Trouble casting heavier lures

[pondbassin101]

I've had alot of trouble casting bigger bulkier lures such as 3/4 ounce buzzbaits. Whenever I try to make a harder, farther cast my spool puffs up a little and stops midcast. Not a huge backlash just maybe 2 or 3 feet of line. My rod/reel/line are as follows-

Reel- Daiwa Exceler 7:3 LH

Rod- Abu garcia veritas 2.0 casting 7' M fast action

Line- 30 lb braid

 

I think of serveral things. My reel isnt properly set up, I'm using the wrong rod, or my casting thumb is at fault

Thanks for any help

 

[fishballer06]

3/4oz is too heavy for your rod. Furthermore, 30lb. braid is borderline too thin for typical baitcast use. Whenever throwing hard, you could be causing the line to dig into the spool a little. Thus causing a backlash during the cast. Lastly, large bladed baits like spinnerbaits and buzzbaits are tricky to cast because those large blades catch a lot of air resistance during their flight.

[pondbassin101]

1 minute ago, fishballer06 said:

3/4oz is too heavy for your rod. Furthermore, 30lb. braid is borderline too thin for typical baitcast use. Whenever throwing hard, you could be causing the line to dig into the spool a little. Thus causing a backlash during the cast.

What power rod should i use? It probably is the line

 

[fishballer06]

MH at a minimum, H if you are adding a plastic trailer onto the bait. You're probably up around an ounce if so. 

 

 

Rather than buying a whole new rod, I suggest a smaller buzzbait. I fish a 1/4oz. Cavitron buzzbait as my go to topwater bait and I use medium and MH powered rods for it. When I need a little help with distance or fighting the wind, I'll take an old torn up Senko and off about an inch of it and thread it onto the shaft of the hook. It adds a little bit more weight to help get the bait out there. 

[pondbassin101]

8 minutes ago, fishballer06 said:

MH at a minimum, H if you are adding a plastic trailer onto the bait. You're probably up around an ounce if so. 

 

 

Rather than buying a whole new rod, I suggest a smaller buzzbait. I fish a 1/4oz. Cavitron buzzbait as my go to topwater bait and I use medium and MH powered rods for it. When I need a little help with distance or fighting the wind, I'll take an old torn up Senko and off about an inch of it and thread it onto the shaft of the hook. It adds a little bit more weight to help get the bait out there. 

 

I was fishing the Evolution GrassBurner that I got form LTB. Could'nt find the exact weight but its still pretty heavy

[fishballer06]

31 minutes ago, pondbassin101 said:

 

I was fishing the Evolution GrassBurner that I got form LTB. Could'nt find the exact weight but its still pretty heavy

 

7/8oz. So it's even heavier than 3/4oz!

[fishnkamp]

That reel is a good one. I fish one myself.  It sounds like the lure you want to throw does not match a medium rod.  If that reel were match to a mh 7 foot rod then I would tell you that you probably needed to crank the magnetic brakes up a click or two.

 

[islandbass]

That "fluff" overrun you described sounds like line dig.  When the spool stops spinning dead midcast, that suggests to me that that section of the line on the spool was "dug in" too tightly for the speed of the spool to overcome. My observations on how line dig occurs is when a lure is stuck and I started yanking hard with the rod trying to free it, which in turn, makes the braid "dig into itself" on the spool.  I don't call them true birds nests.  Fishballer hinted at what I think might be the culprit. I used to experience line dig with 30# braid, but honestly, I don't recall what I did to no longer make it an issue. Are you using power pro by chance? It is their 30# braid that seemed to have the least problem with line dig.

 

Perhaps you can put on 10# mono and see if you can duplicate your problem.  If you can't and you're casting without problems, it would suggest that the 30# braid was likely the problem.  Step up to 40# braid which has a thicker diameter and the problem might disappear if you wish to keep using braid.

 

Let us know what you find out.

[new2BC4bass]

If your line stopped mid-cast without fluffing up, then I would agree it could be dig in.  However, if it is fluffing up then stopping I would suggest you don't have enough brakes on, the line is fluffing, then getting tangled....or the lure is catching wind and slowing down faster than the spool with the same results as not enough brakes.  Either way more brakes would help.

 

I've never used a Vertas so I don't know what lure weights it can handle, but it is rated for 3/4 oz. and if that lure weights 7/8 oz. it is possible that could contribute to your problem.  I don't know because I've only tried deliberately going over a rod's rating one time and I wound up lobbing the lure because I was afraid a strong cast might break the rod.  Didn't have any fluffing.

 

EDIT:  Sorry I didn't mention cast control.  I try to leave it as loose as I can, but there are times I have to increase spool tension.

[WIGuide]

I would venture to say your rod is too light of a power for throwing that bait very well. I'd try a medium heavy and see if that helps.

[pondbassin101]

9 hours ago, islandbass said:

I used to experience line dig with 30# braid, but honestly, I don't recall what I did to no longer make it an issue. Are you using power pro by chance? It is their 30# braid that seemed to have the least problem with line dig.

 I'm using the discontinued Stren Sonic braid. If I'm not mistaken its 4 strand braid which doesnt help the digging in. 

 

6 hours ago, new2BC4bass said:

However, if it is fluffing up then stopping I would suggest you don't have enough brakes on, the line is fluffing, then getting tangled....or the lure is catching wind and slowing down faster than the spool with the same results as not enough brakes.  Either way more brakes would help

 

For lighter lures I usually have my magnetic brakes set on about 4 1/2 out of 10. I have to crank it up to 7 to get a decent cast with heavier lures but I'm kinda killing distacnce at the same time.

 

2 hours ago, WIGuide said:

I would venture to say your rod is too light of a power for throwing that bait very well. I'd try a medium heavy and see if that helps.

 

I was told that abu garcia rods tend to run a little stiffer than other companies, so when I saw a M veritas for $60 I couldn't pass up on it. Considering my very thin wallet another casting rod isn't on the horizon anytime soon, especially since I'm in need of a spinning setup.

[sully420]

You need an mh to a h rod and your spool tension needs to be tighter as well as break adjustments. 50 lb braid would help as well.

[rippin-lips]

Your line is perfectly fine. I only use #20 and #30 braid on all of my baitcasters. 

 

It sounds more like the reel needs to be dialed in. The rod is on the light side but you can make do for now. 

[pondbassin101]

5 minutes ago, sully420 said:

You need an mh to a h rod

 

Well I guess until I can get a forgging/flipping/ heavy lures setup I'll just have to stick to lighter lures

Just now, rippin-lips said:

Your line is perfectly fine. I only use #20 and #30 braid on all of my baitcasters. 

 

It sounds more like the reel needs to be dialed in. The rod is on the light side but you can make do for now. 

 

I have to spool tension set with no side to play and moderatley slow lure fall when i release the spool. 

[rippin-lips]

1 hour ago, pondbassin101 said:

 

I have to spool tension set with no side to play and moderatley slow lure fall when i release the spool. 

Try backing the tension off just a hair and adding 2 clicks on the brake dial. I had an exceler and I remember it taking some messing with to set it up like I preferred. Which might not be for you but it's easy to try and see first. 

[pondbassin101]

32 minutes ago, rippin-lips said:

Try backing the tension off just a hair and adding 2 clicks on the brake dial. I had an exceler and I remember it taking some messing with to set it up like I preferred. Which might not be for you but it's easy to try and see first. 

 

I've more or less figured that out along the line

[Deleted account]

Add a click or two to the brakes and smooth out the cast a tad and you should be fine. What is probably happening is the lure is decelerating mid cast, as a heavier buzzbait or spinnerbait with large blades often do. Doesn't sound like its digging in, but you could walk off the line and reel it back in to be sure. Another thing that sometimes affects casting with braid is it drying out after fishing in "goopie" water, and not using for a while.

[Catt]

On 7/17/2017 at 2:49 PM, pondbassin101 said:

Whenever I try to make a harder, farther cast 

 

Sounds to me you're forcing your cast, let your rod doing the casting not your arm strength...let your rod do it's job!

[pondbassin101]

UPDATE:

 

Just as an experiment I decided to try casting the same lure with mono. I used the same rod and another exceler i have spooled up with #12 mono. After figuring out the brakes it cast like a charm. I honestly think the problem is with the braid. 

 

On 7/19/2017 at 7:55 AM, Catt said:

Sounds to me you're forcing your cast, let your rod doing the casting not your arm strength...let your rod do it's job!

 

For the line not to fuzz up my cast had to be more of a lob. A normal cast would mess everything up and I certainly wasnt trying to force it

[IndianaFinesse]

I didn't even know they made a 7/8 ounce buzzbait, the heaviest one I own is 3/8 and I usually throw ~1/4 ouncers.  You're gonna have to really burn that baby, I think you might do better with a lighter bait especially with that rod.

[pondbassin101]

8 hours ago, IndianaFinesse said:

I didn't even know they made a 7/8 ounce buzzbait, the heaviest one I own is 3/8 and I usually throw ~1/4 ouncers.  You're gonna have to really burn that baby, I think you might do better with a lighter bait especially with that rod.

 

Honestly i don't know the wieght of that lure, 7/8 ounce might have been a slight overexaggeration on my part. now that i think about it its probably a 1/2 to 3/4 ounce