Mhan7

This is absolutely true. If anything, it's going to have just the opposite effect. Add to that the fact that if you have the full weight of the spool bearing on the thrust washer, there will be an added frictional component, that will make it slow down even more so. When it's horizontal, it's going to still contact, but not with the same force as when vertical. In all of this, we are talking about VERY small forces. As a side note... I performance tuned a few of my surf rigs, some years back. I built a couple of small test jigs, in which I would mount the spool with bearings, and see how long I could spin up the spool, when empty. The very best tournament casters were boasting times of 2+ minutes on rocket tuned bearings. (totally impractical for fishing, by the way) I was happy with 30-45 seconds. Do you think I got better times with a vertically oriented spool? I'll tell you as a matter of fact, the answer is absolutely NO. On a dead clean set of bearings, with no mass other than the spool itself, the spin time was significantly less than a horizonal spool shaft.

And would you believe that there are actually a few of us who have the rare ability to do our thinking at home, and our fishing on the water?

I'm actually glad you mentioned that, because I slightly screwed up that previous explanation... Here is the proper graphic with the illustration between angular contact and radial. It's been awhile, and I shot from the hip. Rather than do damage control, I'll just post the clarification... So there are bearings which have double angular contact (in opposing directions, for balance) but they also have 2 inner races. At least all that I have seen. The big difference, as noted above, is the angle of contact. Radial bearings have a very shallow angle of contact, where the angular contact have a higher. Nevertheless... while I goofed my description of bearings, I still maintain my explanation of the mechanics behind them.

Here is a nice illustration of an angular contact bearing. Angular contact bearings are meant to take up thrust loads. They can handle loads optimally in all every direction that falls within the "contact angle". But they do it at the expense of contact area, which results in more friction, and less free rotation. (but this is absolutely mandatory for heavy, shifting loads) Our bearings in our reels do not have a contact angle. The loads are radially transferred from the tangent point of the spherical ball, into the inner and outer race. If you change the load angle, by shifting the force, it results in the bearing transferring forces through the force vector, and creates a situation where the inner and outer race want to move in opposing directions. In extreme cases, it can result in premature wear, where the bearing races can actually separate. Lucky for us, that's probably never going to happen. So why is it worth mentioning? Quite simply... When you shift a load - even a small load - into the non-thrust axis of the bearing, you change the performance. The graphic shows the angular relief in this bearing being at 12 o'clock and 6 o'clock positions. In our bearings, we would have the angular relief in the areas that this bearing has angular contact. Imagine a force being transmitted off of the thrust axis, and into the pockets of grime in a dirty bearing. You could easily see how this could lead to a drastic reduction in bearing performance. And yes, while you have a mechanism in place to prevent the spool from shifting, the clearances on the bearing are much more precise. You can't negate bearing play by having a plastic thrust washer. It's just a simple tolerance stackup. The bearing suffers everytime. We can't always cast perfectly with the spool axis parallel to the horizon. Lucikly, it's not really that much of an issue. Except... when... your... reel... is... filthy. We do generate a certain amount of angular thrust when we cast, due to the line pull on the spool. that amount of force will oscillate, as will the direction, depending on which way the line is being pulled of the spool. It will be amplified by the RPM of the spool. We will see vibration forces, also, depending on how balanced the spool is, and the combination of the aforementioned factors. So much physics going on with every single cast... However, and all of this, I do not subscribe to the notion that orientation of the reel affects the centrifugal stopping power of the brakes. I'm much more inclined to attribute discrepancies to what's going on in the spool. I used to work in an R&D lab, and we got a custom made dynamic balancing machine one day. I was surprised at how much emphasis they placed on making sure that the machine was level. (There were no centrifugal brakes on this particular dynamic balancing machine) However, when the techs started explaining to me how they considered the compound forces for their calibration routine, it made me start thinking alot about how this applied to similar mechanisms...

Yeah, that's the "thrust washer" that I'm talking about. But if you take up the space inside the bearing with grease and dirt, you could, in essence, make the micro-grime inside the bearing act as a pseudo-thrust washer. It's only really going to be a problem when your reel is filthy. Even precision bearings have some play and clearance. In my experience, the negation of the bearing's performance is most visible in the off-thrust axis. If it's dirty enough, the whole systems suffers.

There's also the small issues of dynamic balancing and vectored thrust. Every bearing has a thrust angle. Unless it's engineered to take thrust from all directions, in which case it's not going to be suitable for a high speed application - like a reel. Your spool bearings are only designed to handle radial forces. In other words, 100% of their usefulness is in resisting the forces that make the spool want to fly in the direction of rotation. But if you started pushing on the spool side-to-side, you are going to put your spool bearings into physics hell. So, I'm suggesting that in your case, if you change the orientation of the the mass along an axis, you change the weight. (weight = mass X gravity ) Weight is a force, so it acts upon whatever is attempting to restrain it. Change the orientation during cast, you act against the thrust angle of the bearing an a different way. Add that to the effects of any spool balancing issues, which are most prevalent at the point in the cast where you have the highest net total of spool RPM and spool mass. (since the spool mass is decreasing as line peels off, and RPM is increasing, up to a point) One might say that this is negligible, and they're probably right. You have a thrust washer on the spool to minimize side-to side movement. Except when everything isn't just so... and then one might start seeing things like rough spool rotation when the orientation is changed.

I've found both the Tatula CT Type R and the Tatula SV TW for a price I like. I prefer a high gear ratio - at least 7.3, but preferrably 8.1. (because I often fish high banks on canals, and jerking the bait out of the water to clear vegetation happens often, and needs to be done quickly) Given the choice of those 2 reels, which sounds more appealing? The Alphas sounds nice, but it's $40 more. Is there $40 more value in the reel? I don't make a lot of trips out, but the few that I do make, see my equipment being used quite extensively for many hours at a time. I don't mind paying a bit more, to that end. But there has to be some value... My currency would be lighter lure weights.

Yes. That's exactly what I mean. That's the extreme end of the scale. 1/8 oz + .... is the more likely scenario.

So I have an old 7' Daiwa Medium Light rod that I really like for throwing beetle spins and small spinnerbaits on. It needs a new reel. Let's just say that I'd cap any purchase at $200, absolute max. I'd want 6-8lb of drag, and it should be able to throw down to 1/16 oz. Like, really well. With braid. I've used this rod for years with an Abu Morrum 1600 size reel - which has, for me, been a very difficult set, that I've learned to use masterfully. I'm ready to upgrade to something that doesn't require any "reel" skill. So, your suggestions. Go...

Looking to make a trip this weekend. ( week of 4/1 )

There are none of those size snakeheads here... Those are the mighty kings. As such, I can honestly tell you that I don't know what I'd catch them on. But I can't imagine that it's much different than what commonly gets used here. Probably you're looking at a 3000 or 3500 size reel, with at least 30lb braid. Any decent saltwater setup would handle that nicely. Budget?

Your assumptions are not correct. In fact, many of them are downright ********, even if you ask. There are some super nice people, also, don't get me wrong. But fishing friendly won't be the majority. Even then, that's a lot of doors to knock on. If we're in a neighborhood that has a fence set back to the easement, we'll often just fish right at the edge of the bank. If someone asks us to leave, we just oblige them. We may come back another day, and repeat the process. But be aware... in many places, there are signs posted, and in other places, cops will sometimes just show up, and do the asking on behalf of the property owner.

Nobody at all?

Snakeheads and bowfin don't actually look as similar as it's often suggested. The black spot with an orange ring (like an Oscar) on the tail gives away the Florida Bullseye snakehead. Bowfin look much more ordinary. Personally, I can't think of a wrong way to cook a snakehead. Fried, fish tacos, grilled, baked... Any way you can cook a fish, it's good. It's fantastic, firm, white meat. No fish taste whatsoever. (I like fish that taste like fish, but snakehead is just prime protein)

You use a 4000 size reel for peacock bass??? ? My son uses a 2000 size spinning reel (Penn Conflict II) for canal fishing. It's more than enough to handle everything that's been thrown at us. It's his setup for peacock bass, as well... (I don't target peacock bass, but if I did, it would be the same rod and reel that I use for snakehead)

What does it even mean when someone says that? Is there "power" in reels? Is it measured in watts or joules? It's a preference, pure and simple. Spinning are a bit easier to use, and bait casting have a thumb as an extra level of precision. These days, you can get similar drag and line capacity in both reels. Personally, I like the compact design of bait casters. I absolutely hate the fumbly nature of spinning. That whole "reel forward" design is not for me. But I have a few, and there are instances where they are useful. (got a 9' spoon rod for the beach in spinning) For catching small fish - and by small, I mean less than the size of a tuna - there's no real reason to pick one over the other, except for your comfort level. Tell the world that one is better than the other, and somebody will step forward, and show you that they can use your less preferred, far better than you can use what you like. So use what you like, and catch fish. They don't care what you're using. You might have a snakehead/peacock bass crossover with buzzbaits, chatterbait, and spinnerbaits. But *in general*, each has their own set of baits. I've fished hundreds of hours since last fall for snakehead, and I've caught exactly 3 LMB and zero PB. (far better numbers on snakehead, luckily) My kid has fished with me, and he has about 5 LMB, and also zero PB.

This is a bit that I missed previously, but a point worth making - this is where a pricier rod shines. You're going to notice a world of difference between your Ugly Stik pricepoint rods, and a more expensive rod. Of course, I understand that you may not want to drop $, but if you plan to fish it a lot, it may be worth the upgrade. A few considerations that I made... (I did extensive research before buying) 7'+ was definitely at the top of my list. I wanted to be able to cast this thing a mile, and with precision. Snakeheads spook really easy on some days. There have been times when we could walk up and spit on them, and others where you can't get within 30 yards, before you see torpedo wake on the shoreline. 1-piece. I hate multi-piece rods. Lightweight. You can actually create some pretty interesting problems with your back, slicing a rod through air all day long. (also a very good reason to become a switch-handed caster) So I'm with you on that one. The rod(s) that I ended up with are feather light. Not forward heavy. Or heavy in any way at all, really. Micro-guides. Braid is a great thing, but it comes at a price. Between a larger braid size (because it costs the same to spool 10lb as it does 65lb at my local shop) and micro-guides, I've gotten the wind knot issue completely negated. It's literally a zero issue for me. I feared that it would affect casting performance, but I have zero complaints. Light weight. As I mentioned, we fish over 8 hours at a pop. Gotta be comfortable. This is also the reason that I chose baitcaster over spinning. (the balance, and CG of the setup) And a cheaper rod with a lighter weight, is a poor choice. They skimped somewhere to bring you a compromise. If you don't fish much, or don't mind disposable gear, it's OK. As with everything, buyer beware. For the reel... I chose one with a lot of drag. 25lb, to be exact. Now, I've got ocean-going reels that have this amount of drag or less. So you don't need it. But any reel that can handle the drag, has components that can stand up to it. Or something d**n close. You will probably never catch a snakehead that can pull that much drag. But overkill often gives a comfort factor in all the right places. Gear ratio. I chose a high gear ratio - 8.1:1. Simply because when a good bite is on, there's no such thing as too fast for hand-cranked speeds. Snakehead are the barracuda of the freshwater fish, for me. I'd rather have the extra speed and not need it, than have to spin faster on a slower reel, when I do. When I finally made my purchase, I tried to find the most economical gear that met all of my requirements. I spend a good chunk, but it would have been easier to spend 2-3 more, without even blinking. I figured I'd chime back in, because you definitely listed some specifics with regard to your fishing style and/or physical preferences.

I've got lots of budget stuff, but I spend a little bit more on the stuff that I use the most. The point wasn't for me to draw an accusation of being a tackle ho - only to illustrate what kind of setup might be used. One can go up or down in price from there. But if somebody is thinking about the gear I listed - and it's fairly known, at the moment - there's a tested opinion behind it. I fished a 6'6" Penn something-or-rather with an Abu Garcia 5500 reel before this setup. Did I catch fish? Yep. But was it as good of a setup, and was it as enjoyable to throw for 10 hours at a time? No chance. After a few trips of good hook-ups, it was pretty much shite, and I decided to get some performance gear. I fish saltwater, first and foremost. I've caught numerous sharks of the size you mentioned, from the beach outside my front door. But I don't own any VanStaal's. My most expensive reel, of any that I own, is a pair of Avet Raptor reels that I picked up slightly used, for $175 each. I use them to drop baits from a drone. I have a $350 custom pompano rod, because it's my favorite saltwater fish, and I wanted an enjoyable piece of gear, for the many hours that I invest in the pursuit. Custom built to my ergonomics, and my preferences - right down to the line size, and geared around exactly ONE weight. Point being - I don't talk down to people for having the tackle they want. Maybe the fisherman isn't worth his gear. But if he enjoys it, and it's what he likes, who are we to say? Some people can drop $1000 on a reel like you or I would, for a pint of lager. If that's their position, so be it.

There is no doubt about this. There is some method to it all that we haven't figured out. We've had entire days where the bite was scant, but when we are retracing our steps back to the car, the bite is on. Sometimes, they are furious, and sometimes, they are skittish. Once, we even had one pop out of the water about 10' off the bank - head fully out of the water, looking at us - and slowly swim into the vegetation at the edge of the bank. It then proceeded to take a massive smack at a lure that my son put right in front of it. It didn't take, and then just ignored all further attempts. Some days they bolt from 30 yards away, and other days, we can walk right up and look at them. It's all about figuring out what mood they're in. One thing's for sure, though... when they're on, they're on. We always turn on our GPS tracking when we fish, and our shortest trip ever was 4.4 miles covered, and our longest was just under 10 miles, in the course of a day. (on foot) So, the lesson in that, is that sometimes, you don't need as much skill as patience. (put in the time) We haven't got skunked yet, but there are certainly some days that are harder than others.

To be honest, I'm not really sure. How much does a snakehead weigh that's around 27" total length? We don't target bass, but we have a couple in the last 2 trips that were just over 23". We haven't really considered "personal best" with the LMB, because to be honest, we'd rather not even catch them. Every one of them means a missed snakehead. LOL We've kinda got the tackle part nailed. Our tremendous success with snakehead fishing kinda owes to the fact that when we go, we tend to spend sun up to sun down fishing. But we have tried to find methods that attract more snakehead, and less bass. Using big lures seems to do the most good. Small lures won't keep big fish off, but big lures tend to keep smaller fish off. Frogs probably work best in the summer when frogs are in full season. We don't use many frogs this time of year - and won't until at least May/June. MUCH better luck on spinnerbaits and chatterbaits. I don't care for swimbaits, because these fish are murder on soft stuff. We'd go through 2 packs of them a day.

You want a frogging rod for a good all-around snakehead rod. I have had 2. My first was a 7'3" Carbonlite 2.0, heavy with a fast tip. My second, and preferred, is a Duckett Triad, 7'6" heavy with fast tip. That's purposely selected equipment. If you want to go budget, because you're not a dedicated snakehead'er, or because you don't put emphasis on premium gear, then anything that you could pig' n' jig with, is a bare minimum. But a frogging rod is really where it's at...

I have a 7'6" Duckett Triad ( Heavy with a fast tip), with Quantum Smoke SM100XPT. The tackle is dependent on a few things, but it's really hard to go wrong with a good 1/2oz or larger spinnerbait, or 1/2-3/4oz chatterbait. Whatever you use, you'll want to to tie the "Bangkok Hooker" as a bite leader. If you don't know what it is, here's a nice video: I'm not sure why so many people hate so hard on snakeheads. Not only did they not usher in the apocalypse, as they were so predicted to do, but they've added a really interesting (and valuable) element to the fishery. There's been zero evidence to support the notion that they have (or will) displace natives. That anyone would kill them and leave them on the bank, is simply displaying a lower order function. If you have some good locations for snakehead, I'll trade you knowledge for knowledge. If you can show me places to fish - because I don't live in the area, or know it well - I'll show you techniques for catching snakehead. My kid and I catch alot of them, whenever we come down. But we're tired of the same old spots, and have even been informed that, despite there being no signs, that we aren't allowed to fish in many places. Heck, I'd even be up for a meet-up with fellow SH fisherpeople. I'd love to make some new friends around a hobby. We practice catch and release, of any snakeheads that we don't take home and eat.

Hello to all. My son and I are avid snakehead fishermen. We have been really hardcore since last fall. The problem for us, has been that we don't live in South Florida. (we live in Central Florida) Every time we go, we have a hard time finding a suitable place, and/or new places. We've fished a few residential areas, most centered around the C-14 in Tamarac and Margate. We've fished as far south as Sunrise, and as far north as Coral Springs. We only get down about 1-2 times a month, so when we're there, our typical day, is to fish out of a backpack, and cover close to 10 miles on foot. But the urban fishing routine is getting old. The quantity of fish is good, but there's too many places off limits. Oh, and the iquanas. The hordes of 150+ iguanas, stacked up, and waiting to belly flop into the water ahead of us. Does anyone have some good locations that fit our criteria? We're due for another trip soon, and we'd really love to start breaking the 7lb mark, regularly. Since I know most of you guys fishing bass hate them, I'll also say that we're after them for food, also. (if that helps) We've no interest in bass, even though we do land the occasional odd 6-7 lb'er. LOL Thanks in advance