Line diameter and casting distance with baitcasters

[CybrSlydr]

So, from a spinning perspective, it's always been a trade-off between line diameter and casting distance.  The thinner the line, the farther you can cast.  To that end, I've settled on 10lb Sufix 832 with a 3-4ft Pline CXX 8lb leader.  

 

The reading I've done for baitcasters says they're designed to use much heavier line, 20lb+ and such.  

 

How much of a trade-off in casting distance are you making by using that much heavier line?

[NHBull]

I don't go in the salad, so I am running 10 and 20 lb on my rigs.

Believe I am in the minority and think you will hear a lot of 30 lb 

[new2BC4bass]

20lb+....Wow.  Nope.  I've got 17lb. on 2 reels.  One a 5001C on a MHF that is rated for heavier lures than the HF rod on which sits a Trion.  I use a lot of 12# mono or co-polymer on MH rods and 8# on Medium power rods.  I will go as low as 6# on a ML or Light, but most have 8# on them.

 

All my brother-in-laws live in Florida.  The oldest is my fishing partner whenever we visit.  He fishes 40# original PowerPro on his spinning reels....and he only fishes with spinning reels.  Although I keep one spinning reel there, I hardly ever use it.  He thinks baitcast reels get better distance than spinning reels.  

[papajoe222]

You don't have the issue of coils slapping against that first reduction guide with baitcasters, so increased line diameter influences casting distance much less than with spinning gear. I've always been in the minority when it comes to line size. The heaviest I use is 30lb. braid and 14lb. mono or copolymer.  I do so for two reasons, casting distance isn't one.  I fish mostly clear natural lakes and the heavier non-braid lines I find difficult to manage. 

BTW, the only time I use any kind of leader on my braid is when I Carolina rig. 

[Catt]

All my setups have 15# Berkley Big Game except one which has 65# braid.

[XpressJeff]

I use 20 on most everything except a Heavy 7 footer I run 30 on with an Abu Garcia round reel.

[WRB]

I use a variety of baitcasting reels and only a few spinning reels because I consider spinning reels for bass fishing are used specially for light line finesse presentations and bait casting for everything else.

Baitcasting reels use a level wind to guide the line onto a revolving spool. If the line is too small diameter the line can dig down into line underneath, for most baitcasters that is about .008 diameter. There are a few small size baitcasting reels that can use smaller than .008 diameter line, very few! So for general use 8 lb test mono, FC or copolymer single filament line is about as small as you should use. Line diameter larger than .018 on average size baitcasters tend to have too much memory to cast without spring off the smaller diamter spools of size 100 or 200 reels. 300 and 400 size reels the larger spools diameter can handle large diameter lines over .019 dia.

Smaller diameter line cast further than larger diameter line on both spinning and baitcasting reels. Lure weight, rod length and action/power along with casting skill and reel performance determines how far any line can be cast.

Tom

 

 

[Angealy]

I have used braid,mono and fluoro on all my setups they're all great.

I believe each line has a time and place, With that being said i have used anything from #4,#6,#8,#10,#12,#14#15.

It really boils down to what you are doing and what your lake/pond/spot/etc is like.

In a spot like a lake with slop/veggies on top, I find it easier to use braid with a frog or senko on it and i'll toss it out pretty far along the shore line.

Once the bass is hooked a lot of the time they enjoy digging them self into the grass/etc whatever happens to be in the water and don't want to come to me, With that braid it makes my job a little bit more easier and i know they're not going to get away from breakage.

I hope this helps.

[CybrSlydr]

6 hours ago, WRB said:

I use a variety of baitcasting reels and only a few spinning reels because I consider spinning reels for bass fishing are used specially for light line finesse presentations and bait casting for everything else.

Baitcasting reels use a level wind to guide the line onto a revolving spool. If the line is too small diameter the line can dig down into line underneath, for most baitcasters that is about .008 diameter. There are a few small size baitcasting reels that can use smaller than .008 diameter line, very few! So for general use 8 lb test mono, FC or copolymer single filament line is about as small as you should use. Line diameter larger than .018 on average size baitcasters tend to have too much memory to cast without spring off the smaller diamter spools of size 100 or 200 reels. 300 and 400 size reels the larger spools diameter can handle large diameter lines over .019 dia.

Smaller diameter line cast further than larger diameter line on both spinning and baitcasting reels. Lure weight, rod length and action/power along with casting skill and reel performance determines how far any line can be cast.

Tom

 

 

Now that makes a lot of sense.  Thanks for that perspective!

 

This is one article to which I'm referring - https://www.bassmaster.com/blog/baitcasting-made-easy

 

This guy says use 17lb mono while learning - also that heavier line leads to less overrun when casting.

I watch JonB on YouTube quite often and it always surprises me to hear he uses 30lb clear up to 65lb with his baitcasting gear.  

[Angealy]

I had a much better time when i switched to 14lb mono on my bait caster instead of using braid.

I picked 14lb as it's a good all around set up and that's what i wanted.

I used to have 15lb of power pro on my bait caster and didn't think much of it as used/loved it on all my spinning setups but let's just say i was wrong and using it on my bait caster was a mistake.

It was a serious pain in my "reel", It seemed like the braid was digging into it self or getting loose over time and somehow resulting in me getting a bird nest almost every time mid cast even when i had my brakes on the highest and having the lure drop slowly and casting out right and even stopping the spool right before my lure would hit the water.

At this moment i was thinking it had to be me and i was still new to it and it was all my fault.

I even lost out on a few fish i could have gotten had i been using a spinning setup, simply because i couldn't reel them in because of a bird nest and let's just say things went south real quick and i wanted to give up using a bait caster all together.

However, I wasn't quite ready to give up just yet and again changed the line to mono, used same lure, same settings as before.

And to my surprise, I was able to cast out quite far and no bird nest and even caught a few nice size bass with no problems all on a frog lure.

Yes, I did have like two bird nest that day but they were small and easy enough to work out and i was back to fishing and catching in no time.

so the moral of the story is if you are new to using a bait caster like me, mono is the way to go and after you get really good with it then you may make the choice to switch the line to something else.

Also, A bait caster is much better used on a lake or a boat and not really ideal for spots like throwing your worm/lure under a bridge in this case you are better sticking with a spinning setup.

Hope this was helpful.

[new2BC4bass]

Angealy I would agree that 15# PowerPro is not the line for a beginner to learn on.  It is equivalent to 4# mono and will dig in easily.  I would also agree that 14# mono is a good line to learn on.  However, I disagree that braid can't be used by a newbie.  Had you gone with 40#-50# I don't think you would have had one backlash due to line digging in.

 

I prefer mono or co-polymers, but use 40# braid for throwing into lily pads and such.  I can't recall ever having a dig in even though I have been snagged more than once.

[Puggz]

On ‎8‎/‎1‎/‎2017 at 9:25 PM, CybrSlydr said:

So, from a spinning perspective, it's always been a trade-off between line diameter and casting distance.  The thinner the line, the farther you can cast.  To that end, I've settled on 10lb Sufix 832 with a 3-4ft Pline CXX 8lb leader.  

 

The reading I've done for baitcasters says they're designed to use much heavier line, 20lb+ and such.  

 

How much of a trade-off in casting distance are you making by using that much heavier line?

 

I find that casting distance has a lot more to do with what you're casting.  A small and somewhat heavy rattle trap will cast a mile, a big spinner-bait, not so much.

 

With that being said, I run 50# braid on my frog rod and it cast a mile.. I use 12lb mono on my CB rod and it can cast a mile.. I use 15# floro on another and it can cast a mile as well. 

 

Setting your spool tension, brake, and as previously noted, the lure will have more effect on distance that the line type/weight.  Keeping your equipment properly serviced wont hurt either.