Baitcaster V Spinning Reel

[dreaflym]

G'day raiders

just checked some of the surf fishing video on youtube. there are people able to throwing baits and sinkers 200m off the beach. that's crazy! I never can cast my bait over more than 60m. and couple of days ago I saw someone casting at least 100m for jew fish in middle harbour. he was having a long casting spool on his spinning reel.

I was just wondering what's the difference of using baitcaster reel and spinning reel? which reel is tougher? which one gives longer casting distance? Is baitcaster reel easy to handle?(I heard it's a bit tricky handling baitcaster reel) is baitcaster reel and trolling reel the same thing? (they look quite similar though)

I usually do rock fishing with my mates in sydney. I've been using spinning reels and never tried baitcasting reels. any suggestions which reel is better for rock fishing?

Cheers

Edited February 13, 2008 by Dreaflym

[Davy]

I have seen overheads being used off the rocks. ive only fished the stones a few times using a friends alvey combo. from what ive experienced from those sessions, id prefer a spinning reel.

I think the general idea for baitcasters IMO is its accuracy when using lures.

[hottyscotty]

from those youtube vids, a biatcaster seems to be the choice. but when i see the japanese they all use spinning reels achieving similar distances. but i reckon no matter what gear you use, technique is the key. ie learning to do the pendulum cast. i'm still hoping someone will come along and teach me that one.

[slinkymalinky]

hey Scotty,

I had a Kiwi teach me how to pendulum cast years ago... the trick is that they use pretty specific gear. As well as the technique (and believe me, I'm not even close to proficient at it), they use massively powerful rod blanks. The rod my mate was using was about a 12', full graphite blank that could handle cast weights up to about 8 or 10oz from memory (it was a few years ago). Pendulum casting puts massive strain on a rod (and reel and line) and gets extra distance by converting all that extra kinetic energy into the cast.

The rest of his outfit was a spinning reel with mono main line (about 20lb), and a long shock leader of heavy mono (if you don't use a shock leader, you'll probably cut your fingers off with your line). He did a lot of fishing for snapper off beaches on the west coast and could hurl baited rigs about 120-130m. Once I learned how to do it I could manage about 80-90m with his outfit.... goes to show that the technique is critical.

If you want to learn ask a kiwi beach fisho but be prepared to spend big bucks on your gear.

Cheers, Slinky

[macka17]

Hi.

We used to do it years ago at Murray Mouth for the Big butters.

FSU 5120, Tipped to 10ft 6in. 20lb Maxima. and (Myself) ABU 9000 red. Could lob 4 oz Mr Twisters. All Day. to other side of mouth. Then crank 'em back. Varied from 110 to 130 yds. (4120's had a bad habit of cracking off at foregrip) when loading them to cast)

Other rig was 12 ft Sabre (Can't remember model) 20lb Maxima again. With Mitchel 499.Or Big Daiwa Gold. Lobbing 4 oz Wired leads and mullet bait. outside third rollers.

Used to use another line prior to Maxima. Light green. But it stopped being available, (Can't remember name) Maxima came out at about same time, so most of us changed over too. Great soft, casting line. Ande Leader.

Hang 3 to 4 ft off end of rod. More when proficient. Twist body back, to right/left. Back swing till rod fully loaded. then Twist forward again.. belt it out hard. Right arm and SHOULDER. forward. Left arm back to hip at same time. Shoulder gives it the loading. Extending arm gives the speed. Did for me anyway.

Release is practice. High, or flat. (Wind). We used to do it for hrs.

Sometimes I used to think. Please don't hook a biggie. (50 to 80lber) Till you did. Then you weren't sore any more.

This was all over 30/35 yrs ago. When I was your ages.

Regards

Macka17

Edited February 15, 2008 by macka17