Kat

To be honest I am a little too impatient to shop around much.  I definitely am not waiting for online delivery!  Fishing is my saviour/therapy at the moment and as I said the reel I am using is reely reely horrible.  But will use your shopping tips for my better rod and reel in a few months.

To be honest I am a little too impatient to shop around much.  I definitely am not waiting for online delivery!  Fishing is my saviour/therapy at the moment and as I said the reel I am using is reely reely horrible.  But will use your shopping tips for my better rod and reel in a few months.

I could not go past the service I get at BCF. I take my rods with a broken tip to them and they remove the old tip, and heat glue the new tip on, all for the price of the tip. I bought a rope for use as a launching rope and the guy spent over half an hour splicing loops on both ends, once again, just for the price of the rope itself.

Gets rid of loops/minimizes them from the line (big spool) when casting as far as I know but I have never used an Alvey.

If you want to save some money narrow down the reel/rod you like and check out the prices from the various stores , also E-Bay is good to get a feel for what those items are being offered at as most stores nowadays have an online presence. For example my Penn Spinfisher VI2500LL is selling for $219 at BCF and at Dinga you can get it for $160 including free delivery if you sign up for a free membership. My Okuma Makaira 50W was $540 at Freddys and everyone else had it close to $850, so look around and save some cash.

Thanks.  Going to check out the reels at BCF in the morning and will post pic of the winner.  And hopefully a pic of the first fish I catch with it.
 
Cheers Kat

I am almost too scared to ask - I may be up all night reading the answers but - what I want to know is how the heck does anybody know what they have hooked up until they have landed it (or almost landed it ).  I mean sometimes you can have a good guess by where your fishing and what your targeting but I generally have no clue what I have got - except that I now think I know what a Bream bite and fight feels like. Soo how do you know when to "set the hook", when to let it run etc? 

The big hoop is just to direct the line towards the first runner on the rod, when you have turned the spool on its side to cast. 

Yes they will, but I would prefer to buy from the store that has them on special, helps to support them, if they are willing to drop their prices regularly then that is good for the customers. BCF usually charges full retail unless it is on special and then their prices are usually still higher then their competitors normal price.

Last time I went to BCF was about a week ago and their range had diminished greatly due to Covid-19 and unable to get new stock from China?.

Personally I rarely just go to BCF only, especially if your budget is tight, they are rarely the cheapest and often are more expensive. I would go to them to check out what they have and then also check out Freddys, Outback Adventures, Anaconda and any others that are near you. Everyone will stock a slightly different range and have different prices for the same gear, in some cases the price difference can be huge for the same item.

As Hamish said,  practice... However if you use circle hooks you need to wait for the fish to swallow it before setting the hook.  so you may need to let the fish run and then set the hook slowly, that is one scenario where live liners are great.

You can sometimes tell by the fight the fish gives you, head shakes, a slow constant peel of line, tail slaps, comes with experience but it is still a best guess as each fish fights different. Setting a hook is also different as each fish will be different so again a best guess. Some fish if you don't strike at the first nibble you will loose your bait, others if you do that you will pull the bait and the unset hook out of their mouth. It comes with practice, you win some and you lose some.

Practice. 

One thing you should be aware of as the line gets peeled of your spool because you have a big fish on it then the drag will also increase due to smaller circumference (leverage on the spool) and you need to make sure you don't exceed the rated lines capacity or it will snap. It isn't a problem if say you are using 40lb braid and your reel can only put out 10lb drag, if that is the case you will just get spooled and once that happens you will be still connected unless it is a really big fish,  also the angle of the line will also increase the drag to so when the fish runs away from you and then does a 90 degree  and keeps going the belly of the line will increase the drag too.

You still have to play with drags no matter which reel you use, just that the live liners/bait feeders give you a few more options which are easier to preset, but they do cost a bit more and are a little bit heavier that the standard reels.
As I mentioned once before you have to choose a reel/rod that is comfortable for you to use  but still do the job you want.

If pain persists please consult your health care professional... 😂

Ooh that sounds handy - I am currently sort of trying to do that manually with the drag - adjusting it all the time.  But that is also because the reel I am using temporarily is horrible.

I believe the style of reel Ed. is talking about is a baitrunner reel, Kat.
These reels are very similar to spinning reels, but there is a switch you flick which makes the line just come out of the reel with no pressure. It is especially good for fishing when you have a rod stuck in a rod holder, and then the fish can run with no pressure on.
By having the line coming out free, when you switch the baitrunner 'function' off, you will be put into normal drag (like Ed. explained well above) and start fighting the fish. I can show you a picture of one if it helps tomorrow, Kat (in fact, did that series of pics/vids I made in one of my above posts help at all?)
Cheers Hamish 🙂 

Some fish like to grab a bait and swim away without swallowing it so it lets them run and once it is firmly in their mouth or swallowed you just strike with the preset main drag in an instant.

Ooh my thread is HOT! Lol

Yes that happened to me last weekend - got something big hooked up - no idea what and panicked, tightened drag and snap.  You live and learn

Thanks.  BTW I am pretty sure it was your tips on catching Bream that increased my hook up rate and catch rate.  

OMG Hamish.  I have been meaning to thank you!!... and say I will have to look more closely at the cleaning tips when I have finished with the reel decision.  I plan on being at BCF first thing morning so I can get a reel and go fishing as it is my last chance until Monday or later.  Thanks so much Hamish.  

There isn't anything wrong with them, especially for someone fishing with baits predominately. I don't often use the function on mine (just set the drag loose 🙂) but if using lures you may want to just get a normal spinning reel...
Lures can still be flicked on a bait-runner... It's just not what they're meant for.
Cheers Hamish