Equipment Beyond Your Skill Level?

[mjseverson24]

I only use my centrifugal brakes and my casts are controlled just fine so your statement that it can't be done is incorrect. I never adjust anything on my reels, I fish them with one brake on and the cast control only tight enough to eliminate spool play no matter the lure or wind conditions of the day. It is very possible to learn to use your reels this way, just takes a little practice.

do you use your thumb to help control the cast?

[mjseverson24]

I only use my centrifugal brakes and my casts are controlled just fine so your statement that it can't be done is incorrect. I never adjust anything on my reels, I fish them with one brake on and the cast control only tight enough to eliminate spool play no matter the lure or wind conditions of the day. It is very possible to learn to use your reels this way, just takes a little practice.

I missed this part, this is what I was saying without the spool tension adjustment backlashing would happen untill you learn how to use the thumb well. they way you do it makes it very easy to use a baitcaster. my point before was that without the proper setting of the spool tension adjustment it is more dificult to have a successfull cast.

 

Mitch

[War Eagle 44]

I missed this part, this is what I was saying without the spool tension adjustment backlashing would happen untill you learn how to use the thumb well. they way you do it makes it very easy to use a baitcaster. my point before was that without the proper setting of the spool tension adjustment it is more dificult to have a successfull cast.

 

Mitch

I don't think you understand what I'm talking about exactly. It's more than likely my fault for not explaining myself well enough, let me try again. When I say "spool play" I'm talking about side to side movement. I don't use it at all to control my spool speed, all I use is the one brake and my thumb. If you wiggle my spool you can still feel it move side to side a very small amount, there is zero tension on the spool. I hope to be able to turn all the brakes off at some point and just use my thumb but as of right now I'm just not at that level.  

 

It's amazing to me how much of a difference that one little plastic brake block makes in spool speed. It just doesn't seem like it would create that much braking force being as small as it is but it does. I fished with two brakes on for years and when I started going down to just one I thought that was a big deal but it doesn't even begin to compare to going from one to none. I'm not sure I'll ever be able to get that far, it seems I'm about at the limit of my abilities with the one brake. I guess I felt that way about going from two to one at some point but I didn't have nearly as much trouble adjusting to just one as I'm having with none. I've heard Larry Dahlberg talk about not using any brakes on his reels but I'm not sure if he does this with all of them all the time or if he's only able to do it under certain circumstances.

 

Sometimes when a reel starts to get low on line and I need to respool anyway I'll go ahead and pull off more line until the spool is half empty and then just try to play around with no brakes. As everyone knows the less line on your spool the easier it is to control but I still can't do it reliably. Sometimes I'm able to get three or four good casts in a row and then BOOM, super blow up. This is the exact reason why I wait until I need to respool anyway to practice, I already know I'm gonna backlash.    

[Capt.Bob]

I won't tell anyone how to set their reel, we are all different and every reel even the same model is different. I have tuned pairs of reels and  they will both be slightly different and have their own "attitude", with that said, I have found I set my spool tension with my rod tip at a 45 degree angle with tip upward and a 3/8 ounce weight, I let it fall freely with less than a half turn overrun. I then turn 1/2 my pin's on and turn them off till I have control with very little need for my thumb till at the very tail end of the cast, on all my Lew's I am using one or none, of the centrifugal pin's, and spool tension is free to fall with the 3/8 ounce weight. I only find I need to change this setting when I go with very light or weightless plastics, I add spool tension if I am throwing 1/4 ounce or less. I only use Magnetic control if I start throwing in the wind, the heavier the wind the higher the mag setting. Saying this I found 2 pins my normal settings when I was using Shimano reels, Calcutta 400's to Chronarch 100's, just seems to be the standard for that brand of reels. I am casting farther than ever since going with the Lew's reels, and can control them better with less breaking. 

 

One thing I do pay attention to when I need to make an extremely long cast, I make sure my line guide is centered and not off to one side of the spool or the other, this way it has less friction thru out the cast on the line paying out. Most times this is something I pay little attention to, and concentrate more on accuracy, as I seldom need maximum casting distance anyway.

[Hollisray]

ok if the spool tension knob is not needed then why does the manufacture say to set it with the

magnets at zero untill it smoothly comes of the reel and the spool should stop when it reaches the floor.

the tension nob is used at the beginning and the brakes at the end .all the instruction sheets for my

reels state this just a thought.

[roadwarrior]

Re-read this link:  http://www.***/apps/forums/topics/show/8387845-setting-brakes-and-spool-tension

[Capt.Bob]

ok if the spool tension knob is not needed then why does the manufacture say to set it with the

magnets at zero untill it smoothly comes of the reel and the spool should stop when it reaches the floor.

the tension nob is used at the beginning and the brakes at the end .all the instruction sheets for my

reels state this just a thought.

On a magnetic break reel this would be true, as the magnetic breaks really do most of their work thru the middle of the cast, On reel's with centrifugal brakes and magnetic you would get the most braking out of the centrifugal in the beginning and the magnetic thru the middle and later part with the tension doing its job mainly at the end, this is why I back mine off fairly free and at the end of the cast I must use my thumb to stop the spool, fantastically long cast this way once you are capable with a trained thumb. The manufacturers are all giving instructions for everyone, not necessarily those well experienced with baitcasting equipment, and if I set my reels up the way that they are instructing me, I would get far less casting distance, but would almost be assured even on a cast that was less than proper, I would have little chance of a backlash. If they gave instructions for the longest possible cast by the most experienced casters it would probably be like this:  set the spool tension to total free spool with no side play and all brakes off and control the reel with only your thumb. Problem is even though there are those that can cast this way, most of us can't.

[new2BC4bass]

If they gave instructions for the longest possible cast by the most experienced casters it would probably be like this:  set the spool tension to total free spool with no side play and all brakes off and control the reel with only your thumb. Problem is even though there are those that can cast this way, most of us can't.

 

I have proved this more than once.  That I haven't the necessary thumb skill. 

[Capt.Bob]

I have proved this more than once.  That I haven't the necessary thumb skill. 

like the last line say's,,,,,,,most of us can't!!! but we know it and seldom have problems!! ,,,,,,,,,but there are a lot more that think they can!!! and,,,well,,,,seems they get a lot of practice untangling them!!   far to many worry to much about distance, but some without a boat need as much as they can get,,,,,