Who uses a baitcaster?

S

SuzukiGS750EZ

Joined
Dec 30, 2008
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So who here uses a baitcaster? What type of fishing do you do with it and whats the setup like?

I have three. A shimano chronarch 201e6 on a st croix triumph with 30lb green powerpro.
Another is an Abu Garcia revo sx on a berkley im6 lightening rod with 50lb green powerpro.
The last one is an 11 year old quantum accurist pt on a Shakespeare ugly stik with 50lb green powerpro.

I do a lot of bass fishing with them but will also fish for pickerel.
 
I have a couple quantum accurists, great reels, never have had a problem with them. I use them on medium/heavy action rods and 20 lb hybrid line or 50lb braid for use with crank baits for bass and such. They are also good with spinnerbaits.
I also have bigger baitcasters for big fish but don't use them all that much.

Overall I like spinning reels and spincasters better but neither can handle crankbaits as well as baitcasters can.
 
I probably have 20. My favorites are the Shimano Curados. I use them for everything except for lures lighter than 1/8 ounce.I fish for bass,cats, carp, walleye... anything that swims
 
I have been using a diawa millionare series for 15 years for salmon and steelhead fishing and last year lucked into 2 left handed saltwater quantum cabo's
for 60 bucks a piece!!!!
Almost nobody uses a coffee grinder for river fishing salmon around here, sure sign of a rookie and try not to get a spot near them unless unraveling tangles is something you crave.

For trout, I flyfish or use an ultralight spinning rod with 4 or 6lb test
 
Brad "the butcher";10528524 said:
Almost nobody uses a coffee grinder for river fishing salmon around here, sure sign of a rookie and try not to get a spot near them unless unraveling tangles is something you crave.
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I dont understand.
 
I am a baitcaster user now. I have a curado with 30lb power pro on it and a couple Pflueger Patriarchs with 50lb Suffix 832 on them that I use for big northern pike a big baits.
 
I've fished spinning reals my whole life as well as a fly fishing. Last year I bought a Curado and put it on a G Loomis rod. I like it ok, just need to get use to how high maintenance they are as far as tangles and the braking system.
 
Eh. Here's a tip though to make learning a baitcaster easier. First off, back off all brakes. Put them on freespool, 0, or whatever no brakes on your system is. Adjust the spool tension knob so that the bait falls slowly and when it touches the floor, it doesn't pay out anymore line. You want your rod tip at about 10 o'clock. Now set your brakes 3/4 of the way, or some shimano systems require you to move pins in and out. Set 4/6 pins or whatever they are. Now when you go to cast, make sure that the baitcasters handle faces towards the ground throughout the cast and follow through with it the same way. This allows line to pay out straight, and also makes for a more precise drop of the bait. If it's straight up and down, the rod makes such an angle that it rockets the bait into the ground. Now before the bait hits the water, start thumbing the spool, because as the bait hits the water, the spool doesn't know this and continues to push out line, which causes what people call a backlash. A backlash if you do get it is simple to fix. Simply hold the line very tightly in your non reeling hand and reel a layers worth of line overtop of the backlash. Now when that's done, back off the drag (if you push down the spool release button and pull and it comes free, you may end up causing another backlash... ask me how i know :) ) and pull the line out. Should come out! If not, pull at the tangle where the line stops freeing up. I find with people beginning braid is the best choice. Braid doesn't make horrible non removeable backlashes and tends to come out easier.
 
I use them and love them

I have a a cheaper one fromm walmart (cant remember brand, but says in truck with pack rod), a quantum code, and a plfueger trion (which i love)

Suzuki is right about learning as well, good idea to start with no brake. Then again, I learned how to use one on a reel with no magnetic brake or the like.

I now throw mine with the magnetic brake 75% on or so and the tension knob so loose that without a brake i can get a backlash just by letting drop to the ground...but thats how i like it
 
I have several, but my Abu Garcia Revo SX is my favorite. I have some Daiwa's (nothing high end), an older Pfluger President that is quite nice, and I use P-line Floroclear which is a mono with a fluorocarbon outer layer around 15 or 17 lbs for Baitcasters 6,8,10 for spinning. I large mouth fish mostly, actually getting the itch right now. Throwing a lip-less crank-bait on my Revo SX is my favorite late winter early spring tactic. I have one setup with 50lb braid for flipping, and another with fluorocarbon for frogging. Knives have taken over as to where my spending money gets spent, otherwise it may have been a Daiwa Zillion.
 
crazyengineer said:
I use them and love them

I have a a cheaper one fromm walmart (cant remember brand, but says in truck with pack rod), a quantum code, and a plfueger trion (which i love)

Suzuki is right about learning as well, good idea to start with no brake. Then again, I learned how to use one on a reel with no magnetic brake or the like.

I now throw mine with the magnetic brake 75% on or so and the tension knob so loose that without a brake i can get a backlash just by letting drop to the ground...but thats how i like it
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I run my spool tension knob loose also, i don't think i've set it for any specific bait since i got any of those reels. It's just there. I can even cast smaller rapalas or inline spinners with any of those reels. Brakes i only have a minimum of brakes on, but no brakes i just asking for trouble when the wind comes around. Nobody is perfect, we all get backlashes, or as i call them "professional over run"
 
Coffee grinder?
Around the NE that's what spinning reels were called when they first got popular way back when.
:dunno:

I like my bait casters.
They are better winches or more efficient winches and they deal with reeling slack line better than spinning reels.
If you move the bait/lure with the rod tip (sluggo, jigs, worms) the casting reel is the way to go.
Little more accurate to cast too. At least for me.

Abu3C5Mags.jpg


I have 2 spinning reels that I still use.
A big shimano spheros for the beach and a smaller shimano sahara(?) for my winter fishing.
Cold weather striper fishing, I'll use a casting rod and a spinning rod to keep my hands warm.
Seems like the rod hand gets cold first, this way I can alternate.

As for learning to cast them.
Just keep at it.
I got my first Abu in 82...fought with it bass fishing that entire summer... kept going back to the spinning rod.
Didn't get good with it until I did 2 things...
1. Left the spinner home.
2. Didn't throw anything under 1/4 oz with it. Tried to stick with 3/8 and 1/2s.

Much easier to learn with heavier weights and a slower rod.
 
I agree about leaving all other rods at home. If you really want to fish you have no other option. Just like driving standard. If you leave yourself. I other choice, you'll learn.
 
Bass fishing is my favorite hobby by a mile but I also love to Bream fish in the summer and fish for the Stripe bass when the time is right. Different gear is needed for all these different fish so I have a lot of variety in my tackle.
First my most used bass rods
Powell 7'10" Flipping Stick w/ Shimano Citica 201E #20 P-Line 100% Flourocarbon
Powell 7'3" Frog Rod w/ Shimano Citica 201E #50 P-Line braid
Powell 7'0" "All Purpose" w/ Shimano Citica 201E #15 P-Line CXX Green
Powell 7'0" Crankbait Rod w/ Shimano Citica 201E #12 P-Line CXX Green
Powell 6'8" Spinning Rod w/ Shimano Symetre 3000 #10 P-Line Halo green
If I feel like using my higher end gear I have;
GLoomis 7'11" GLX flipping stick I use different reels here depending on how I feel
GLoomis 7'0" Crankbait rod w/ Calcutta TE DC 201
GLoomis 7'0" IMX casting rod w/ Calais DC 201
GLoomis 6'6" IMX casting rod again I use different reels here
Shimano Cumara 7'2" spinning rod w/ Shimano Stella 3000FD
Shimano Cumara 7'7" Reaction rod w/ either Calcutta DC or Chronarch 201B
I have more tackle than this but these are the ones that I mainly use.
 
SuzukiGS750EZ said:
I run my spool tension knob loose also, i don't think i've set it for any specific bait since i got any of those reels. It's just there. I can even cast smaller rapalas or inline spinners with any of those reels. Brakes i only have a minimum of brakes on, but no brakes i just asking for trouble when the wind comes around. Nobody is perfect, we all get backlashes, or as i call them "professional over run"
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"professional over run".....i believe i will have to steal that from you.

ya.....to this day i cant throw the real small rapalas, but can do well on some of the heaver inlines. If I need to throw those, i have a spinning reel on a 7.5 ft spin/fly rod. works great
 
i have a lot of rods. i have bought a lot of reels. what i will never do again is buy another baitcasting reel that is less than 90 bucks. everytime i buy one in the 40-90 $$ range they only last a year or 2. if i am very lucky maybe 3 years. they ALWAYS go to crap! so i started replacing them with shimano citica's. i do have a cabelas tourney baitcasting reel i bought for around 60-80 bucks and it has lasted me 2 yrs so far, this year being year 3. i picked it up a few days ago to clean it and sure enough there is a clicking and ticking issues inside it. this maybe the last year for it...

i had a quantum PT 200$ reel that has lasted me 5-7yrs and i just put it away bc the drag is screwing up on it and i am not sure how to fix it. that one was never cleaned in all its life. i do clean the others.
 
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