Baitcaster Casting Problems

[Bass Fear Me]

All right guys, a big thanks to this thread.  Many years ago someone gave me an old baitmaster that I grew frustated with very quickly. (half a dozen or so casts).  Threw it away after it sat in my closet for a couple of years.  Have been using spin casters every since.  A few months ago I bought a cheap baitcaster (Shakespeare Axiom).  I am on a low budget you see.  Never could get the nerve to use it though, as past birdnests danced in my head every time I looked at it.  After reading this thread and knowing I'm not the only one and picking up a few tips I drug it out today.  I put an old crankbait with no hooks on it today and made sixty to seventu casts with backlash only twice and nothing major.  Was able to cast about fifty feet.  Nothing great but a good start I think.  Wound not have messed with it had it not been for you guys.  Thanks again.  A few more days and I will put something lighter on it.  I feel pretty good about today.

[Guest msalampessy]

If you haven't already adjusted your baitcaster to the lure(s) your having problematic bird's nests with, try the following:

1 Locate and adjust the Backlash Knob. This knob is located near the handle. Tightening this knob will reduce the looseness when in free spool. Completely tighten the knob, hold the lure up to the rod tip, then engage free spool and allow the lure to free fall. Loosen the knob until the lure descends at a desirable rate. The line should run from the spool smoothly, without any tangles or loops.

2 Locate and adjust the Casting Dial. This dial is usually on the opposite side of the handle, labeled with numbers counting down from 10. Start out at a high number and work your way down until you've reached a desirable casting distance.

Remember not all lures have the same densities or casting properties and should be adjusted appropriately. Try to tighten both and loosen in increments until you've mastered this rewarding style of fishing.

[Bankfisher]

Im going to try to help you the best I can as it seems these responses you are getting are very vague. There are a couple things you need to adjust to get a good cast from a baitcaster. You should start with adjusting the brake control. This can be found on the side of your reel that does not have the handle. Brakes can either be a knob that you turn or some you have to open the side of the reel to access the brake system.  This control will either slow the spool down during the lures flight or it will allow the lure to really fly. If you are using a light lure or casting in to the wind you should have this set pretty high. Reason being is if you cast a light lure the lure will start very fast as soon as you throw it, but as the wind grabs it during flight the lure slows down but the spool will continue at that initial speed and a backlash will occur. This happens because the lure is no longer taking enough line with it but the spool is still spinning fast and the line has nowhere to go. Its always best to start with your brake set high and loosen it a click at a time before each cast until you are happy with the distance you are getting. The heavier the lure the looser the brake can be because a heavy lure will keep a lot of speed through out the cast and will take the line with it. The other control is the spool brake. This is the little round knob right next to your cranking handle. This is meant to slow down or speed up the initial start up speed of the spool when you make a cast. This adjustment is important but not as critical as the brake system. A good rule of thumb for adjusting this is to start with the brake tight, hold your rod parallel to the ground with your lure tied on. release the spool bye pushing the cast button, and start to loosen the brake until the lure starts to fall to the ground. It should not fall fast. it should be a controlled fall and the line should stop unwinding once the lure touches the ground. Thats all there is to it really. Might help having your reel in hand as you read this so you can get a visual. Good luck and tight lines!  

[Bankfisher]

that's completely wrong.the cast control knob should be loose once your thumb is trained.the brake weight setting controls the intial backlash and should remain constant unless your casting style changes.

No, thats not totally correct. The cast control knob controls the amount of start up inertia. You cant have too much or you will backlash right away instead of during the cast.

[Bankfisher]

As a prize for winning angler of the year from a tin boat owners site I am a member of, I won a Revo STX. My first bait caster. I use a conventional style reel when trolling for salmon but never cast with them. I did learn a few things from the link provided early on in this thread. My first mistake was trying to cast too light of a bait. I stepped it up a bit from 1/8 oz to 1/4 oz and have much more control. I still have to remind myself to think about when to release when casting overhand. I have absolutely NO control as to where it is going when cating side arm. I look at my target bring the rod back, feel it load slightly, bring it forward and cast, releasing nearly straight out to my right and the darn thing still goes way left. What am I doing wrong?

I am using a 7' ML BPS Cranking stick with a fast tip and 12 lb mono. I am casting with a 5" jerk shad if that helps.

If your lure is still flying way left I would assume your lure is either too light, or your holding the spool too long. One other thing about casting a baitcaster is you have to use a slightly different casting technique than what you would use for a spinning pole. On a spinning pole you use kind of a wooshing, half circle type cast. With a baitcaster, you have to make your cast more of a snap. When you throw a lure you should use more wrist in the cast to snap the lure out there and really commit to the cast. If its a light wooshing cast like with a spinning pole the baitcaster wont respond the same. You really need to let the rod tip load up bye starting the cast and then just before you throw it use your wrist and "fling" your lure out there. Kind of hard to explain but you could get on youtube and watch people casting to get a good idea of what im talking about.

[Tom Sawyer]

First off ; thank you for the fantastic insight on BC's.  I practiced this wknd in 30 degree weather with my new QUANTUM ACCURIST PT . Maybe not a great BC, but its my first freshwater one. Anyway I learned more from this thread than from the tragic booklet it comes with. There booklet does not even explain the "F" - "O"switch . I have learned the "F" is for flipping, and the "O" is I think for the obvious.. Thanks again guys..Btw 1 birds nest in about 35 casts, not that tragic.

[JL Zingg]

ALL of the information given IS VERY helpful.  Read everything you can find, even watch videos online: http://video.google.com/videosearch?hl=en&q=baitcasting+videos&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=1z0lSoC6OIKJtgf0kJzcBg&sa=X&oi=video_result_group&resnum=5&ct=title#

Google - baitcasting videos.

When determining my first baitcast reel, a Gander Mtn. salesman recommended I buy a cheaper one to learn with, then a more expensive one later.  Well, I had made the decision to switch to baitcast period and disagreed with the cheap one first theory.  My first one was the 2008 Quantum Energy PT, my next three were 2009 Energy PT's.  The moral?  Buy a solid quality sturdy reel, they cost more but the smoothness, reliability and castability are worth it.

Jerry

[Landingthebigone]

I have found that if you stop the "line guide" in the center, then cast, it helps.

[DOVERANGLER]

when i first started using a bait caster i spent more time picking birds nest then fishing i found that for cranking i use setting 9-9 1/2 on the magnectic brake. the cintrifical brake takes a little tuning. i think i have the terms right for the brakes, but the cintrifigual i am refering to is the nob behind the crank and the magnietic is the dial on the side. i would also recommed digging through your tackle and finding a beat up lure you dont use anymore that is close to the size you want to use, and take the hooks off, and go to the yard and practice practice practice

[Teal101]

Easy as pie.  With my first cast on my new curdao 201dpv I backlashed.  I remembered I never messed with the VBS.  I engaged 2 and then retried.  I've had one backlash since and it was my fault for not thumbing properly.   I almost prefer the baitcast to my spinning setups now and I've only used the baitcaster for 4 days!  Already planning on my next baitcast setup!

[Lynx]

SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA

BaitCasters are not for the faint of heart. They do take several man hours to master. My best advice for you is to do some dry casting in your yard or at a park. By doing this it helps to dial in the reel. On a typical BaitCaster there are 3 setting (this includes the drag dial & both brake dials(1 to the side & other behind drag dial)), if you have to much reel play the your line is going to over spin, causing a "Bird's Nest." I usually have 4-5 poles on the boat, which each are all dialed into 1 specific lure, plastic, jig, etc., depending on wieght, crankbait, spinnerbait, swimbait, etc. Something to always remeber is when you dial in your tackle, make sure its dialed into the size of fish that your targeting.

GOOD LUCKS TO YOU IN CATCHING THE "BIG KAHUNA."

[Retrofan]

I read the suggestions in this thread last night and ReelMech's excellent article before I took my new Pinnacle Inertia and Shakespeare Xterra baitcasters to the lake today. Result: no significant backlashes in more than 9 hours of constant casting. There were a couple of instances where I had a bit of line overrunning the reel, but no problem to fix and all in all had a very smooth day.

Caught 15 largemouth bass (10 oz. to 3 lb 14oz) as the shad were in huge schools and the bass were aggressive. In fact, I recorded my first double ever as had 2 bass on one shallow diver crankbait when I cast it into the shad school. I am a bank fisherman, so I just followed the action on top of the water as it moved up and down the waterway.

Caught bass on spinner, spoon, crankbait, and super fluke. No luck today with worms or Senko.

[urp]

I agree that your reel must be properly set up and practice practice. You'll love it when you've mastered it. I've used one more years than I can count and still manage to thro a rats nest now and then. Especially into the wind.

[bt fisherman]

how i got good with bc i would cast out in my yard with a heavy lure then cange to a lighter bait every other time. how i got backlashes to stop i would just practice and mess with the settings of the reel till i got it good enough to cast a light bait fairly far.

[Harley Camper]

I know this thread is ancient, but where can one go to read that article by ReelMech that was mentioned here several times?

[dulouz]

I have only been using a baitcaster for a year now.  All of the guys I know have been using them for many, many years and don't use the brakes or the spool tension knob.  These old school guys do it all with their thumb. 

Being the hotshot that I am I tried that for most of the summer.  I have been getting a lot of backlashes.  Recently I put braid on one of my BCs.  For fear of not wanting to backlash I actually set the spool tension for the lure and started with the brakes on a bit.  To my amazment, the frequency of my backlashes dropped dramatically. 

Another thing I have noticed is that the rod makes a HUGE difference.  I have a medium light rod with and xfast tip that loads up with very little effort.  I have to be very careful at the start of the cast, then I can let up with my thumb in the middle.  Other rods I have only need my thumb at the end of the cast. 

I am still learning...

[Lcomfort]

Talk about digging a post out of the bottom of the can lol! this is a OLD post lol.

[astaf]

Hey what you're going through sounds a lot like what i have been doing the past couple of days, i recently bought a pinnacle baitcaster because i saw a lot of pros using one. They made it look so easy that i didnt realize how frusturating it was to start out with on right after you get it (especially your first like me). I realized though that all it would take was practice, so i re-spooled my reel and started practicing, like what Guest_DavidGreen_* said, short at first and once i got comfortable with that i started casting longer distances. even though i keep getting backlash a lot its still a lot of fun so keep at it.

Practice...Practice...Practice

[astaf]

wow didnt realize how old this was

[MAD]

Old post but still being read so I will add some pointers on how I learned. I started with Abu C3s so I did not have magnetic brakes. Read the manual and then read it again. Set your baitcaster as they explain in the manual. Spool it with 20-30 pound test cheap mono when first practicing. It will be easier to fix the back lashes. Second put tape on the spool after pulling out a little more line than you can cast. This will stop the big backlashes. Start casting with a heavy weight to get the feel of stopping the line. I also think starting with a moderate rod action will help. Also, leave a little extra line habging before the cast and use two hands for better control. Good luck and keep practicing.

Mike

[.RM.]

Great Reading...............

Basic Baitcast Reel Setup 101

Tight Lines All!

[hatrix]

Well I read quite a bit of everyone tips on how to use a bait caster and personally I think I would teach some one entirely different. Free spool right out of the box brakes all the way and never use the tension knob. Start making lob casts with good casting baits like heavy lipless cranks, unless you snap the tip it is pretty hard to back lash it. I think using the tension knob when I first started taut me nothing. Rarely did I have to thumb it and when I did it was nothing really.