Spinning Setup Yes/no?

[FrogFreak]

I know a couple of folks have touched on this but in my humble opinion I will use a BC when ever I can and spinning gear when BC doesn't work for me. I have 2 instances when I go to spinning gear. Skipping docks and drop shotting. I have considered switching to a BC for drop shotting but I just haven't invested the money in the right setup. Recently I switched from using a spin setup to a bc setup when  throwing smaller trebled top water lures. I found this older Quantum rod that's pretty parabolic and I matched it with a Daiwa Lexa 100. It still suffers a bit in terms of accuracy but it casts forever.

 

Bottom line for me, if BC setups work, I use them. If not, I go to spinning setups.

 

Side note: I love using braid (with or without a fluoro leader) on spinning gear. No line memory makes me a happy angler.

[new2BC4bass]

Ok, so now I'm interested, what magical $65 dollar reel do you have that cast baits this light in weight. Let me venture a guess and say the BPS Prolite.

 

Close.  The older gold Carbonlites.  Got confused and spooled it with 6# mono, mounted it on my Faclcon Expert Light and proceeded to whip that 3/16 oz. lure out there.  Later I realized I had been thinking of the Prolite when I spooled it.

[new2BC4bass]

What I said was I can and do throw lures where my rod is underloaded, but not for distance.  On that rod with the low end being 3/8 I've used 1/8 and 1/4 many times but I only cast along a sea wall or 20' or so into the swash. On the opposite end I toss 1 ounce or 1.25, that rod is rated a max of 3/4, this is a med spinning rod.  The fish in my avatar was caught on it, at the time I was using a 1 ounce metal swim jig.  I've had this rod and 4 others in various lengths and powers for 8-10 years, they are as perfect as the day I bought them and they all cast beautifully.

In a previous post on this thread it was stated light lures are for light fish, oh really?  My most used bucktail jigs are 1/4 and 1/2 oz, not only do I catch snook and tarpon on them but I have caught many very sizable bass on the same exact ones I use in saltwater.  It isn't always the weight of the lure, it's the profile.  I'm making my own 1/8 oz jigs for peacock bass, some are about 4" in length others are much shorter.

 

Sorry for the confusion when I mentioned light lures catching big fish.  I was not referring to any post of yours that said otherwise.  I am aware you are one of many who often catch big fish on small lures.

 

The rod I tried casting the 1/16 oz. lure on that was rated for 1/8 oz. on the low end was a Villain ML spinning rod.  I'm not sure I was even getting 20 feet with 8# mono on an older Daiwa reel.  I also have a 7'6" MHF Villain casting rod rated for 3/8 oz. on the low end.  I can get more than 20 feet with that weight, but not what I consider normal fishing distances.

 

I picked up a Hurricane Redbone 7' ML casting rod while visiting Florida recently.  It is the rod I was using to cast weightless 10" worms on a 3/0 hook.  I was getting as good of a distance as my brother-in-law who was using a spinning reel and 4/0 hook.  The rod is rated 3/8 oz. on the low end, but loaded nicely even though I doubt my bait weighed 3/8 oz.  Thanks for the recommendation.    It is a nice looking rod.

[DTack]

I havent used a spinning setup since a began bass fishing a few years ago, I have a St Coix 7'1 MF LTB casting that I use for lighter weight baits works great.

I went out today and messed around with my only spinning setup ive ever had, just a cheap 6'6 Abu Card w/ Pflueger Trion.

 

Made me kind of want to get a more "high end" setup for ultra finesse, everything weightless basically.

 

My question is how many of you regularly use/ have these on your boat or in your bank fishing arsenal even?

 

I love my casting setups for sure but Im thinking maybe for weightless trick and ribbon tail weightless small grub type baits a spinning combo would be a good investment lol

Just weighing my pros and cons here ya know dont want to get it and realize I still use my casting way more haha

 

So lets talk!

What I bring set-up wise always depends on the body of water I'm fishing.  There are times I will have 3 spinning set ups on the deck for a day.  There are other times where I won't have one out on the deck.  Rarely do I not have one in the rod locker at least JUST IN CASE. 

 

I guess I will throw in my 2 cents on baitcasting and spinning...  I think it's a matter of mostly preference, confidence and comfort.  Each person will have their own opinion and feeling and by no means is anyone's invalid. 

For me personally, I grew up fishing a spinning rod from 2 years old to around 11 or 12 I believe.  For some baits, I am just more comfortable and have more confidence working certain baits on a spinning rod.  Dartheads, nail weighted or wacky senkos, shakeyheads, dropshot even light jigs.  I like the feel of these baits and have more confidence getting bit on a spinning rod with them. 

The other thing I will let dictate my choices are line size and cover.  My line size is based on cover I'm fishing around so I will change accordingly.  I am a big fan of straight fluorocarbon on basically any bait that I let sink at any point.  For me, I am not a fan of the braid to fluoro for any sinking bait, and the problem I run into personally is line over 10 lb test on a spinning rod just doesn't manage well for me.  This leads me to throw certain baits like heavy dropshot and wacky or weightless senkos on a baitcaster and usually 14-16 lb test. 

For me it just comes down to what is comfortable, what I have confidence in and the conditions I am fishing for that moment or day. 

Personally on some lakes, I just plain couldn't stand to fish without a spinning rod or 2 or 3 haha.  On others, I doubt I would ever miss it much.  It all just depends.  Do what you are comfortable and have confidence in!

[SirSnookalot]

 

I picked up a Hurricane Redbone 7' ML casting rod while visiting Florida recently.  It is the rod I was using to cast weightless 10" worms on a 3/0 hook.  I was getting as good of a distance as my brother-in-law who was using a spinning reel and 4/0 hook.  The rod is rated 3/8 oz. on the low end, but loaded nicely even though I doubt my bait weighed 3/8 oz.  Thanks for the recommendation.    It is a nice looking rod.

Why am I not surprised?  Never looked at the casting models before, that ml has the same lure specs as a medium bone.  They have never kept their web site up to date, many rods not listed, they now have jigging rods, fly rods and 8' mh spinning which I really like.  Redbone is all about cystic fibrosis, a portion is donated for every rod they sell.  They sponsor tournaments to raise money for cystic, just read it's 10 million so far.  It's one of the reasons I've been a loyal customer, plus it's a wonderful rod.

[0119]

Original poster...... I think your missing out on a very special fishery up their around Baker County.  Your fairly close to rivers that hold Chipola, Suwanee, and Red Eye bass sub species.  They are a blast to target and special in that many bass angler's will never accomplish catching them.  They are best targeted with light finesse spinning gear as they are almost exclusively crawfish feeders and often live in gin clear water no more than 6 feet deep.  Besides recently  I read something like 3 thousand people move into our state every day.  Our waters are getting highly pressured and spinning will play a bigger part in just getting a bite in our future.