moloch16

Unlike a spincast or spinning reel, you have to adjust a baitcaster based on the lure you are chucking. Here's how... 1. Tie on the lure you plan to fish 2. Hold your rod at a 45 degree angle and disengage the spool allowing the lure to free fall to the ground 3. About the same time the lure hits the ground the spool should stop spinning 4. If the spool keeps spinning, tighten the spool tension knob. Otherwise loosen it. 5. Fiddle with the tensioner until step 3 is achieved After you adjust the spool tension you are ready to fish. If you have some magnetic control doo-hickey adjust that to your preference but the spool tensioner is the real key. You may want to tighten down more while you are learning to help avoid backlash. As you get better you can loosen up. After a while you won't even bother with the tension cuz you'll control the whole thing with your thumb.

LOL that's what I figured. I was rather suprised though. Being a fisherman I naturally have to assume it was a 12 pounder that 'got away' ;D

Got up a little early and fished a pond I drive by on the way to work. Caught a couple small ones on top water. Decided to try a Senko. Rigged a 6" Senko wacky style and tossed out towards the middle. I'm watching it sink but something doesn't seem right so I take in the slack to see what's up. I feel a quick tug and then nothing! Reel in my bait and half of it is gone! I'm sure that fish was 12 pounds I just started fishing Senkos, does this happen often?

Big fish like deep water. Find the deepest water you can and fish around that. Try to find a drop off from shallow to deep water (perhaps a creek channel) you can cast out to. Use bigger baits for bigger fish. A lunker isn't going to waste energy chasing a mediocre meal. How far do those rocks go into the water? Rip rap like that often means lots of crayfish. Use crawfish patterned baits. I would try a crayfish looking crankbait and bump it along the rocks. Again - larger baits for larger fish.

Thanks ghoti, thought about this as well, glad to hear it worked for you. This is a flea market special so it's a learning experience if nothing else It's a nice rod though, only one I have like it (7.5' heavy action).

Looks like cork grips are firmly glued to the rod blank but the rod seat has some play in it that is annoying when using the rod (i.e. the reel wiggles on the rod when reeling). Not sure how these things go together so I'm not sure what I should do to fix it. I thought about putting some glue where the rod seat meats the cork grips but I'm not sure it will hold. I also considered taking the bottom grip off, gluing the seat on nice and tight and then putting the grip back on but it looks like the grip is firmly glued to the blank Any suggestions? Thanks!

A great way to avoid backlash is to adjust the spool control like so... 1. Attach your lure 2. Hold your rod at 10 or 11 o'clock position 3. Hit the button and let your lure fall to the ground 4. Adjust the spool control (tighten or loosen) until the spool stops spinning about the same time the lure hits the ground Do this everytime you tie on a new lure that is significantly different in weight. This will eliminate a lot of frustration with backlash. You can tighten down a little extra while you're learning and as you get good loosen the spool control for additional casting distance. You'll soon learn to adjust the spool control for your casting abilities. Until I learned this technique I had a helluva time with bait casting. It really works!