The mysterious baitcaster

[ponycarman]

Been wanting to try out a baitcasting style of reel for a while. Many seem to use them so i figured there had to be a reason. I finally picked one up while at cabelas yesterday. Got an abu garcia black max reel and cabelas rod combo for $60 on sale. Figured it would be good to start on without breaking the bank.

Tried it out some today and boy is it a different animal lol. It is definitely going to take alot more practice and learning to master it lol. Still fun.

[BubbaDX]

Nice looking rig. Baitcasters take practice, but they cast so good once you get the hang of it. They make a small pick to help get birds nests out of your spool that I found comes in really handy.

[ponycarman]

Thanks, I'm gonna need it lol. First cast, huge tangle. I got to where I can cast with minimal tangling but not going too far. All the braking systems help some I guess.

[Loditrapper]

Get you a bucket, set it in your yard. Tie a 1/2 ounce sinker on that baitcaster, and start trying to drop the sinker in the bucket. Start at around 50', it'll take awhile, but you'll be surprised how fast your body will learn. Start with the anti-backlash cranked down pretty good, just ease off of it as your thumb gets it figured out. Neighbors may or may not think you are crazy. Depends mostly on your past history.

[ponycarman]

I'll give that a try thanks.

[RazorBurn]

Baitcasters are an enigma of sorts, but once you figure one out you will not look back. When I first started with a baitcaster I was terrible with it. Years ago, I went fishing with my best friend and backlashed it so bad I had to take it apart three times in his boat. A year or so later we can actually pinpoint the day I learnt to cast one. Also, I don't make overhanded casts with mine, just a rolling of the wrist is all you need. My best friend and I call it "open the door, close the door". Basically you're swinging the lure on a pendulum and making the weight of the lure do the work. The harder you cast a baitcaster, the more unforgiving they are. Baitcasters make forehand and backhand casts so much easier for me.

The best advice I can give you is to initially set it up tight. My son has a Black Max, set the magnetic adjustment to max, and set the spool brake to were it barely lets say a 1/4 ounce weighted lure drop. I set all of mine up at first with the spool brake to were the lure drops freely to the floor, but won't let the spool overrun just by letting it drop by gravity. Once you learn how to thumb the spool you can play with loosening it up. Once you get the hang of it, you can make long accurate casts with them. Also, remember to tighten a baitcaster up when fishing with blustery wind.

I use baitcasters for everything, even down to 1/8 ounce baits. I still use a spinning reel from time to time, but it's primarly for using a fluke as the particular spinning rod I have makes fluke fishing effortless. Good luck, and keep practicing with it and you'll get it.

[ponycarman]

Thanks razor! I believe I set it that way today. The magnetic brake was on max and the tension was set to where any lure I used would slowly fall to the ground and stop. Practice makes perfect. I got a lot of practicing to do

[Ironnewt]

Get you a bucket, set it in your yard. Tie a 1/2 ounce sinker on that baitcaster, and start trying to drop the sinker in the bucket. Start at around 50', it'll take awhile, but you'll be surprised how fast your body will learn. Start with the anti-backlash cranked down pretty good, just ease off of it as your thumb gets it figured out. Neighbors may or may not think you are crazy. Depends mostly on your past history.

Depends on your neighbors

[ponycarman]

Very true ironnewt. One sude of me is a vacant house. Been empty more than a year. Repo, it just recently sold and is being fixed up to flip . The other side I have never talked to them and we have been here over a year. We wave, they wave. Only time you see them is going from the house to the car lol.

[bws]

I have to find it, but I have a bait cast reel made by the Zero Bomb Company, ie Zebco. Last time I used it, it was smoother than any of the modern reels I've used, except for one of my spinning reels.

[millman]

I am gonna play the other side of this one. I have an older Team Diawa baitcaster. (15 years) In it's day it was one of the top of the line.(aprox $200). Frankly I hate it. Unless I have about 2 oz of weight I can't make it go anywhere. Give me my Shimano spinning rigs, and I will be a happy man and not feel undergunned at all.

[bws]

All of my spinning reels are Shimano, except for one Quantum. I wouldn't trade any of them for the world! When it comes to closed face reels, the venerable Zebco One. With the right line you could pull damn near anything up

[ponycarman]

I too like my shimano spinning setups. Smooth and easy to use. Just wanted to give this style a try. Been practicing in the backyard. Its not too hard. Been making good progress. Timing the release of the spool to make an accurate cast is a little tough but its not too bad. Been easily casting 50-60ft or more and little to no backlash. Been having a good time learning.

[kjohn]

That type of reel was all we had when I was a kid. You learned pretty quick how to cast! There was multicolored line too! Talk about bird's nests! We used those old reels for everything - still fishing, trolling, casting. I have a nice old rod and reel hung up in my wife's log cabin. I can still hear the old brake/clutch buzzing when you snagged bottom. My older cousin was casting off shore many years back, He got snagged, so he got his trunks on and went in to get it loose. He came out dragging a friggin' kitchen wood stove!

[entropy]

Let your thumb set lightly on the drum (the line) when you cast. That way, when it starts to 'birds nest' (The drum keeps rolling, but the line keeps coming off and/or loosening on the drum) you can shut it down just by pressing down on the drum. Also, setting the drum tension is an art. Takes a lot of practice.

I fished northerns and muskies for years. As many of you know, the muskie is the 'fish of 10,000 casts', so you get good at casting after a while. I admit, I prerfer trolling, but in WI, it is illegal to troll with a gas motor, except on the Great Lakes. Most electrics can't go fast enough, and none of them very long, for muskies.

The biggest fish my wife ever caught was a 32 inch muskie. She had been leaning back holding the rod very loosely over the side trolling (In MN), and I said she'd be wise to hold onto the rod better, so she stuck the butt under a leg, and held the middle of the rod. The whole lake knew when that muskie hit about five minutes later! She was yelling and whooping and hollering. We took some pics, (Sorry, don't have them online) and then I said "Ok time to let it go." I got that "Whatchutalkin'boutWillis?' look, and I had to explain to her that 1.) The minimum size on the lake we were on was 48", and 2.) Muskies are not that good eatin'. (Cooked right, they are OK. My uncle used to keep lots of them when I was young, and I ate it every summer til we bought our own cabin.) I estimated the weight at @12#, it was a nice tiger/hybrid.