lightest lure on a baitcaster

[rcpilotrich]

what is the lightest lure you can cast with a baitcaster? I want to get in some practice time (other than in the yard) at a pond by my house that has some blue gills, crappie and small size bass.

   rich

[Jake.]

It depends on the reel. Some can only cast lures down to 1/4 ounce effectively, while some can cast lures that weigh only 1/32 ounce. With most, the lowest you can go is somewhere around 3/16 ounce. 

 

This should help:

 

 

[Crestliner2008]

I'd like to see a baitcasting rig that could cast a 1/32 oz. anything! If you get much lower than 1/4 oz., you should be looking at a spinning rig. You're fooling yourself and stretching the tackle's limitations if you do otherwise. JMO. 

[Blue Streak]

You go pretty light if you have a long rod and small line and the skill to do it.

[Jake.]

I'd like to see a baitcasting rig that could cast a 1/32 oz. anything!

[Hooligan]

I fish a lot of 1/8th oz Xraps on a couple setups.

[YNCBASSMAN]

i throw weightless worms and trick worms on a bps bionic plus with 12lb fluoro and 3/0 hook.  you just have to properly adjust the reel.

[Leever]

I can throw crappie jigs with my Quantum Energy.  I would guess with a 1/16 jig head with grub and a spinner the total weight would be around 3/16.

[NBR]

I cast 1/8 jigs with a small grub pretty easily on a BPS Prolite finesse comboand 10# flourocarbon but any thing less than that is tough and I think counter productive. In my oiniion the rod is every bit or more important than the reel.

[AZfishrman01]

I'd like to see a baitcasting rig that could cast a 1/32 oz. anything!

wow, i havent seen one of those bad boys in a while. i almost didnt recognize it

[bilgerat]

You'll have 10X more fun catching those kinds of fish on an ultra lite rig than a casting rig.

[TruiteBR]

It depends more on the rod than the reel. I can go down to 1/10oz.

[Jake.]

You'll have 10X more fun catching those kinds of fish on an ultra lite rig than a casting rig.

Or a heavier spinning rig.

[kikstand454]

what is the lightest lure you can cast with a baitcaster? I want to get in some practice time (other than in the yard) at a pond by my house that has some blue gills, crappie and small size bass.

rich

if youve got crappie and gills and youve seen bass... i wouldnt worry about how small youre going... theres probably some bigger fish in there too.

crappie dont really do too well in bad water... so its likely that there are some good bass in there too.

like you said though... youre wanting to practice a baitcaster and maybe catch some of those smaller fish in the process...

and i personally would through a 3/16 or 1/4oz beetle spin. probably the 1/4 oz/

itll be easier for you to throw and it will catch the snot out of anything that swims.

get the black one with the yellow stripes.

good luck!!!

[iceintheveins]

I cast 1/4 ounce jigs and spinnerbaits on my older Quantum, a $60 reel and it does all right with them, but even with 1/4 ounce the brake and spool tension must be set just right. I prefer lures that weigh 5/16 of an ounce or better yet 3/8 of an ounce for casting gear, then they do very well, even cheaper reels.

[massahooksetts]

I have a revo stx and carrot stix 6'6" m-h-f with 14 # transoptic and have been throwing a 3" stickbait without any problems. I am not sure how much it weighs but it is definately the lightest thing I have in my tackle box . The only thing I do is set the magnetic brake to its lowest setting. Hope this helps

[Blue Streak]

With expierence you really can learn to cast very light lures. But there is a point where spinning gear will serve you a lot better and you will have more fun with the smaller fish.

[D4u2s0t]

if i'm throwing very small lures, or targeting panfish, I would be using ultra light spinning gear.  When you're throwing very light lures, it will be easier and better on very light poles.  Plus it's more fun to bring in small fish on an ultra light.  I put us on some perch the other day that were pulling drag, and it would have been boring and lame on a medium.  But feeling that ultra light bend in half, that's pretty fun.

[basser89]

I can throw crappie jigs with my Quantum Energy. I would guess with a 1/16 jig head with grub and a spinner the total weight would be around 3/16.

I throw 1/8oz spinnerbaits my Energy PT.

[.ghoti.]

I regularly throw a thin, 2.5" tube, on a light wire 1/0 hook, with a 1/32oz internal weight. The whole thing can't weigh more than 1/8oz. I use this when it's time to down-size, looking for a few bites.

I'm not targeting small bass or panfish; just trying to finesse a bite from neutral bass.

It's more about the rod than it is about the reel. You need a rod that will "load" when casting small weights. I use a 7' ML Kistler Helium LTA baitcast rod using #10 XL line. I can throw it as far as I ever need to.

By the way, I'm doing this with a Daiwa Fuego, the reel that everybody says sucks for light weights. So much for conventional wisdom.

[RoLo]

It's more about the rod than it is about the reel. You need a rod that will "load" when casting small weights.

I'd say that Ghoti summed it up.

On the flipside of the coin are anglers who think of spinning gear

in terms of 4-lb line and ultra-light lures. If you so desire, you can choose a spinning rod

that can tow a small boat that would fracture the garden-variety baitcasting rod

Roger

[Blue Streak]

Exactly ghoti, the rod has so much to do with it.