in the spool. They dont have much pulling power.

I retrieve mine with the reel, although I've not latched on to anything really big yet.

On the smaller common carp we shoot I reel them in.When I get lucky and shoot a bigger gar or grass carp I hand line them in because it is faster and easier.

I just hold down the roller lever, pull, then reel up the slack.

I do just like CJ5. Pump em in like deep sea fishing.  Hold down lever, pull bow reel in slack.

Big fish like that 35 lb female in the back are hard to reel in with a AMS but I did bring it in like CJ5 said.  Smaller fish can be reeled in easily in my experience.

Might be a stupid question but do you ever get a knot or hang up on the line when you shoot and what happens then?

Havoc1,
I have alot with old drum reels.  Breaks lines and scares the    out of ya too.  Never had it happen with an AMS reel because of the zero drag the line flows easily out of the drum.  dino

I have done both,however like said above on larger fish,I handline them then real in my line later.i very rarely have tangles,it seems as if it would happen more often but it happens so infrenquently i don't give it a second thought....BONES

I generally haul them in by hand, then reel up the tangled mess later    Shots are usually pretty close, so your not talking about a lot of line anyways.

Biggest fish I ever reeled in was a 7' gator gar.  Never even touched the line with him.  Use the pump method and after a while it just becomes natural and you will know when to grab the line and hand them in or otherwise.

Havoc1, that is the beauty of the AMS, you don't get loops or knots that hang up.  The line is stacked in the bottle, not wound around a spool.  It's an ingenious method.

I genrally haul them in by hand but be for WARNED that you may wish to wear a pair of gloves that will protect your pinky finger.A big fish can peel line if your not careful

I just bought the AMS retriever last yr and since it's mounted stronger than the Zebco I had I think I'll try that pump them in method sounds like a good idea.

The Retriever reels are not designed to reel the fish in. If used in that fashion and there is much slippage, you will wear a grove in the rubber wheel which will ruin it. The correct way is to hand line the fish in. Only retrieve the missed shots.

I fight them on the reel using the lever...if they run hard I loosen it up,when I can take line, I tighten up the lever and reel..works fine that way.... like fishing that way and to me a lot more exciting..but haven't shot anything over 20 or so yet since getting it last year