newbie Baitcast questions

A

adamm

Joined
Nov 13, 2008
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After reading the baitcasting rod and real thread.i decied to do some research on fishing with bait casting rods and have come up with a few questions. What type of lures work best with baitcasting over spinning rods? Is there a type of fishing that doesnt work well with this type of rod? Iv noticed that most rods are rated for lure under 1/4 oz. why is that? Is light lure fishing good for just spinning rods? If i have any more questions ill ask, thanks in advanced
 
adam

1.first what are you fishing for?
2. baitcasters are normally used for 1/8th oz baits and up. 1/4oz of weight on average (depends on what you are fishing for). also the line for baitcasters are usually 12lbs and up.
3. spin reels are normally for line test lbs 4-10 lbs so yes spin reels are usually used for light weight lures.
 
Its just not that simple. I see guys fishing for sturgeon with giant spinning reels from shore with 40lb test.
I fish for salmon on the river with a baitcaster/12ft rod and 50lb braid throwing out 1.5 to 4 ounce sinkers.
My dad fished salmon the same way with a big shimano spinning/10ft rod with 20lb test. I use this reel when we travel to costa rica, mexico etc every two years with 20lb trilene surfcasting off the side away from the tourist beaches. I have a telescoping 11ft rod that fits in the luggage.
Trout with a small quantum spinning 4 to 6lb test and 1/8 to 1/4 oz, with a bobber 1 oz.

Spinning and baitcasting setups are made in many sizes, google surfcasting and you will see some giant spinning set ups. Mostly personal preference based but there are situations where one is better suited than the other.

As hungsolo said...tell us what you want to fish for and the location as well as if you will be in a boat or from shore. That will dictate what you need.
I have been fishing for 36 years and lots of guys around here have that beat. We can steer you towards some good affordable gear and techniques.
 
Brad "the butcher";10807688 said:
Its just not that simple. I see guys fishing for sturgeon with giant spinning reels from shore with 40lb test.
I fish for salmon on the river with a baitcaster/12ft rod and 50lb braid throwing out 1.5 to 4 ounce sinkers.
My dad fished salmon the same way with a big shimano spinning/10ft rod with 20lb test. I use this reel when we travel to costa rica, mexico etc every two years with 20lb trilene surfcasting off the side away from the tourist beaches. I have a telescoping 11ft rod that fits in the luggage.
Trout with a small quantum spinning 4 to 6lb test and 1/8 to 1/4 oz, with a bobber 1 oz.

Spinning and baitcasting setups are made in many sizes, google surfcasting and you will see some giant spinning set ups. Mostly personal preference based but there are situations where one is better suited than the other.

As hungsolo said...tell us what you want to fish for and the location as well as if you will be in a boat or from shore. That will dictate what you need.
I have been fishing for 36 years and lots of guys around here have that beat. We can steer you towards some good affordable gear and techniques.
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what i said about spin reels was mainly based on bass and or pan fishing. he lives in Pa. not too much heavy action fishing going on up there unless he does salt fish.. thats why i asked what he was fishing for first.. i salt water and surf fish. i do have open faced reels that take 10-20lbs test and up. i just dont think thats what he is after
 
Baitcasters reel in slack line better than spinning reels which can get wind (rhymes with bind) knots.
So if you are moving the lure with the rod tip, casting reels shine.
 
For the baitcasting setup ill mainly fishing for bass. I have a rod and have fished with the rod in the past but never have gotton a hang of it.
 
adamm said:
For the baitcasting setup ill mainly fishing for bass. I have a rod and have fished with the rod in the past but never have gotton a hang of it.
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it takes time to learn baitcasters. for YEARS i fished with nothing but open faced spin reels. not until i got into my 20's did i bother to learn baitcasting. dont got too cheap on those bait casting reels either. cheap = more backlashes. you could keep it simple for now and get or keep using an open face reel
 
I did not touch a baitcaster until 8 years ago, took me a couple salmon seasons to be really proficient and back off the casting brake to nothing for good long casts........it takes a practiced touch to feather the reel with your thumb to stop the backlash.

When fishing the river for salmon I bring an extra rod/reel combo pre-tied leaning against my chair. If I get a tangle/broken rod etc, just grab the other one if the salmon are moving(you can tell by the guys hooking up downstream). When the school moves through and nobody is hooking up then spend time detangling. Nothing worse than a 2hr drive, 45min walk to the sandbar to break a rod or ? an hour into fishing.
Last year I loaned my spare to a 18yr old rookie that snapped his rod for half the beer in his cooler on condition he buys it if breaks it. You would not beleive how appreciative he was plus a little 5 min tutorial on dragsetting( he cranked his)casting and playing big fish. It was painful to watch him before he broke his rod.
Two hours later he had his two sockeye and I got 4 cold beers, looking forward to seeing him this year, was a really nice kid.
 
^ cool story about the brew haha's and feesh..... not too many of us down here in the states get to fish for stuff like that. thats why i said what i said about weight of line, open reel vs baitcaster
 
I use a baitcaster 100 per cent of the time that I can get away with it. The timing of the release with the baitcaster is different than with spinning reels and spincasters. Try lobbing a 3/8 ounce lure overhand or sideamed.Release it a little bit early , almost like trying to cast it straight up.You will get the hang of it and be zinging crankbaits in no time.
 
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dip's got it right.
More of a timing thing than a power thing.

I'll add learn by using a heavier lure, like 3/8oz. that will allow you to feel the 'sweet spot' in the timing.
 
If spinners work for you, there is nothing wrong with sticking to a spinner. As for line weaghts, both are found in many sizes, its not a baitcaster for x line/lure weight and a spin caster for something else.

The best thing about a bait caster is you can cast it faster so in the same time frame the baitcaster can have more casts made than a spin setup. Personally I never got the hang of baitcasters, and thus never could "outfish" myself with a spinner.

The only thing that can spoil a day fishing is having problem after problem with casting...But if you can cast them good, absolutly go for them.
 
I have 60+ open face spining rods and 4 baitcasters....Never got to like the baitcasters as I never got good distance from their casts and too many tangle ups. I almost never have a issue with my spinning rods. I find it funny that most of the TV fishermen used baitcasters, but when you see their "authorized" fishing outfits they are always some form of spinning combo with their name and picture all over it!
 
tom19176 said:
I have 60+ open face spining rods and 4 baitcasters....Never got to like the baitcasters as I never got good distance from their casts and too many tangle ups. I almost never have a issue with my spinning rods. I find it funny that most of the TV fishermen used baitcasters, but when you see their "authorized" fishing outfits they are always some form of spinning combo with their name and picture all over it!
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thats bc more people buy open faced than baitcasters. keep in mind your pros and pros on TV still use open face rods. they just use them for finesse presentations with lower diameter line. similar to what i orginally posted in regards to open faced reels and # lines vs baitcaster with whatever # lines.
 
I only use spinner lures on spinning rods!...lol....They work well for me that way
 
OzarkCreekWalker said:
I don't know about you guys but I won't use crankbaits or spinnerbaits on anything BUT baitcasters
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the 2 biggest bass i have ever caught came off a tandem blade spinner on an open face reel i have had for YEARS. i love open face reels for SLOW presentation (as in cranking) since most are geared so low (slow). if you want to slow roll and i mean SLOW roll use a spin reel. most are geared in the lower 5's and in some cases even lower.. most bait casters are in the 6's. you can get slower but if you want dead slow creeping use a spin reel
 
I use both, but prefer baitcasters. I mostly large mouth bass fish. As I have progressed, I lean more towards a rod that is at least 7' long and medium heavy, and a baitcaster is the way to go on that size and strength rod. Of course you cannot expect to throw a beetle spin on that setup, but also have a 5'6" ultra light spinning reel combo for small stuff. Those two would be my two of choice if I could only bring two combos. For me, outside of the really small light stuff, a baitcaster combo can be had to cover it all. I also have a baitcaster designed to throw lighter baits paired to a 7' medium light rod that can throw a lot of stuff most guys prefer a spinning combo. The biggest reason I prefer baitcasters is the ability to throw to cover and the shore and "feather" the spool to drop the lure exactly where I want it. That is very tricky on a spinning reel, although if close enough I can pitch with both equally effectively. Also, with baitcasters there seems to be a wider range of good and bad reels. To me (and maybe I just do not have any high enough end spinning reels), they all feel about the same, as long as the drag is adjustable enough, and the bail functions smoothly, who cares. With baitcasters, you have drag, spool tension, bearings and how smooth the reel is, casting distance, brake systems, and other details that separate a $60 reel from a $200 reel, and you will know the difference between the two. Good luck, and do not give up on baitcasters if you have some problems early on, it is worth it.
 
I mainly fish for bass both smallmouth and largemouth. I find myself using my baitcasters more for largemouth as im full out addicted to the use of spinnerbaits for largemouth. Now that being said i almost always have a spinng rod in my hand when i go for smallmouth because on the end of it is normally a 1/8 oz green pumpkin tube.

I find baitcasters are much more accurate than spinning reels but tossing tubes on erie with a baitcaster might not be the best idea. If im ever using something a 1/4 oz or more its baitcaster time anything less its spinning gear. Thats how i choose which reel to use.
 
Thanks for tgr advice everyone, i bought a baitcasting outfit last week and went out and fish with it for about an hour. I defintly see the advantage in one. I caught 9 and probally would hsve caught more but got a bad birdsnest and called it a day. Im going to try and fish with it as much ad possible this summer so i can get a hang of it.
 
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