"Jim" wrote in message
om...
I've been reading many posts made over the past months regarding bait
cast reels, their pro's and con's, and proper technique. Glad I did.

***Hi Jim, welcome to the world of baitcasting, with all of it's benefits
and frustrations.

I just treated myself to my first bait cast reel and, based on many of
your suggestions, went with a Shimano Curado. I picked up the Curado
and a BPS Extreme combo for $169. I've been using the Shimano Sahara
spinning reels for some time and like them (one on a BPS Extreme and
one one a BPS Bionic Blade), so it wasn't much of a stretch to go with
this bait cast combo.

***An excellent choice in reels.

For learning purposes I had the reel loaded with 17lb mono. I
positioned all of the plastic "active brakes" to the on position,
grabbed about a 1/2 ounce worth of plastic bait, and headed to the
pond behind my house for some casting practice. Someone should have
had a movie camera running because that's when the comedy began.

***That's the way it always is. There's never a camera around when you need
one. But cheer up, it gets better, all you need is practice, practice,
practice.

I remembered someone mentioning the cast control knob and that it
should be adjusted such that the lure gently falls to the
ground/water/floor when the spool is released. Ok, I held the rod up,
released the spool, watched the lure fall quickly to the ground, and
then watched my first overrun! Uh, gee, maybe I should have had my
thumb on the spool just in case the cast control was too loose?

***For my clients that are new to baitcasting, I adjust my reels with the
rod held horizontal, then adjust the cast control so that there's just
barely a loop of loose line when the lure hits the ground.

Score so far: 1 overrun - 0 casts to the water.

Now, anyone who grew up on spincast reels knows that the push button
on the reel locks the line when fully depressed - right? And a bait
cast reel probably does the same thing - right? Wrong! So I push the
clutch bar, swing the rod behind me and discover the lure impacting
the bank behind me. Plus, you know it, of course the spool is spinning
and creating the second overrun.

***LOL, seen that, picked out the results......

Score so far: 2 overruns - 0 casts to the water.

While I have been using nothing but spinning reels for a while, they
don't have the push button/clutch bar, so there has been nothing to
erase my spincast memory of thumb timing. While I now had the "clutch
bar does not lock the spool" code broken, the release timing was whole
other lesson to learn.

***For now, concentrate on just getting the lure out there. Don't worry
about flat trajectories, that will come with time. Make those high, lobbing
casts for now, they're pretty easy to do.

On my second attempt at making a cast I had my thumb positioned to
depress the clutch bar and instantly contact the spool, thus holding
it from rotating. I made a beautiful overhead cast, letting go of the
spool about the same time in the swing that I would have let go of the
button on the spincast reel - and made resounding thumb on the ground
with the lure just a few feet in front of me! You know what happens
to the spool when the lure stops like that? Right, it keeps going. I
did react with my thumb but was still looking out over the water for a
fraction of a second, expecting to see the lure flying across the
water, and didn't quite react in time.

***It's all in the timing and how you're snapping the rod. I prefer to
teach clients new to baitcasting the overhead cast. I've seen too many
clients that could "only" cast sidearm. I have the chips in my outboard
cowl, console and windshield to prove that. I've also had many lures come
whizzing dangerously close to me, so stick with the overhead cast, it's a
little more difficult to learn the timing, but it's FAR safer!

Sore so far: 3 overruns - 0 casts to the water.

Had that cast gone just another foot or so, I would have made the
water! The next cast was about 10 feet longer and I'd finally made the
water.

Fortunately, I'm not totally inept and was making some very good casts
before heading back to the house about an hour later. I only had one
more overrun and caught it in time to make it a small one. The hardest
part to get through my head was how early in the cast you need to
release the spool.

***It's a biggie, there's no doubt about it.

Just thought I'd share this to ease the frustration of others new to
bait cast reels. For me, it's the lake tomorrow and then, after I've
built my confidence with this monofilament, some better line. I'll bet
some of the super braids will cast further.

***It's hard to say if you'll get longer casts with a superbraid or not,
you'll get conflicting reports on that. Personally, I've found that I can
cast further with PowerPro, but I've heard just the opposite as well. A
couple of the things that I do like about braid over mono, especially for
beginners is that backlashes (for me at least) seem easier to pick out. A
problem with mono is that in the event of a particularly bad backlash, the
line is going to be kinked, thus weakening it. This means that if you're
going to be using that line for fishing, you run the risks of break-offs
much easier. With braid, it doesn't matter if it's kinked or not, it still
has the same break strength. Just remember, to get line that has a diameter
similar to what you'd be using with mono. I've found that 30-50 pound is
pretty easy to get backlashes out.

Are the braided lines more problematic regarding cutting in or
overruns?

***As far as the over-runs, read above. Cutting in is only a problem if the
line is put on the spool too loose to begin with. When I spool new line, I
run the line through the jaws of a vise that have been padded with a towel
that's been folded over a couple of times. Then I tighten the jaws until
I'm just barely able to wind the line on the spool with the drag cranked
down tight. That way, I know the line is on tight and cut-ins won't be a
problem. Eventually, the line will loosen up on the spool from fishing, at
that point, I'll tie on a deep diving crankbait and while motoring away,
releasing line until I'm back down to packed line. At that point, I'll shut
down the motor (otherwise, I'd be trolling and that's illegal on most of my
waters) and crank the heavily resisting bait back in. Either that or I'll
tie the end to a fencepost or something similarly solid and back up, once
down to packed line, I then slowly reel the line back on with a lot of
tension.

Good luck and keep at it.
--
Steve @ OutdoorFrontiers
http://www.outdoorfrontiers.com
G & S Guide Service and Custom Rods
http://www.herefishyfishy.com

JimC