The Educated Thumb

[Mobasser]

I started years ago with round ABU casting reels. It took quite a bit of practice to get maximum distance and accuracy.                            It was all about using your thumb, to get these reels to perform well.                                                 I think with the newer reels, it's still the same. Lots of guys expect to cast perfectly just on the reel settings alone. All the settings and brakes on new reels are great, and can help tremendously, but you still need to learn to use your thumb, in combination with the settings on your reel. It's true with any brand of casting reel.  Learn the old school way, and educate your thumb. You'll be surprised how good you can cast.                                              I'm sure many will disagree, but learning to " thumb" a casting reel will make you a better caster.                                                  Thoughts or opinions  here? Agree or disagree?

[MN Fisher]

Oh definitely agree - whether it's my Fuegos, Presidents, Supreme (mag-brakes) or Patriarch (dual brakes), using the thumb is pretty much a necessity IMO. There may be a reel or person here-and-there which/who can cast without thumb control, but they're few and far between. A well-trained thumb is a baitcaster's best friend.

[jimmyjoe]

   Absolutely! Some youngsters just coming into baitcasters might not want to hear it, but that's an entirely different matter.                       jj

[Born 2 fish]

Nope always change settings for baits. That’s why I try to have a set up for each bait I’m throwing.

[ironbjorn]

You can set up just about any casting reel to not have to use your thumb, but you won't be winning any casting competitions, hitting your targets, or pitching worth a crap. I get that it can be intimidating for some new people to use a casting reel, but I promise that it's not as hard as it looks or as some others claim, and is more than worth the effort.

[CrankFate]

I think if you add an educated arm to the educated thumb, you’ll cast even better. Seriously, though, I also think loud bearings are very helpful, too, because you can hear the spool speed.

[bulldog1935]

Before Speed Spool, and the development of newer low profile baitcasters, the level wind moved during the cast, and its motion was taken directly off the spool through the idler gear.  That's a braking effect.  

The reels also had centrifugal brakes - centrifugal brake was Abu's big patent 

Not to defame or down-rate the importance of thumb in casting, just clarifying facts.  

If you want to cast a really zippy Abu, try a non-level-wind CT.  

Tournament casters typically wear a piece of bicycle innertube as a "thumb glove" so they don't burn their thumb.  

[NOC 1]

I don't really see any way around it. The technology has certainly made it easier enough so that even a rank beginner can still get it somewhat done making it more fun to learn as opposed to spending your first month with a bait caster little but learning how to pick birds nests out of your reel. But as far as I can see you still have to use your thumb to do it well.

[Deephaven]

I will take accuracy over distance ANY day of the week.*  Acuracy is best taught by you doing all the work.  Also achieved that way.  That being said, I bought my first DC reel.  Putting it on my spinnerbait rod.  Hoping it saves the occasionally oh expletive when throwing in the wind.  One thing to be capable with your finger in a normal cast, but in gusting wind with light or sail like baits good luck.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

*except today.  Today I want that one long cast that is out of reach of everyone including me.

[Hammer 4]

I also agree, using your thumb has benefits. I'm also not a fan of all the gadgetry on reels today. I'm of the belief that relying on the reel to do the work robs the user of skills.

 

This is just my opinion, so don't get your panties in a uproar. ?

[Deleted account]

You can do it either way, the hard part is doing both. I fish my BCs with very little braking of any kind, just because it's what I'm used to, if someone started out with newer reels, and that is how they learned, and what they are used to, then that is just as valid. Bass fishing seldom requires raw distance, like some other types of fishing, so added braking isn't an issue. If one desires, one can set up a reel with a particular bait to require little or no thumb, I just can't do it, too much muscle memory.

[bulldog1935]

 

 

An argument that's been going 109 years.  

The curious thing is why there's an argument.  

Bait finesse was also here before WWII - this diminutive freespool will fish less than 1/8 oz.  

 

 

[Linewinder]

11 hours ago, bulldog1935 said:

 

 

An argument that's been going 129 years.  

The curious thing is why there's an argument.  

Bait finesse was also here before WWII - this diminutive freespool will fish less than 1/8 oz.  

 

 

Not that I don’t believe you @bulldog1935 , because you have shown to be extremely knowledgeable like a historian of these things, but I’d like to see that, in a video or something, just so I can be amazed. This would have to be pre-spinning reel times I suppose. And thumbing must be super sensitive for that lighter weight.
 

 

[DanielG]

12 hours ago, bulldog1935 said:

 

 

An argument that's been going 129 years.  

The curious thing is why there's an argument.  

Bait finesse was also here before WWII - this diminutive freespool will fish less than 1/8 oz.  

 

 

That top one... I had a J.C. HIggins reel as a kid. Sold at Sears. Looks exactly like it. I can attest that that thing would rat nest like nothing they have today.  You had to be really careful with it. I've still got the reel btw.

-------------------

This is interesting. And it's a little off topic. I'll chime in because I noticed this just the other day as I went out on the dock to do my first casts of the season up here in Maine. 

I've had a Curado DC for my third season now. It always casted good without a thumb and never tangled. If you let the tension up a lot or cast into a wall, it would fuzz up a bit but always controlled itself and settled down. I trained myself to keep my thumb off and let the reel take over. Oh, sometimes I'd thumb if I wanted to short cast maybe under something and stop it, but otherwise no thumb.

For some reason just the other day I noticed that it no longer fuzzes up. I first noticed it when I hit the trigger at the wrong time and it smacked the water in front of me. It should have fuzzed. I loosened the tension a lot and nothing. I used to see it. The casts had the same distance because from my dock I know where they usually land as I cast along the shore. I have more been intrigued by the technology more than the lack of thumbing the reel. I haven't really used my thumb in three years as I always grab this reel when I can. I'm wondering if these things have a break in period as it seems better this year than the last two....

[bulldog1935]

Actually, you can set the South Bend 1131A so absolutely no thumb is needed to brake or stop the reel once you release it to cast.  

The knob on the side adjusts the stand-off of a wool pad to the spool - when the bail drops, the pad is moved by spring tension into the spool.  You also have the spindle tension adjustment - between the two, you can dial it perfectly.  It doesn't cast a long way.  

 

Here's the SB reel matched with a SB Cross DoubleBilt cane bait rod.  The reel is a model 12, the year it was introduced - 1912 -the rod is a bit younger, but not by much.  

The SB ABL patent continued, matched with Marhoff LW reels built by Shakespeare for SB well after the war.  

 

@Linewinder  I never said the SB ABL was good, just said it worked, and it does, casting 3/8 oz and more. 

The diminutive Shakespeare 1740 Tournament, on the other hand, is very good, excellent with light weights - I have 4-lb silk line on it -  and yes, requires proper thumb to make it work.  What you can't see with it lined is it has an alloy spool - the only aluminum prewar bait spool - and a balsa arbor, making it very BFS-like.  

The first centrifugal brake patent, Redifor, 1915, also works too well and costs too much distance - Pretty reel, though.  

I talk about all these reels in more detail here

You guys like the old stuff? - Fishing Rods, Reels, Line, and Knots - Bass Fishing Forums (bassresource.com)

somewhere on the thread I come out and state you'l get a lot better with your modern reel if you learn how to cast a 100-y-o NLW.  

[Columbia Craw]

Your thumb is your friend.

[Deleted account]

20 minutes ago, Columbia Craw said:

Your thumb is your friend.

My middle finger has my back...

[Boomstick]

It's definitely beneficial to be able to rely solely on your thumb as well as in some cases to rely on your reel, but it's even more ideal when you can rely on your reel to cover for those times where your thumb fails you to make it not too horrible (or tough conditions like casting into wind, etc)