A Reel Affair

[Gordie]

G'day folks.
For some time I have had a love affair with two classy little baitcasters, one Sweedish and one Japanese.

Like all classy women they let me down at times, usually when I give them a loose rein and they are not keept firmly under the thumb.

The are well serviced by me as I think I can do a better job than the professionals.

Lost track of what I was writing this for for a second.

Thats right. My birdnests come when I am casting too light with too free a spool I think.

My limit appears to be 6 grams and after this I revert to a spinning reel.
Is that about all I can expect ?

Regards Gordon

[oldboot]

I'm no batcaster wizzard but I'd say you are close to the money.

Give me a 4" alvey and some 6lb platinum & I'll cast a 2/0 hook...... but it seems the limit with a bait caster is arround 5-6-7 gramms.
How far you can push that limit depends on how soft the rod is #1, how light the line is and how light the baitcaster will run.

I baught an old shakesphere of ebay for $20 to learn on and found if casts much better now since I stripped and cleaned it and lubed it only with oil.
I'd probaly get it even better if I laid my hands on some teflon oil.

When I'm pushing the issue I find I have agreat deal of difficulty casting overhead......I can cast for hand much lighter than overhead......overhead too stiff a rod and too light a weight I just peg em into the ground about 10ft in front.

Ya see these yanks chucking lures wwith bait casters all sorts of ways... and wonder why cant I do that......then you find out how much the lure they are chucking weighs.......yeh.... 20 30 40 grammes....... yeh right.

If you are having difficulty chucking light stuff and still want a bait caster feel, have a go at a closed face reel.....these things are great, I don't know whay they never took on in this counrty...very popular in the US and the UK.

cheers

[Gordie]

I still use grease where I found grease had been from new.

Never been game to use oil only. No chance of doing damage ?

Gordon

[bayfisher]

To probably comes down to having the correct reel and rod for the job, most baitcaster rods and reels arent meant to throw even 6g. I have a pixy on a extra light smith baitcasting rod that can easily cast that sort of weight and much less. You will find a lot of USA anglers use similar gear to toss weights all the way down to about 2g, dont get me wrong however im not advocating using baitcasters for extra light weights It can be tricky and fustrating with a bit of wind and I certainly find it easier with a spin reel but the option is there.

Cheers Chris

[Gordie]

I see what you blokes are talking about.

I fish freshwater, sometimes for Barra so I have rigs to suit.

I mainly fish for Bass, in Somerset and I scale down my rigs and line to suit, but, there are Cod also and to avoid being smashed off I am not game to go too light in braid strength. So I think I have reached my lure weight limit.

What do you fella's lube your bait casters with, oil only or grease on the heavy gears.

I heard some years ago of comp, fishers that completly degrease a new reel and put their own light oil in. I would like to try it, but wouldn't mind a bit of confirmation first.

Thanks for all the above.

Gordon

[Jungle Jim]

G'day folks.
For some time I have had a love affair with two classy little baitcasters, one Sweedish and one Japanese.

Like all classy women they let me down at times, usually when I give them a loose rein and they are not keept firmly under the thumb.

The are well serviced by me as I think I can do a better job than the professionals.

Lost track of what I was writing this for for a second.

Thats right. My birdnests come when I am casting too light with too free a spool I think.

My limit appears to be 6 grams and after this I revert to a spinning reel.
Is that about all I can expect ?

Regards Gordon

Would you care to tell us the names of your Swedish and Japanese lady friends?

Some of the younger Japanese ladies can do things that will blow your mind. Mind you recently i spent some time in the company of a mature Swedish lass and boy could she teach me a thing or two.


To probably comes down to having the correct reel and rod for the job, .........................



Cheers Chris
Chris has hit it on the head. In regards to the overall package to deliver the lure.

A stock daiwa pixy on a loomis cbr 783 casts a jackal chubby (4gr) a mile. I was fortunate enough to have a few cast of a friends and was gobsmacked by how far and how easily it cast such light weights. I’m talking wind assisted 25+ m easy. I thought it would be a different story directly into the wind. So i faced directly into what would be maybe 10+kn wind..... dialled in the mag-force and cast 15+m straight into the wind. Keeping in mind it was a loan rod and reel and i had no experience with it....... i was blown away. With more time and practice 2.5gr is definitely on the cards.

I was equally impressed by an abu 2500c mated to a daiwa heartland rod on the few casts i had with her before (reluctantly:'( ) handing her back.

JIM

[Dan_23]

Yep most modern baicasters like Pixy, Alphas R etc can cast Sx40s or any other 2-3 gram lure no worries.

[kevvie]

Yep most modern baicasters like Pixy, Alphas R etc can cast Sx40s or any other 2-3 gram lure no worries.


But can they cast further than a spin reel at 2-3 grams???

I've never tried it so i can't comment but if it can't it sort of defeats the purpose.

[Jungle Jim]

But can they cast further than a spin reel at 2-3 grams???

I've never tried it so i can't comment but if it can't it sort of defeats the purpose.

I’m glad someone brought up " can they cast further...." which is a valid point but it also highlights the issue of what defines a good cast??

My idea of a good cast is most likely not the same as everyone else.

For a bloke in the middle of a dam fishing for schooled up fish trying to pull the lure through the school for the longest time possible....he most likely wants maximum distance in his casts. Likewise those that are point casting for barra. longer casts...... sit further off the point...and cover more water.

Guys that fish in super tight snags with over hangs might want something that can be cast and more importantly stopped with maximum precision. Yet the entire cast might be 20m max. For them dropping it on the spot is a good cast.

Probably the biggest thing i noticed when casting the pixy combo was how little thumb pressure it took to “drop” the lure on the spot. Im no engineer but this is most likely a direct result of less inertia requiring less force to slow it down.

Earlier i mentioned how far the chubby could be cast because i thought it was most relevant to Gordies query about how much more he could expect when casting 6 gr.

Hope it helped all the same.

In fact I even know of a way to cast a 0.5 gr lure 75+feet........... :-X

[oldboot]

I do not think there is any doubt that you could cast further with a equavalent egg beater outfit than a bait caster.

I am still tossing the issue of usefullness of small baitcasters. I think at one time they had the edge over other reels for repiticious casts with reasonable weights. And a lot of the baitcast mantra is technical snobery.
Turn up at some places with a spinn reel and you simply will not be taken seriously.
Turn up with an alvey and they will laugh it you.

I am playing with bait casters because..... to a certain extent it is expected and I feel I should be proficient with one.

But with spinn reels the way they are now, the drags are good and the cranking power likewise, with braid there are no line capacity problems.

I recon I can cast a spin reel just as accurately as a bait caster as long as the lure weight stays under 20 ish grammes.

This is because I cast off the side of the spool and not off the rod but, This way there is no slack loop in the line and I can feather and stop the flow of line with my index finger...... and I dont have to change hands to reel in.

As the weight increases it gets more and more difficult to hold the line against the edge of the spool with the index finger resulting in early releases.

So for most of the small lures under 10 gramms, thre is no way I would fish a bait caster.

as for the bigger lures like the 100mm pluss barra lures, I'm still thinking about the bait caster.

Now when we start talking about the benifit of a specific type of equipment there is absolutely no point talking about top end product like $400 to $500 rods with $500 to $600 reels, because they are not typical of the technology nor is this a situation that would be typical of the majority of tackle users.

I have a shakesphere bait caster on an uggly stick rod that would have cost $100 to $150 If I had paid full price and I have a NEW ;D abu 6600 on an abu rod woth 30Lb braid that would have cost me arround $350 all up including braid IF I'd have paid full price. ( I didn't pay anything like that for either;D ;D ).

The performance of both of these outfits would be typical of what I would expect from most set ups people would be using.

I can cast 15 grammes arround 25 to 30 meters with reliabilty.
I can get 7 grammes to go about 20 meters but only reliably forhand.

Give me one of my spin rigs and I will cast that 7 grammes 25 to 30 meters no problem, and probaly more accuately , AND i will get more casts in because i am not changing hands AND... AND I wont be clearing birds nests every 10 minutes.

AND I can cast that egg beater overhand, forehand, underhand, bow cast , into the wind, straight into a wall and a whole pile of other things including casting with my back against a wall.
The only thing I cant get is backhand casting, I can cast but there is no way of knowing where it will go.

There is no hope of me getting that sort of flexibility with a baitcaster.

If you want to talk about distance casting light weights.... you simply can not touch a well tuned alvey, accuracy may be a bit of a chalencge and repitition Hmmm.

But if I was casting 2 grammes and had a choice of a bait caster and an alvey......Ooo, Ahhhh.....mmmmm, I think Id be more interested in fishing rather than macrame so I'd go with the alvey.



cheers

[Hardb8]

What do you fella's lube your bait casters with, oil only or grease on the heavy gears.

I heard some years ago of comp, fishers that completly degrease a new reel and put their own light oil in. I would like to try it, but wouldn't mind a bit of confirmation first.


Hi Gordie,
I'm not a competition fisherman,Nor do I cast competitivley,But scince I was a kid,I have been rebuilding my own reels,And have learned a little over the years.

Like you I like to do my own.....I know every single bit of dirt and dust has been removed.And the right ammount of stuff is applied in the right places.Sanding and polishing are done to perfection,And time taken is irrelivent.

A while ago I documented the rebuild of a brand new reel.The documentation could have been a bit better with a few more pics,But it's not too bad.

I am still experimenting with different lubrication types,Even after years of experience with different viscositys and propertys.Today I have my favourites,But still I explore,As new stuff is always coming out.

Click the link below for a bit of a read.

http://www.tackletour.net/TTForums/viewtopic.php?f=50&t=34023

Cheers. B8.

[Gordie]

Thanks for the above fellas, I learn a lot from these pages.

Just run by you some of my rigs. When in danger of something large biting I use a Shimano Barra Mauler with a Curado 300 DSV.

For general Somerset fishing I use a Shimano Bass Raider with a smaller Curado or my favourite an Abu Silver Max. These rigged with 10 lb braid and 12 lb leader.

With these 2, I seem to bottom out at 6 grams of lure. No problem, its probably the quality of the hardware plus the line I am trying to haul off the spool.

I always have a spinning reel with me now.

Just on some thing that Old Boot mentioned about back hand casts.

I have been using Baitcasters for several years now. Just lately I have been taking my son inlaw out and he has picked the casting so quick (never fished much) and I am sure he is better than me with a backhand cast.

All I can put it down to is he is a very good tennis player and a backhand is the most natural shot in tennis. I dont want to take him along anymore.

I will look a little closer at the site that Hardb mentioned, it looks interesting.

I do play with making lures from time to time.

I recently brushed up on fly casting and took my rod and a few flys out to a clear patch and after several casts caught a decent bass. Next cast I was smashed off by what must have been a cod.

So what has evolved from that is for some weeks now I am tying 'lures' to fly design, larger of course and 6-7 grams that I can toss in confined spaces and pick up bass and cod.

If I have any success I will post something with a description if anybody is interested.

Thanks again fellas