Baitcasting Reels?!?

[babybasslady]

Ok everyone, I have tried throwing baitcasting reels and of course have the nightmarish, horrific,  painful backlashes....what is the secret to casting these type of reels? I really want to learn how to use these reels but am afraid of them now.... Please help. :-[

[JigMe]

There are some excellent videos on YouTube that shows you how to use a bait caster, and how to get deal with bird nest. Practice makes prefect, get some cheap line and spend half a day practicing.

[David Rangel]

Babybasslady:

First, fill the spool with half or less of the line capacity, use a monofilament like trilene big game, and try first with heavier lures or sinks, and work with the spool less free than possible no matter the short cast.

good luck

David

[K_Mac]

Here is a link from the "best of" page that will answer some of your questions:

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

Once you understand how to set your reel up, it is mostly just practice. A decent reel will make things much easier, but many of us learned on junk, so it can be done. There are two basic reel braking types; centrifugal and magnetic. Either work fine. Some reels have both types and these are easiest to use in my opinion.

Shimano reels have centrifugal brakes. Daiwa reels have magnetic. Pflueger, Abu Garcia, BassPro and others have models that have the dual braking. I have a couple of Bass Pro Pro Qualifiers with dual braking that you can find on sale for ~$80. I recommend them, esp for a beginner. Others prefer a"name" brand.

Line makes a big difference in casting. A monofilament in 10-12# would be a good place to start. Trilene XL is cheap and works great.

Good luck. 8-)

[Delaware Valley Tackle]

The setup article is a must read. After that a couple tricks, Peel off about 2 casts worth of line and run a piece of electrical tape across the line on the spool. This will limit how deep any backlash can get. Secondly, resist the urge to muscle a cast, let the rod, reel and lure do the work.

[babybasslady]

So now my brother has become nice and said he has a baitcasting rod/reel that I can learn on. He said it is a good reel but now my question is a lot of people are saying read the manual that comes with the reel...what if it doesn't have a manual? :-?

[trav]

Honestly, the manual won't provide anything more helpful than the articles you'll find here

[KYntucky Warmouth]

So now my brother has become nice and said he has a baitcasting rod/reel that I can learn on. He said it is a good reel but now my question is a lot of people are saying read the manual that comes with the reel...what if it doesn't have a manual? :-?

I don't think it's that important to read the manual, some reels don't even come with one, just an exploded schematic.  All that my be beneficial from reading the manual would be how to remove the side plate and adjust the brakes on a centrifugal breaking reel.

[babybasslady]

Thanks Trav, but one thing I've seen on here is confusing the heck out of me....everyone keeps saying set the tension of the line to match the lure you're going to throw? I am getting scared now. lol I don't understand any of this!

[bowfish12]

Thanks Trav, but one thing I've seen on here is confusing the heck out of me....everyone keeps saying set the tension of the line to match the lure you're going to throw? I am getting scared now. lol I don't understand any of this!

This link will show you how to set the tension.

[babybasslady]

Thanks for the link, I will def, check  it out.

[bilgerat]

The setup article is a must read. After that a couple tricks, Peel off about 2 casts worth of line and run a piece of electrical tape across the line on the spool. This will limit how deep any backlash can get. Secondly, resist the urge to muscle a cast, let the rod, reel and lure do the work.

Read the first sentence over and over and over. If it aint set up correctly, everything else is a waste of time.

[new2BC4bass]

Thanks Trav, but one thing I've seen on here is confusing the heck out of me....everyone keeps saying set the tension of the line to match the lure you're going to throw? I am getting scared now. lol I don't understand any of this!

I'm a babybassgrandfather. LOL. New to baitcasting also. Let me tell you what an even older gentleman told me.

The tension control they are talking about is the knob on the handle side. (Not the star drag.) Adjust this control so that when you hold the rod level (or thereabouts) and release the spool, the spool makes no more than 1/8 turn after the lure hits the ground, floor, water, etc. I set mine so that the lure fell freely, but had no spool movement once the lure was on the ground.

You should now be able to cast the lure with NO THUMB control, and still not have any overruns. I was using a Daiwa Fuego with the magnetic break turned up all the way. Eventually wound up with it turned all the way down, and still didn't have any overruns/backlashes. Turning the magnetic control down increased length of casts without expanding any more effort than before.

Backing off on the tension control slightly (and I do mean VERY slightly) will give you longer casts with the same amount of effort...BUT now you need to use the thumb.

The gentleman who told me this said you could throw the lure as hard as possible with no backlashes if set up this way. I wasn't where I could throw hard, but don't see any reason to disbelieve him given the results I've gotten so far.

I was able to finish my first practice session throwing around 70 feet with no thumb and no overruns. I realize this isn't a great distance, but give a newbie a break. ;D Also remember that I wasn't where i could throw any harder.

At least on my reel, the tension control takes very little movement to make a good bit of difference. Go very slow once near the point where you want the tension to be.

[new2BC4bass]

Here's a link to an article describing how to set line tension correctly. Even has a couple pictures. ;D

http://pages.infinit.net/fishing/bait101.htm

If you click on the link provided in the article and look at the list on the right side you will find "Baitcaster" on the top. Click on this and one of the links will be to a video showing how to cast as described in the article. There is also a link to a video showing a trick on removing 'bird's nest'. It works as I found out today. :-[

This is the video link on casting that you will find after clicking on "Baitcasters".

Have fun!

[Steve1357]

I posted this before, it's what I learned, maybe something will click for you.

My 2c,

switching to spinning to baitcaster, instead of throwing it, letting it go completely at release, I tend to describe a baitcasting cast as slinging it, like you throwing someone off a merry-go-round. You need to accelerate the rod tip and lure and gradually ease off your thumb pressure before you get to the release point, allowing the lure to start leaving out and the spool to start accelerating. The trick being to never allow the spool to spin faster than the lure is pulling line off. At first you'll throw it a few feet, took me a few months, now it's second nature to throw it a mile with little effort. Never lose contact between the thumb and spool, you'll get use to having the thumb barely touching it, it at all, but sense when the spool is out running the line...

I guess I'm saying start by keeping things snug and gradually build your distance with the confidence and technique you learn as you go. Don't try 1/8 jigs yet, seems light jigs and spinnerbaits catch a lot of air slowing down quicker than other baits. Most of my failures (birdnests) are when I grab another rod with a jig and trailer or spinnerbait after chunking a plug or carolina rig for a while.

You may notice you can tension the spool tension knob tighter to where the lure will not even fall to the ground and still throw it a long way.

I regularly go trout fishing now with 4 and 6 lb test and light rigs on baitcasters. You'll pick it up quickly. As we've suggested on other threads, get some BigGame line, a quality line, good quantity, at a good price, so when you mess up, cutting it off isn't so bad. Also I've seen it suggested to make a cast, add some extra, then put tape on the spool there, so next time it won't birdnest beyond your tape stop.

Oh, one more thing, rotate your rod and reel so the thumb is not part of casting the rod, you need your thumb free for spool tension, I was using my thumb at first to "push" the rod forward, and trying to work spool tension with the thumb at the same time. Instead of the reel being top dead center, I rotate mine 45 or 90 degrees off to one side. I remember starting out baitcasting using a "backhand", it was the only way I could get any results until I discovered a technique that worked for me.

It's like golf, it's the score that counts. You've seen pros have some funny looking golf swings making millions...