I can only cast far when I have heavy weights on my baitcaster, help

[mja900]

I have a shakesphere baitcaster and I can cast a mile when I have on nothing but a heavy sinker weight, but if I put on a jig or crankbait I can only cast it a few feet in front of me. Could the reason be that my baitcaster is only 1 bearing instead of 6 bearings like most of the other baitcaster reels? Any suggestions?

[bigtimfish]

loosen the brake

[Uncle Leo]

Not knowing which model reel you have I can only offer a general suggestion. There is a knob on the handle end of the reel which applies tension to the spool. This maybe too tight. For best performance a reel needs to be set up using a combination of brake setting and spool tensioning. If the spool tension is too tight what you described will happen.

The following link may help-

http://www.bassresource.com/bass_fishing_forums/YaBB.pl?num=1151590913

[mja900]

so whether the baitcaster is 1 bearing or 6 bearings it will still throw the same distance with a light lure?

[islandbass]

Not necessarily. Bearing count is not necessarily an indicator of how well a casting reel is going to cast.

Generally speaking (please don't interject about pixies and 50/51mgs), the lighter the lure, the greater the potential for difficulty a bc reel might have to cast that lure, with all things being equal.  Also, even lures that weigh the same might not cast the same.  Aerdynamics could play a role and dictate adjustments made to the reel so that the lure could be tossed.  For example, a 1/4 oz spoon (spoons cast well off the bat) will probably cast better than a tandem blade spinnerbait of the same weight on a windy day where its blades might spin during the cast and get caught up in the wind.

However, not all baitcast reels are the same when it comes to tossing lighter things.

The best thing is to make sure that you have the reel set to each lure you plan to use.

[Raul]

  Quote

so whether the baitcaster is 1 bearing or 6 bearings it will still throw the same distance with a light lure?

Bearing count doesn 't matter, casting distance is influenced by many factors, some are in the reel, some are in the line, some are in the rod, some are in the lure, some are in you and some are in the environment. Some can be changed or modified, some can 't be changed or modified.

You didn 't mention your rod length, you didn 't mention your line diameter and line type, you didn 't mention what lure you 're trying to cast, you only mentioned your reel but not how the tension and the brakes were set.