Bomb casting line backlash

[dodgeguy]

Ok I get that guys needs really long casts sometimes. I love long crankbait casts. Lots of guys try to Bomb Cast and I just don't get it. Here's why. I was fishing yesterday and figured I'd see how much different actually bombing casts out makes. To start I'm going to assume people are using the right rod matched to the right weight lure so that the rod can properly load to cast the lure.i compared casts made by simply using my wrist too double handed bomb casts. My lure was a 1.25 oz spoon. I set my reels extremely loose on the tension knob and use centrifugal brake and thumb .Casting my regular way towards a ripwrap wall I landed consistently approx 10 feet from the wall with zero backlash. Bomb casting with the brakes turned up and the use of more thumb I maybe got 5 feet closer. The brakes and thumb were needed to control backlash at the front of the cast.my conclusion was for the extra distance gained the benefit really isn't worth it. It's much less tiring to cast normally and backlash is not a concern. I really don't get when guys spend all kinds of monkey on bearings only to turn that brakes up and eliminate any distance benefits from the bearings. Maybe I'm old but I just don't get it.

[jimmyjoe]

  

18 minutes ago, dodgeguy said:

. Bomb casting with the brakes turned up and the use of more thumb I maybe got 5 feet closer. The brakes and thumb were needed to control backlash at the front of the cast

   I regularly cast long distances. I don't turn up the brakes. I just use more thumb. Turning up the brake on the same lure defeats the purpose, as you saw.

 

21 minutes ago, dodgeguy said:

I really don't get when guys spend all kinds of monkey on bearings only to turn that brakes up and eliminate any distance benefits from the bearings

   It's been my opinion (not necessarily shared by other people) that the finer bearings got you more distance with lighter lures. I never thought that they gave much benefit with heavier lures.

   I'm a shorecaster, and long distance casts are useful to me for only three reasons. One is covering a greater area of water from a certain vantage point. Sometimes I'd like to walk a hundred feet or a hundred yards up the shoreline or down the shoreline, but I can't.  And the second is to hit a particular target. If I fish a river, that target is often a sandbar. I either hit the tail of the sandbar and get fish, or I miss the tail and don't get fish.

   Those two are pretty much shorecasting problems, but the third is common to everyone, and that's overcasting your target. Sometimes bass are spooked easily. If you think there's a bass 25 yards away that might be spooked by your getting closer, then you need to stand off your distance and cast waaaay over that target, not spooking the bass and bringing you lure into the target area more naturally.

   I fish in water that has fairly few obstructions, but even people who fish choked waters can benefit from longer casts, with topwaters or flukes or with punching rigs or whatever. It's not something you do all the time, it's something you do when it benefits you. And if you think it doesn't benefit you, then that's fine.     jj

  

[dodgeguy]

51 minutes ago, jimmyjoe said:

It's been my opinion (not necessarily shared by other people) that the finer bearings got you more distance with lighter lures. I never thought that they gave much benefit with heavier lures.

I could understand that.

I get the reasons for long casts but I question if it's worth it with a baitcaster. Guys suffer way more backlash forcing distance. A lot of surf cast fishermen use spinning gear and don't have a backlash issue. This post why inspired by how many guys seem to snap off braid trying to bomb cast. That wouldn't happened with spinning. Guarantee the first braid loop is done as soon as that lure starts moving. That's why I needed more thumb and centrifugal brake . If it loops it's gonna dead stop. There goes your $50 3 oz. swimbait. My suggestion is more finesse when you cast not more power. A properly matched setup will cast really far without forcing it. Your body will thank you as you get older.

[jimmyjoe]

27 minutes ago, dodgeguy said:

A properly matched setup will cast really far without forcing it.

   Yeah, that's  a key point.

 

27 minutes ago, dodgeguy said:

Your body will thank you as you get older.

   I am older, and my body doesn't thank me. It kicks me, prods me, argues with me and tells me that it hates me. All this, just because I refuse to admit that I'm not 21 any longer. Or 25, or 45, or 65. Or whatever.  ??    jj

 

   BTW .... you mentioned problems with braid. I know those problems, especially on baitcasters. My solution is simple. Use monofilament. Braid on spinning reels has its own problems. I've had wind knots on spinning gear that made bird's nests on casting gear look civilized.

[dodgeguy]

32 minutes ago, jimmyjoe said:

I am older, and my body doesn't thank me. It kicks me, prods me, argues with me and tells me that it hates me. All this, just because I refuse to admit that I'm not 21 any longer. Or 25, or 45, or 65. O

LOL!!!

[Delaware Valley Tackle]

Casting distance is not irrelevant, but way over emphasized. A golf analogy: drive for show, putt for dough. 

[Mikeltee]

Come on now guys... I am surely not the only one here that tries to set a new PB at distance when the bite is slow. I judge it by turns of the crank. 

[dodgeguy]

I'm all for distance. I just think you don't gain that much heaving it as hard as you can. The rod only loads so much. A well performed flick of the wrist works wonders.

[new2BC4bass]

3 hours ago, Mikeltee said:

Come on now guys... I am surely not the only one here that tries to set a new PB at distance when the bite is slow. I judge it by turns of the crank. 

When I'm testing a new rod or reel I always wind up seeing what kind of distance I can get.  Whether it is a 3/16 oz. Shad Rap on a ML or a 1/2 oz. jig plus trailer on a H or MH rod.  Distance is important to me fishing from shore in highly pressured areas.  Even when just out practicing with older gear I am almost always making long casts unless a nearer target floats by with none at a greater distance.

 

I will agree with Dodgeguy that I don't usually gain a lot of distance with a bomb.  Especially since I am a two hand caster 99.9% of the time.  I often use a roll cast.  I've found an enlarged swing gives me the most distance, but usually not the best accuracy.

 

I don't notice the need for more thumb, but that may be because 1) I am often looking for distance, or 2) I do it without thinking about it anymore.

[DanielG]

I love to cast. Sometime just for the fun of it. Getting distance is.. well, fun to do.

 

Okay, at the risk of sounding 'naive' maybe.... I've put some braid on a Curado DC. I've got this new Dobyn's 7.3 mh glass. I put the brake dial on 2 (as recommended). I adjust the tension so that the lure just barely drops on it's own instead of following the Shimano directions of tightening till the reel doesn't shake.  I cast and it goes so far compared to what I'm used to with my spinning reel. If I put a large heavy crankbait on and adjust the tension for it or put an unweighted small plastic with the tension adjusted for it, it goes roughly the same distance.

 

When I'm not on the boat I go down to the pier and just fan cast (even if no fish) just to watch where the bait lands and makes rings. It never goes much further or closer (unless I release at the wrong time) Always the same with all my baits. Of course better with the wind. I've never had a setup like this. I find myself casting often just to see it land. I must say that this distance increased a lot when I went from fluoro to 40 lb super pro slick 8 braid.

 

I sometimes set my trolling motor to slowly pass by the shore. I cast inshore, covering the area. I have to now be careful to be far enough out. When I first started doing this with this setup I was hitting the shoreline rocks and trees. Or I could just cast with less force.

 

Another note. Even though I had been using my thumb with the Shimano adjustment directions. With the way I tension the line now I never use my thumb unless I cast upwind in a stiff breeze, but then again, only just in case. I kid you not.

 

Signed,

in Awe in Maine

[new2BC4bass]

35 minutes ago, DanielG said:

I love to cast. Sometime just for the fun of it. Getting distance is.. well, fun to do.

 

Yup.  My practice area is often at a ramp on the Lehigh River.  During the fall it is a blast to try to hit leaves and other objects floating down stream.  I almost always am trying for targets out near the end of my casting ability.  I know my chance of catching a fish here is very low.  It is just good to get out once in awhile and bomb away.

[OnthePotomac]

I guess I am fortunate since 99% of my fishing is in/on heavy river grass beds and every reel I have has two brakes on and it has not changed in the last 18 years and "bomb" casting in/on heavy grass beds only results in a lot of lost fish trying to get them up and out and back to the boat.