My first experience with baitcasting and with the Carudo DC reel. This post will probably be amusing to bait casting veterans but possibly helpful to people thinking of giving it a go for the first time.
The only fishing I've ever done is with a spinning reel. And I've been using them for awhile. Recently I decided to try bait casting. The only casting reel I've ever had was a 1950ish model at a time when if you wanted one you could use any brand as long as it was Shakespeare. It still hangs in my garage on a solid nylon rod and I last used it when I was about ten years old. I'm 64 now.
I recently got a sweet deal on a Dobyns 735cb glass and decided to pick up a Carudo DC. Why? I looked online and everyone loves whatever brand reel their using so I guess they're all good. I had to make an educated choice and went with the Curado.
I've never cast one of these reels. I figured the DC ones might let me ease into it more easily. Today the reel finally came in the mail. I set it up on the rod with 14# monofilament line. I read that it will be more forgiving to learn with. Later on I can change it out if I want to. As you can see in the picture I'm casting a medium sized Strike King shallow water crank bait to try this out. I cast off the pier at my home on Mousam Lake in Southern Maine.
Initial casting tries
I set the dial to 4. This is the one that keeps the most control over the cast. You can't cast too far but the chance of a nest is the least. I cast sidearm first. At the end of the cast I had a fuzzball. After working it out I did this a few more times and still the same result. I had adjusted the tension knob so that there was no side to side play in the spool as I had seen. At this point, after a few dozen casts, I became a manual bait caster using my thumb to brake and stop the spool upon hitting the water to avoid a tangle. Great... I had no nests and I learned to bait cast. The thing is what about this DC thing? I could have bought a standard reel for a lot less and used it like I will this one. Something was wrong. It's as if the dc thing wasn't working.
Adjustments
I decided to adjust the tension knob tighter. I did the drop test. I adjusted it so that the lure would slowly drop to the ground when it was released. I cast.... Better but still a moderate nest. After trying this a bit I adjusted it so the lure dropped more slowly. I cast; no nest. I cast several more times without my thumb. No nests at all. It's funny how I had trained myself to use my thumb in about a half hour and now I had to concentrate not to use it to see what would happen. These casts on the setting of 4 were about 50 ft.
Going out on a limb
I moved the setting to 3. A bit more chance of nesting here. Several casts and no nest. The lure was casting a bit further though. I moved the dial to 2. Casting revealed a substantially longer cast and still no nesting. After several casts at each of these settings with success I decided to try the lightest setting of 1. I checked the tension knob adjustment again just to make sure as I expected a nest. I kept my thumb ready and kept my eye on the reel as I cast. d**n. no nest at all. I tried a more aggressive cast overhead. No nest at all at the end. The only thing I noticed is a little loosening (fuzzing) half way into the cast but it quickly settled down.
Pushing my luck
I was casting about 125 feet. I know this because I know the distance between docks along the shore where I live. They are 50 feet apart. I thought that I would try releasing the tension knob a bit more to see if I could cast on the setting of 1 without nesting. My lure dropped faster when released. I cast and at the end of the cast it nested. Just about an 1/8" turn of the knob was all that was needed. I did try the looser setting using my thumb to control the cast and it worked good and got a longer cast but I put it back to the 'safe' location.
After casting on a setting of 1 with the tension knob adjusted properly I did about an hour of casting with no flare ups at all and without using my thumb at all. I'm not getting 200 ft but I am doing about double the distance of my spinning outfit.
Observations
I came away from the water thinking that I really liked this thing. I can cast further and it's working well. With a little more use I will probably increase my distance. My fishing time is usually about 5-6 am. If I go in the morning and I get a fish I'll be able check out the feel of the rod too. I will want to work on shorter accuracy casts too. At least I shouldn't have to worry too much about the backlash if I do. Just concentrate on the cast.
One thing I've noticed about this setup. The entire thing feels really different from my spinning outfit. A spinning rig with the reel hanging down has some heft to it with a center of gravity at the reel that you notice. My spinning outfit is a Shimano reel on a Dobyns 705 graphite. The casting outfit feels much lighter, even though it's glass, with no pivot point at the reel like a spinning reel has. Not a bad feeling just very different between the two.
Also, I have the 7.4.1 gear ratio. I needed to crank in much slower than my spinning reel for the crankbait to have that just right tick-tick feeling on the rod tip while retrieving. I got the 7.4.1 because everyone seems to say that if you will have only one then that is a good middle of the road gear speed to have.
So, that's my first dc bait casting (or any bait casting for that matter) experience. It took place in a period of two hours just a few hours ago. Maybe a fish on it in the morning... would be nice.
