light fishing

[mja900]

What is considered light fishing (in pounds) to where you should use a baitcaster instead of a spincast?

[jwo1124]

8# test is the cut off. Some will say 10, and you can certainly use 10# on a spinning reel, but I'm sure that most experienced bass anglers who use baitcasters for the majority of their fishing will chose a baitcaster over a spinning rod unless it is absolutely neccessary.

As beginner bass anglers, we use spinning gear for mostly everything, since that is all we know. But, once you learn how to use a baitcaster, you will opt for it over your spinning tackle. Spinning gear, as far as largemouth bass fishing goes, is usually used with light lures like weightless plastics, for exaple a wacky worm, or a weightless soft jerkbaits, drop shoting. I saw a show with Hank parker and some kid from california drop shotting in 40+ feet of crystal clear water and they were using 4 and 6# test and catching decent sized bass.

Usually in bass fishing you will use a ML or M power spinning set up with 6-10 lb test. Anything above that is best on baitcasters just because they are much lighter compared to the capacity of larger lines they can hold. A baitcaster that holds 150 yds. of 14 lb. test will weight less that 10 ounces. A spinning reel that holds that much 14 lb test will weight close to 20 ounces. That's a big difference when you are casting lures for hours on end. it can take a toll on your hands and wrist.

[Raul]

It really depends on where you are going to fish the type and ammount of cover. To give you an example, there are several lakes around my neck of the woods, with the exception of one all of them are pretty much woodless ( no sunken trees, stumps or brush ) and the cover they 've got is mats of elodea. You can fish them with 6-8 lb test, UL-L or ML rods and have no problem landing the fish, the exception is La Sauceda ( Willow Lake ), that lake is sutffed with stumps, trees and brush, go there with 10 pound test and M rods you are fishing with "light" gear. So as usual, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, in this case, light or heavy depends on where you are fishing.

As for which one, bc or spinning, it 's all up to you, I use both indiscriminately, it 's pretty much the same to me using one or the other.

[Marty]

and the cover they 've got is mats of elodea.

There's this lake I've fished for almost 30 years. The lily pads were always great, but not as much anymore. The elodea among the pads has gotten so thick, that dropping lures into holes in the pads is almost a thing of the past, thanks to that plant.