Please describe an "educated thumb".

[Bass Turd]

Please describe exactly what your thumb is doing and why while casting a baitcaster. Follow up question. When you want more distance do you loosen the spool tension, brakes or both?

[Darren.]

My thumb is hovering over the spool during
the cast, ready at any second to clamp down,
or gently touch the spool to slow it down.

The more you do it, the more it becomes 
instinctive. Doesn't mean you won't backlash,
but you'll have a better sense of when to
apply pressure to place the bait where you
want it.

[WIGuide]

An educated thumb is a thumb that can feather the spool to prevent your reel from backlashing. 

My process involves my thumb hovering above, or ever so gently touching the line on the spool during the cast. It's such a light pressure it doesn't create much in the way of friction at all. 

If you do want to add distance to your cast, you need to remove anything causing friction on the cast. Brakes and tension knob are the two biggest points of that so reducing them should help increase distance.

[kickerfish1]

The thumb is just there to lightly feather the spool to act as an additional brake. Most of the time it is during the cast and right at the time the bait is about to hit the water. It can be somewhat hard to explain but once you have done it enough it becomes 2nd nature.

[gulfcaptain]

All 3 above replies are all correct.  It comes with experience and you learn to ride your thumb just on or above the spool.  You learn how the flow of the line feels coming off the reel and anything that feels different you instinctively touch and slow it down as most times it's the start of a backlash/overlay.  All my reels have the braking at zero and tension knob set to where I like it which is looser then most.  Now the argument is why cast this way when reels are made with all the extra bells and whistles to keep you from having to learn how to cast with an educated thumb.  Simply put, when you learned a certain way you continue to fish that way.  Even if I turn the brakes on and set my reels to cast without using my thumb it wouldn't matter.  I would still use it and thus cut down on my distance in casting simply because it isn't reactive and second nature. It takes more thought for me NOT to use my thumb then it does to use it.  Guess it's kinda like learning to drive a manual transmission opposed to an automatic.  If you learn on a manual then driving an auto is easy, but harder to go from a automatic transmission to a manual one and get used to using both feet and the sound of the engine and when to shift without stalling out or jerking the vehicle.

[new2BC4bass]

All of the above.  Normally my spool tension is already set at it lowest point...for me...which is only enough tension to remove side-to-side play.  Lowering brakes can aide a bit in distance, but unless you are using a lot of braking, lowering them won't gain you much distance.  I just throw harder as lowering my brakes from where already set often results in an unwanted backlash.  If I need maximum distance...but am not concerned with accuracy...I make an exaggerated roll cast getting my arms involved more in the cast (I cast 2-handed) by swinging them in a large arc.

[K_Mac]

Education is something that generally happens over time! "Feathering" the spool to control it's speed requires skill and practice. Experience is the only way to get it. Learning what doesn't work is as important as learning what does. 

Most of us who have been doing this a while have our reels set looser than a beginner. Even so, I am not at all reluctant to turn up the brakes when conditions call for it. For some not using brakes and setting tension to only keep the spool from side-to-side movement is a matter of pride. I am not that guy! Set your reel to best suit your skills and conditions. Enjoy!

[CarolinaBoy4Life]

Honestly if you set your reel up correctly you won't have to really thumb the spool too much. I have my reels set to where I can cast them and only thumb the spool right before the bait hits the water to avoid over spin and backlash occurring. Just play around with the breaks and the spool tension until you find a happy medium that works for your skill level with a baitcaster. When I got my first baitcaster I literally hated trying to use it. Then I forced my self to learn to use it properly and now I hardly ever use spinning gear except for light finesse applications. Now I am learning to consistently be able to skip baits without backlash

[jbrew73]

educated thumb basically means you have practiced baitcasting enough to be good at it..  it is also a term that get over used to the point that it make me want to vomit sometimes.

[bigturtle]

my thumb isnt as educated as some of the others', but doesnt matter because SV spool too good 

[aquaholik]

Educated thumb is when you have not pick up a bait caster in 10 years and your reared back to cast and you snagged an object behind you but your thumb still remembers fishing with 4 people in a 10 ft inflatable Sevylor and snagging the other people's line and your thumb instinctively clamp down on the spool causing only a minor backlash instead of a massive backlash.

 

[new2BC4bass]

4 hours ago, K_Mac said:

Education is something that generally happens over time! "Feathering" the spool to control it's speed requires skill and practice. Experience is the only way to get it. Learning what doesn't work is as important as learning what does. 

Most of us who have been doing this a while have our reels set looser than a beginner. Even so, I am not at all reluctant to turn up the brakes when conditions call for it. For some not using brakes and setting tension to only keep the spool from side-to-side movement is a matter of pride. I am not that guy! Set your reel to best suit your skills and conditions. Enjoy!

This is what I was told to do by a guy who started on baitcast reels at a very young age and had been using them for 20 years.  This is after I sent some reels to him for cleaning and upgrades.  Told me he couldn't cast a 1/4 oz. weight with the reels the way I had them set up.  It required me to basically learn all over again how to cast because my thumb was still in kindergarten.  Except I didn't have to go through the stage where my lures were landing 30-45 degrees to the left of where I wanted them to go on a side arm cast.  Just had plenty of problems with overruns and a few more backlashes than I liked.

Occasionally I have to add spool tension and/or more brakes.  Doesn't upset me or make me feel less macho.    I prefer to be fishing rather than picking out an overrun or backlash so I do what I need to to keep fishing.  That is now how I prefer to set my reels up...at least when I first start using them.  Some reels require more tension than others.  I've got 3 or 4 that I can't run spool tension that low.  At least I couldn't.  I feel this year that I am finally getting better with my right thumb.  I've always had good feathering with my left thumb, but am right handed and cast on that side the majority of the time.  Before now my right thumb had a tendency to be like a light switch...either On or Off.

10 minutes ago, bigturtle said:

my thumb isnt as educated as some of the others', but doesnt matter because SV spool too good 

That is what I read.  It wasn't my experience.  First day out with my SV105 saw more overruns and backlashes than any reel I've ever purchased.  Even my C-o-n-c-e-p-t A that gave me a 100 yard backlash on the first cast didn't cause as much trouble as the SV.

[bigturtle]

8 minutes ago, new2BC4bass said:

That is what I read.  It wasn't my experience.  First day out with my SV105 saw more overruns and backlashes than any reel I've ever purchased.  Even my C-o-n-c-e-p-t A that gave me a 100 yard backlash on the first cast didn't cause as much trouble as the SV.

did you set up your spool according to daiwa recommendations, with the tension just enough to prevent the spool from moving side/side? I have the JDM Alphas and I had 5 backlashes since i starting using it a year or so ago. 1 from messing with the spool, 3 from failed skip casts, 1 from a nose dive fail cast. I dont cast SV reels very very hard, because the spool inductor sometimes gets jammed in the outward position and can mess up following casts.

[new2BC4bass]

Yup.  Watched that video a couple times on the "SV" Concept.  Actually that is how I set up all my reels when I first get one.  I add tension only when necessary.  They suggested brakes at 4-6 if I remember correctly.  I'm currently on 6.

[bigturtle]

thats rather odd, my breaks are on 4-5 since i mostly use it for 1/4-3/8oz baits.

[new2BC4bass]

At least you aren't telling me it is operator error.  I feel I am somewhat familiar with Diawa reels considering I have about 28 of them and do not have this problem with any of the others.

[bigturtle]

you have other sv reel or just this one? might be a faulty SV spool since its not unheard of.

[new2BC4bass]

Just this one.  It is my latest Daiwa.

[Bass Turd]

Thanks for everyone's posts. Interesting and entertaining!