Baitcaster lesson with Derek and Benny

[AlbertW]

Hey All,

I'm very sorry about how late this is @DerekD, I've just been crazy busy this week with wifi cutouts, fevers and my promotion course for my cadet program at school.

Anyways, Derek was generous enough to give @Bennyg78 and I his afternoon on saturday for a baitcaster lesson. I already had a baitcaster combo with a curado 200hg paired with a zodias rod whilst Benny was in the market for a starting outfit. To start us off Derek demonstrated his exceptional casting distance (showing off). Derek was casting out a heavy garfish imitation topwater lure and twitching it back. Afterwards he handed Benny and I the rod and we started looking at the different drag settings. Then we got to casting with all brakes on. After that we progressed  with having less and less brakes on, which in return probably increased our casting distance by 5 times. We then practiced casting the lure like a pendalum and switched to a quick bream gear topwater session. Nothing from that but I saw a big jewfish carcass.

Once again thank you so much @DerekD for giving us your time and imparting your knowledge upon us. 

[AlbertW]

 

[Little_Flatty]

Feels good to cast one doesn't it Albert?

That is a crazy long lure you three were casting there!

[DerekD]

36 minutes ago, Little_Flatty said:

That is a crazy long lure you three were casting there!

Yep. Looks good in the water too. I figured since there are kings which cruise those sandflats we may as well have a chance on one while getting better at casting distance and learning how to work the lure back.

[DerekD]

Hi @AlbertW

It was a rather pleasant fishing session. It is a bit of an eye opener as to the difference in casting distance when you learn to back the brakes off to the minimum and then use the thumb to stop the overrun when it lands. One of the big selling points of those outfits is being to drop the lure on target by feathering the drum but having that extra casting distance up your sleeve doesn't hurt either.

Love the bend in that rod in the photo of @Bennyg78 casting.

Took me a while to work out the little details to get the most of that outfit. The settings of the centrifuge/inertia brake involve moving the six plastic pieces either outwards for more resistance or inwards for less resistance (a bit like putting your arms out or pulling them in to change your rotational speed while spinning). Having all 6 out cost a lot of casting distance. Having all 6 in resulted in frequent bird nests. Being obsessed with symmetry I set them in pairs till I watched a video where a guy pointed out the difference in casting distance between 4 in and 5 in. Turns out that worked really well with my reel and I didn't have issues with overrun of the drum. You will now have to spend a bit of time playing with your Curado which has a slightly different set up to mine.

Regards,

Derek

Edited December 1, 2023 by DerekD

[DerekD]

10 hours ago, AlbertW said:

To start us off Derek demonstrated his exceptional casting distance (showing off).

You know me too well these days.

It is also intended to give you an idea of where we want to be at the end of each lesson. A bit of competition is healthy and if you start outcasting me I will want to work out the how so I can grow.

[Central Coast Fisherman]

Great job guys! What was the lure you were casting?

[DerekD]

10 hours ago, Central Coast Fisherman said:

Great job guys! What was the lure you were casting?

Rapala Flash-X Skitter. Comes in a variety of colours. Casts well. Solid hooks. Almost half the price of some of my other garfish style lures. Looks like this:

Haven't caught anything on it yet though but love the way I can get it skittering and zig zagging across the surface.

Edited December 2, 2023 by DerekD