Baitcasting Reel - Line or Braid.

[Bri The Pom]

Guys

I have a shimano baitcasting reel and rapala lures coming from the uk very soon.Do i load it with braid or mono or flouro. and what size.I will use it for casting lures to rock walls for jacks mainly.

Cheers

Bri.

[Plastic Man]

for jacks mate i would use no less then 20lb braid and maybe 20 to 30lb leader what sort of baitcast is it ?

[Bri The Pom]

I think its a shimano black magic.LH wind.Not the barrel round type,the flatter square type ,i think you call the baitcasters.

Bri.

[Dan23]

Yeah 20lb should do I don't think going up any higher really makes any difference as you can't really apply that much pressure to the fish. Make sure you spring for some higher quality braid with a rounder profile as you can get line digging with cheaper braid on baitcasters. It can cause you to lose lures if the line diggs in and catches mid cast.

[Bri The Pom]

I have 20lb fireline crystal would that be suitable ??????.

[Dan23]

Can't say I've tried it with a BC but fireline isn't actually braid it's GSP. You'll probably be ok with it but it is failry flat so probably more suseptable to dig in. There's lots of contributing factors involving how well the reel lays the line. Just make sure you wind it on super tight and always go easy for the first 10 casts of the day. I usually start off with a really easy cast then gradually try and cast a bit further. Once your line gets wet and has been on and off the spool a few times you should be right to start punching some long casts out. It's mainly trial and error though.

[Bri The Pom]

Cheers Dan.

Big love

Bri.

[namyau]

ive spooled 10lb shakespear cajun braid on my new pfluger echelon - works fine - had to add some backing on though. i got the braid at cannon hill bcf for $15 in a 150yrd spool. and its not too bad a line either.

[Cowfish13]

Fireline is a bit stiffer than regular braid, so I dunno how it would go on a baitcaster (spinning reels are fine)

But yer, 20lb braid will be your best option:)

[Englander]

Hi Bri,

try & get some berkley whiplash, the 20 lbs is only .06mm in dia, run it in abit first i,e use a heaver lure of about 30-40g & do a few dozen casts, make sure you dont put to much on the spool, look at the top of the spool once line is on & make sure its horizontal with the centre of level wind thingy & all should be ok

PS

how it all going

Cheers

Peter

[jeff f]

bri how much experience do yo have with this type of reel?

if you are experienced go with a good round profile braid

avoid flat ones

if you are a beginner start off with monno because you will probably waste,tangle birdsnest and cut off the first spool or 2

[Cowfish13]

What's wrong with the low-profile ones Jeff?

[pinkey]

i practiced with spare mono, now i use 14lb pink fireline, i find its ok but at the start it used to dig into the spool abit but its all good now its worn in.

[fishyman]

my mate has 30lb fireline on his BC and after it gets worn in its great

[Feral]

I'd recommend mono to start with, easier to get the birds nest out of. Cheaper to throw away 25metres when you get the sheets with the massive birds nest and cut it off!

Everyone is assuming you dont have much expereience with a baitcaster, so I'll do the same! I've just spent the last few months learning to cast my left and right handed baitcasters, so the lessons learnt are fresh in my mind. (These could all be totally against the grain, being self taught, but it worked for me)

Initially practice with a slug, or reasonably heavy lure until you get used to it. A Lot easier to cast straight.

With a baitcaster the cast is all in the first foot or two of rod movement, you try to power right through like a normal cast and it will "hook"

Get you thumb on that reel the instant the lure stops moving / hits the water. Be serious about it, dont just dab at it! (If you dab at it you find those really special birds nests that get lots of four letter words, because they tend to tighten up on themselves as they make the mess because you fat thumb is only partially doing the job!)

Do the clutches up a bit tighter until your used to casting, reduces distance but also reduces birds nests! Benchmark is to release the reel with the lure suspended in the air. While your learning have the clutch done up so the lure does not quit fall. After you get more confident you can let it up as much as you like to (IE how it suits you)

Dont fish near anyone until you get used to it, or you better be a good fighter!

Personally as I fish with both hands, if you have not fished with one before I'd recommend you try learning to do it so you cast with the hand that will holding the rod whilst you fish. Casting with the hand your going to wind with defeats my favourite feature of baitcasters, single handed casting! IE Press button, cast wind, same hand holding rod the whole time.

If I have lost you in the description above, I am left handed, so I cast left handed with what people would normally call a right handed reel, casting with my left hand, winding with my right.

I cast right handed with what people normally call a left handed reel. Cast with Right hand, wind with left.

[Dan23]

Some good tips there Feral. A little off topic but i think for anyone beginning to use a BC there is absolutely no point in buying a high end one as you cannot extract its performance. Really high end BCs require precision thumb control that takes years of practice. Unless you really know how to use them you'll just be tightening up the braking mechanism thus defeating the purpose of the ultra free spooling of a really nice BC.

Sorry for the rant just wanted to point out that buying a really high end BC won't help you to cast any further. That is with the exception of Shimano's DC range but they're $800 so if you're buying that as a first then you have more money than skill lol:laugh:

[kevinchen19870316]

even the DC ones r hard to master( to master, not simply to use) without mid-level of casting skills.

for tackle nuts here: daiwa megaforce type R + require mid-level of skills to cast and type R requires high casting skills to master.

[Feral]

Dan23 wrote:

so if you're buying that as a first then you have more money than skill lol:laugh:

A Tackleshop's Dream customer you mean?

[Dan23]

Feral wrote:

Dan23 wrote:

so if you're buying that as a first then you have more money than skill lol:laugh:

A Tackleshop's Dream customer you mean?

ha ha totally.

I hope people understand what I'm saying and don't think I'm talking crap.

[Feral]

I should also note that I have 20lb fireline on my DAM, its like fencing wire. No problems with it, its just as thick as a Britney Spears fan. If I am fishing for Bass, I just tie a long 6lb leader onto it!

I put it on because my 4000 series spinning reel was getting a bit to low for easy casting with the 20lb spiderwire stealth I had on it, so not wanting to toss the spiderwire, I thought I would just put it on the DAM for some barra fishing, forgetting I had used the fireline as backing, so I ended up with about 100m of it on the top.

I dont have a spare spool for the DAM, so one of these days when I have some spare time, I'll turn the line around using a couple of reels.

[kevinchen19870316]

i suggest use some cheap 8lb line for practise casting until u can guarantee top distance with little to non overruns.( which is pretty hard). then u can either choose fine mono or braid when ur confident enough that the number of birdnests is less than the number of wind knots when using spinning gear

[Feral]

I've got to admit, I hardly use my spinning reels for casting anymore, since I learned to use my baitcasters. After 10 or 12 hour of casting my arms are in much better nick than when using spinning reels.

I am still not as accurate with the baitcasters, specially when using the left handed one, or I am tired. But I get the lure within a foot or two of where I want it , and I am improving with every trip! Until I get that last bit of accuracy I am just using plastics if I am casting within inches of something snaggy.

[kevinchen19870316]

i'd say u've done pretty well feral if u can get ur lure within a foot of where u want it.

[nigehey]

You're not wrong. I'm an entire order of magnitude away from that accuracy at this point. Good job guys - my backyard needs some more practice time (just wish there was the occasional fish in there amongst the weeds while practising!).

[Feral]

kevinchen19870316 wrote:

i'd say u've done pretty well feral if u can get ur lure within a foot of where u want it.

Or two!

But it is more the odd "oops" I need to get rid off, lure donating casts those ones! Perhaps "consistency" rather than "accuracy" might have been a better word!

[Bri The Pom]

Firstly thanks,some very helpfull advice.

I have a baitcasting rod and reel but its RH wind,which feels very wrong.casting and the retieve will improve with theLH wind im sure,i have some 20lb fireline which is used,i will load with that and use a leader to suit,practice and see how it goes.

MY NEXT QUESTION my son wants my RH wind reel,he needs a rod can you suggest a rod around the $ 100 .

Once again many thanks.

Bri

ps Englander

All is well,love it,a few trips no fish ,but hey sun is shinning.

Cheers.

[kriso]

shimano raider. or penn pin point tournament.

[geebz]

In regards to the casting accuarcy with a bait caster whats the trick to the overhead cast ?

When i try cast overhead i end up with a short loopy cast or one that goes straight down with no distance.

Ive been practicing in the yard and i can side arm cast ok and im improving but i cant overhead which is a pain if you are in a tight situation on a boat.

[jeff f]

Cowfish13 wrote:

What's wrong with the low-profile ones Jeff?

they are more inclined to bite into the line load when you are fighting a fish or dealing with a snag then next cast bye-bye lure

or a stopstart overrun