Overheads vs spinners!

[Sean]

People always say 'once you get the hang of them overheads cast further than spinning reels' I think this is a load of crap!! I have NEVER seen anyone with an overhead even come close to outcasting me with a spinner.Im not trying to blow my trumpet but i think when it comes to casting lures you are far better off with a threadline reel. What do you all think??

[CHRIS_aka_GWH]

proper casting overheads in the hands of an experienced caster will cast a bloody long way. Overheads held the world casting records until the Alvey brothers proved their reels to be better.

The reason - with well lubed bearings they are virtually frictionless with little line slap & because the line comes off in a straight line there is little coiling of the line in the air that causes air resistance.

I had difficulty believing until I met a Sth African bloke in the surf at a Straddie Classic 2 yrs back with an overhead setup & BOY on a 14ft rod (yep big rod) he could throw a lure heaps further than I could on a 13fter with 7inch alvey.

We had a great cultural exchange for about 1/2hr. Towards the end & after comparing casts & swapping gear etc for a go he said he could not understand why so many Aussies in the classic used Alveys when overhead outfits could cast that way. Tongue in cheek, I promptly dropped my alvey in the sandy suds & asked him to do the same so we could then compare casts again afterward - he declined saying he got the point.

Overhead casting reels ( & there is diferences between overheads built for casting, the baitcasters, trolling & bottom bashing etc) IN THE RIGHT HANDS will outcast a spinnning reel. As more line comes off a spinner the friction & slap on the spool increases greatly - a lesser factor on alveys - not a factor on overheads.

For me - I'll keep my Alveys

seeyainthesurf,

chris.

[spike2]

for me it s not so much how far l can cast but how acurately and how effortless the casting is l find when casting to snags the over heads can be stopped more accurately ,they are better suited to one handed casting when your doing hundreds of casts in a session l find there is less fatigue.
having said that l still use an penn spinner for my rock fishing the environment and the head winds l find is just too tuff for overheads .there is room for both overheads and spinner reels l think its horses for coarses
cheers

[SteveCan]

No doubt that spinners are easy to use and that they can cast a wide variety of weights a fair distance. But given the right conditions I reckon you can cast further with an overhead.

One day the fishing was slow so we started to muck around a bit. I mounted an abu 4600 on my spinning rod and started casting a 30g chrome slice on the sandflat. After a while I started getting the hang of it and was quite impressed with the distance we were getting. I put the spinner (baitrunner 4500b) back on and was able to cast the chrome further than the abu.

Then shifted to a 50g plug which increased the distance that the spinner went - but the extra grams made all the difference to the overhead - consistently outcasting the spinner with the heavier weight.

I have to admit that I am a complete tyro when it comes to casting overheads, but it was easier than I expected. the main points I learned was that light weight or a headwind will put you in birdnest territory, but get heavier and you are in business with an overhead.

Cheers
Steve.

[Jonli]

I am sure some of you have heard of spinning reel that is designed solely for surfcasting ? Daiwa and Shimano make them , check ; www.plat.co.jp/english/surf/top.htm

These spinning reels are purpose built for casting long distance very much like overhead reels of the same purpose . The line slapping is minimised with the tapered spool design .

As for other spinning reels , most are designed for general fishing and yes I agree that baitcaster can achieve more accuracy in the hand of one with educated thumb , on the other side , spinning is almost foolproof in any condition .

In my opinion , Baitrunner is not designed for casting to start with while Stradic for example is designed for casting . If you go higher in quality then you will find Stella can be purchased with various sparespools to accomodate casting longer distance . The dia. of the lip of the spool is smaller than that of the spool itself , you get less capacity though .

I have both reels , a few of them each but of late I have been using my spinning reels more and more , for everything except trolling .

In my own word , using tennis term ;
when casting the distance , using spinning is like lobbing while using conventional is like half volleying .

Jon .

[spinna]

Each to their own

If you take the time to learn how to use an overhead properly and do not try to cast very light weights to soon they are the way to go. As most people here know i am a big big ABU fan i have three 7000 two 5000 two 6500. My first ABU was a 5000 and yes i had 1 or 2 nests well heaps but practice as they say makes perfect. I still from time to time get a nest but i can put that sucker with in 300mm from where i want it to go . Its not how far you can cast but its how accurate you are and the old overhead wins hands down


cheers spinna

[fishy_phil]

gday fellas
i can cast my threadline to within 30 cm of where i want it and i can do it with my baitcaster but prefer the threadline because they can cast the lures easier and the light lures period.
btw im using a calcutta 100 on g loomis rod dont remember what model and 4lb fireline on both outfits... there is no real differance until the light weight lures come out to play. the threadline is a daiwa regal x 2500 i think on a shimano backbone rod bb 662 i think the model is. btw this rod after 3 1/2 years service is stuffed because the join has been worn back far enough so the top half of the rod held together with string and eventually got araldited together. so the moral...dont buy a 2 piece that has graphite as the joiner because it will and does wear down.
just a few thoughts
cheers
phil