Dear friends,

I've being reading about baitcasting but there is a point I cannot understand well. I've seen that you use to cast with what you call "conventional reels". I've a Tiburon Engineering SST30/80 reel and I'd like to try. I'll ask about the rod in future posts, but I need to know if the reel I have is suitable for this.

My question is. How must I cast?. I mean, this reel has a "free spool" position, but I'll probably get a "backslash" everytime I'll try to cast. Must be the clicker on?. Is there any "trick"?.

Let me know!!


Daniel

Daniel

Your question is really pretty big. First of all I do not recognise your reel but conventional reels in the USA mean revolving drum or if you prefer revolving spool. They are fished on top of the rod and the size of the reel will depend to a large extent on the weight of the lures.Very light lures need light weight spools with very low start up inertia or you are going to get overruns/ backlashes.

How to cast @#$%&, that is not easy to answer here. To start with it will be easier to cast overhead and where there are no obstructions in the way. The lure is typically wound up fairly close to the rod top and the rod moved backwards in the vertical plane over one of your shoulders and stopped quickly to load the rod up against the weight of the lure. The rod is then brought forward and at the appropiate point stopped and the thumb removed from the spool allowing the line to flow off the reel. When the lure hits the water the thumb is re-applied to the spool to prevent an overrun. It's a bit like flipping mud off the end of your rod.

Now this is as about as simple as I can make the description. The best way is to get someone who knows what they are doing to take you out and show you.

As to the clicker no capital no you don't want this on when casting. It is not a line control function. It is there so you can have audible bite indication if fishing live or other types of bait. You will wreck it and wake the whole river or lake up if you engage it when casting.

Some conventional reels (Known as Multipliers over here in the UK) have magnetic cast controls or mechanical breaking systems using brake blocks. These will help prevent over runs too, although if you are determined enough you will still get them.

I like conventional reels but for ultra light lures it is hard to beat a small spinning reel.

Wish you luck


Mike O.

Dear Mike,

Thank you very much for your reply.

I live in Spain and spinning reels are widely used for casting. I've no problem in using them and even some conventional reel like Shimano Curado and others.

The problem is when using this other reels (I enclose the links) like Tiburon [www.tiburonengineering.com] or even this Accurate one [www.accuratefishing.com]

They only have the lever drag, with no magnetic or similar control. When casting, spool overruns 9 of each 10 times, even before the bait gets the water.

The only way I found to avoid it was having the clicker on. Of course it is noisy and distance becomes reduced.

This is why I though there would be something wrong in the way I'm doing it...

Sounds like you would have to doctor the reel with magents to take care of your over run. Guys in the US do this with Avent reels. Using the bait clicker would wear down the clicker. You might want to check some distance casting sights for ideas; ask Neil Mackow (SP?) he is a distace casting guru from Britian. I thinks that he should give you some ideas for your reel.

the following is from another web site but may help

"A bait casting reel does many fishing tasks better than other kinds of reels, and they are the standard in bass fishing. When you first get one they can be intimidating but you can learn to fish one with a little time and effort.

Spool up your reel with monofilament line in fairly heavy test - 14 to 20 - even if you plan on fishing with lighter line. Heavier line is easier to learn to cast, and easier to pick out those unavoidable backlashes. Don' fill the spool on the reel, start with half a spool or less.

The more line on the spool the heavier the spool and the faster and longer it will spin. Spinning too long is what causes backlashes, so start with less line.

The most important part of casting a bait caster is a smart thumb. Your thumb rides on the spool of line and controls it, so you must educate your thumb. You can do this while watching TV. Tie on a fairly heavy weight - a nut or 1 ounce sinker, and sit down. Loosen up the spool control until the weight drops freely, and use your thumb to stop it just before it hits the floor. Do this over and over until get the feel for feathering the spool with your thumb and stopping the weight just before it reaches the floor.

When you are ready to learn to cast, tie on a practice plug or sinker - half ounce is about right. Tighten the freespool control until the weight stops when it hits the floor and the reel stops spinning. This will be too tight for normal casting but helps you learn.
Take your outfit out and make a short lob type cast. Swing your whole arm, don't try to snap the rod tip with your wrist. The reason for casting like this to start is you want the spool to start spinning slowly and evenly. A lob cast will do this. A snap cast will make the spool start spinning fast from the beginning, almost guaranteeing a backlash.

Keep casting like this, making longer and longer cast. Gradually loosen up the freespool control until you have to stop the spool with your thumb, just like you practiced. Once you get confident in using a heavy weight, try lighter weights and learn different ways to cast.

Rotating the reel as you cast will help it spin more smoothly. The reel should be vertical, with the handle facing up, at the end of the cast. This, like other tips here, takes some practice.

Everyone will get backlashes at times. Don't let them discourage you. Keep practicing and you will find out why the bait casting reel is so popular. "



Ronnie Garrison,

Hi Daniel - I own that reel bigger brother and cast it quite well with the right size baits or jigs. Casting is a real art and I can give you some hints that might help but the name of the game is practiceX3. I have to run this morning to a doctors appt. in 10 min. so if you will drop me an email I will try to give you some help this afternoon.

Noel,


That is about as good a description you can get in print as to how to go about casting with a conventional.

Daniel

Neil Mackalow I can't remember how to spell his name either has his own web site I have seen him cast and he was our UK long distance 5 oz lead champion. He can cast around the 300 yards distance. But his type of casting is very different to std bait casting. He does have some interesting reel tuning tips that you might be able to use, although his reels usually ABU 6500 types are critically balanced for extreeme distance when teemed with Long 13 feet plus sticks of extreemly stiff carbon.

Some conventionals were not designed to be cast with. If your reel has a metal spool it is going to be the very beast to cast as the inertia both on start up and at the end of the cast will be almost impossible to control.

Another view on the educated thumb is that in normal casting keep it well way from the spool while the lure is in flight. It will disturb the line lay which can result in an overrun apart from reducing distance. There are occasions when you need to apply a little thumb and that is when casting into the wind especially with lighter lures. The wind can stop your lure almost dead and then an educated thumb is a must.

I will look up your reels and also see if I can find Neil Mackelows web site address for you.

Mike O.

Daniel,

I know what you mean about the line backlashing before the lure hits the water. Usually when this happens to me it is because the rod is really loaded on the back cast. When you start the forward cast and release your thumb the initial speed of the lure gets the spool spinning faster than the lure is taking line off of the spool. Then the lure decelerates faster than the spool which causes the backlash. This happens to me all too often. I find that I have to load the rod a bit less on my cast or be sure to thumb the spool during the whole cast. This means not releasing my thumb completely at any point during the cast.

A number of years ago I purchased a product called Tangle Free from Cabelas. This product is basically a line dressing. All you do is apply a few drops onto the line as it sits in the spool. After using this product about 70% of my backlashes just pulled free.

Good Luck

Mike

Noel,
A quick way to slowdown the backlash problem while you educate the thumb to do the job is to only fill the reel about 2/3 full, this gives more control of the line/spool mass. Then play out the line for about the maximum distance you need to cast. Now with electrical tape, single wrap a few wraps to tiedown the rest of the line on the reel. This cuts down bachlashes dramatically, only allows backlashes to go back into the reel only as far as the tape, which makes them easier and faster to work out, and the tape will come off easily when the big one takes off and runs out your line.
Practicing as much as you can will soon have you "professional overrun" free, or close to it. It's easier to learn on dry land, like a lawn or park.
If we spent 1/3 the time learning to cast well, as we did as kids learning to throw a baseball, kick a soccer ball, or shoot a hoop we'd catch a bunch more fish.
Don't be in a hurry to cast far, till you can cast consistently as discribed above on the other posts. The big reels are the hardest to learn on.
Good luck, your not alone, we all went through it.