Baitcaster Curious

[Northern]

I didn't want to drift the computerized reel thread, but I am curious.

My experience with baitcasters is limited to a handful of hours hucking gigantic musky lures up in Ontario. I have witnessed but not experienced the dreaded backlash. The thumb control seemed pretty instinctive for me, I guess, or it could be that the momentum of a flying yule log kept the line tight enough not to snarl, and/or I'm lucky!

Anyhoo...while I keep a couple baitcasting setups up there, I don't actually know why. As in, what can a baitcaster do that a large spinning reel can't?
When I'm casting a spinning reel for accuracy (like probing shorelines and rockpiles for smallmouth), I fine control distance with the line between my left thumb and forefinger to control where it lands.
Is the baitcaster just to make that control one handed?

 

[Evan B]

I've never really been able to articulate the difference, but there definitely is one. I think the difference on the retrieve is even more profound than the casting. There's just so much more feeling and subtlety in the retrieve, which I especially notice with things like spoons.

I think there's guys here who can probably articulate it much better than I can, but there's very few places I prefer a spinning reel.

 

[Rob Allen]

I've never really been able to articulate the difference, but there definitely is one. I think the difference on the retrieve is even more profound than the casting. There's just so much more feeling and subtlety in the retrieve, which I especially notice with things like spoons.

I think there's guys here who can probably articulate it much better than I can, but there's very few places I prefer a spinning reel.

Baitcasting reels and rods for that matter give better leverage for fighting fish and throwing heay lures and for me are much more accurate. I only use spinning rods for light,delicate presentations. Or if I am fishing from shore in brushy areas, which is pretty much never.

 

[Dr. Magill]

A bait caster allows you to thumb the cast, thumb to feed line in the drift, thumb the drag, eliminates line twist.
I’ve fished direct drive baitcasters and thought they fished really well. Like everything else you need to develop a skill set to really appreciate one

 

[_WW_]

One thing I can do with a baitcaster that is not as instinctive with a spinning reel is the swing cast. It goes like this; while facing down river and using the arm on the river side of the body, you swing the rod out in front of you from bank side towards the river. Your offering sails out low across the water instead of the vertical arc that comes with an overhead cast.

Why do it? It nearly eliminates any backlash because it is a slower action. And you never get rain down your sleeve. It works great in smaller rivers or tight runs in larger rivers. You see bank fishing steelheaders do it a lot which is where I picked it up. And I can do it with either hand.

I also think that in general the baitcaster gets the offering out there with less slack line, if any, to pick up.

 

[Dr. Magill]

One thing I can do with a baitcaster that is not as instinctive with a spinning reel is the swing cast. It goes like this; while facing down river and using the arm on the river side of the body, you swing the rod out in front of you from bank side towards the river. Your offering sails out low across the water instead of the vertical arc that comes with an overhead cast.

Why do it? It nearly eliminates any backlash because it is a slower action. And you never get rain down your sleeve. It works great in smaller rivers or tight runs in larger rivers. You see bank fishing steelheaders do it a lot which is where I picked it up. And I can do it with either hand.

I also think that in general the baitcaster gets the offering out there with less slack line, if any, to pick up.

There you go
I flipped spinners underhand with a Calcutta and a bass rod
Awesome

 

[Northern]

Yah, ok. I can see how it would be easier to control flipping, and allow more feel during a retrieve.
Also, much easier to cast and fish if you only have one hand free, like when you're driving the boat.

Excellent, guys! Now I have an excuse to buy more stuff
Thanks!

 

[Dustin Chromers]

Rob explained it pretty well. Bait casters are better with heavier stuff and things that don't spin in the air with weight like fixed float rigs. I prefer a bait caster for spinners and plugs but prefer a spinning setup for most float fishing barring heavier slider setups and twitching jigs. Anything light a spinning reel is in general easier to deal with offering greater distance. Both have strengths and weaknesses. For spoon fishing I prefer the control of the bait caster which is what I use one for most of the time.

 

[Rob Allen]

Rob explained it pretty well. Bait casters are better with heavier stuff and things that don't spin in the air with weight like fixed float rigs. I prefer a bait caster for spinners and plugs but prefer a spinning setup for most float fishing barring heavier slider setups and twitching jigs. Anything light a spinning reel is in general easier to deal with offering greater distance. Both have strengths and weaknesses. For spoon fishing I prefer the control of the bait caster which is what I use one for most of the time.

I prefer drift fishing to bobber fishing but applications using long leaders like with fixed floats a spinning rod is better.
Casting reels need all the weight loading the rod at start up. Spinning rods can deal with slack line at start up then have a sudden load part way through the casting swing.

 

[O' Clarkii Stomias]

To me properly fishing a spoon with a bait caster for steelhead takes every bit of skill as grease lining a fly with a two hander. Perhaps even more.

 

[Rob Allen]

To me properly fishing a spoon with a bait caster for steelhead takes every bit of skill as grease lining a fly with a two hander. Perhaps even more.

I fish spoons on a greased line presentation, that is to say relatively drag free and mostly down stream and less across yet also not bounced along the bottom like they do on the lower Deschutes.

I cast up and across and reel it just slightly faster than the current , usually casting in such a way as to "drift" by specific targets.
I know lots of people cast down and across and let it swing like a fly, but I personally hate fishing that way. When I fish a spoon, I'm not covering water. I'm hunting....

 

[O' Clarkii Stomias]

I fish spoons on a greased line presentation, that is to say relatively drag free and mostly down stream and less across yet also not bounced along the bottom like they do on the lower Deschutes.

I cast up and across and reel it just slightly faster than the current , usually casting in such a way as to "drift" by specific targets.
I know lots of people cast down and across and let it swing like a fly, but I personally hate fishing that way. When I fish a spoon, I'm not covering water. I'm hunting....

Learning to fish a spoon greatly improved my fly presentations.

 

[Evan B]

To me properly fishing a spoon with a bait caster for steelhead takes every bit of skill as grease lining a fly with a two hander. Perhaps even more.

Learning to fish spoons literally changed the way I think about fishing rivers. Such a profound experience, and that isn't hyperbole.

 

[Smalma]

I second the comments of those above. However, the vast majority of my bait casters are either direct drive or have a direct drive feature. What that means is that essentially my thumb becomes the drag. The ability to adjust the drag with an instant change of the thumb pressure while a cluster to learn has great advantages with fish like salmon and steelhead. That said direct drive bait casters are now impossible to find new. Fortunately before the start of this century I stockpiled what I hoped would be a life time supply. To date have burned through about 1/2 of that supply so I think I good.

Curt

 

[Northern]

I second the comments of those above. However, the vast majority of my bait casters are either direct drive or have a direct drive feature. What that means is that essentially my thumb becomes the drag. The ability to adjust the drag with an instant change of the thumb pressure while a cluster to learn has great advantages with fish like salmon and steelhead. That said direct drive bait casters are now impossible to find new. Fortunately before the start of this century I stockpiled what I hoped would be a life time supply. To date have burned through about 1/2 of that supply so I think I good.

Curt

I think the one that I do have here in WA is direct drive. I'm not positive because I've never fished it. I "found" it after watching a chum fisherman break into a fit of quite creative cursing, rip it off his rod, and hurl it out into the estuary. I retrieved it the next day at low tide. It was snarled up, but appears perfectly functional if somewhat cheap.

 

[Scudley Do Right]

I think the one that I do have here in WA is direct drive. I'm not positive because I've never fished it. I "found" it after watching a chum fisherman break into a fit of quite creative cursing, rip it off his rod, and hurl it out into the estuary. I retrieved it the next day at low tide. It was snarled up, but appears perfectly functional if somewhat cheap.

Any older reel without instant anti-reverse can be a direct drive reel. Rip the cog out and crank the drag down with channel locks.

 

[Rob Allen]

I just want a Shimano bantam 200 with the rosewood Handels

 

[Dr. Magill]

I just want a Shimano bantam 200 with the rosewood Handels

I might have one
I’ll look

 

[Paige]

I just want a Shimano bantam 200 with the rosewood Handels

Easily found on ebay.

 

[SurfnFish]

offloading my old Ambassadeur C3 for a Shimano Lexa was a significant upgrade to my jig rod outfit, used on a deep, narrow bank seam in tidewater where a swung fly won't reach the bottom stacked fall run kings. On the fun factor bobber down on 25# of bright chrome is pretty damn close to that tug on the swing.