Need Help With My Baitcaster

[OzarkFishman]

I am new to baitcasting and need some help.

I have a BPS tournament pro reel and a BPS graphite series MH rod (nothing special, but nice for a spin fisherman).

I know that the best thing to do is practice, practice, practice ... but I have been and still need some tips.

When making long casts, I get an overrun everytime I cast with a little extra umph. I set the spool tension so that the lure drops slowly to the ground when I push the button. I have tried setting the magnetic cast control at 5 and at 8. I am at a loss, so please tell me what I am doing wrong.

Also, when flipping should I set the cast control to freespin and take all the spool tension off?

Any hints would be greatly appreciated. I have read a ton of articles, but maybe you all will say something that will click inside my thick skull.

OzarkFishman

[rps]

As you know, overruns are the result of the spool spinning faster than the line is pulled through the guides by the bait. Baits with air resistance - spinnerbaits, jigs with fat trailers, etc. - are especially bad for this. Casting into the wind can have the same effect. The extra oomphh casts, of course, are the ones that are most likely to make this happen as the oomphh means the difference between starting spool speed and the lure fly speed is greater.

People who first learned on old fashioned direct drive reels, like me, have an advantage as we learned the very hard way to feather the reel speed with our thumbs. Centrifigal and magnetic brakes help, but you still need to learn how and when to feather the spool. One trick I use is to turn my wrist over so the handle points at the sky before and during the cast. (In the old days people and books taught this to minimize spool friction and to aid in accuracy.) For some reason, probably very old muscle memory, this helps me actively feather the spool. You might try it and see if it works for you.

BTW, anyone who says they never overrun can't be trusted with your money.

[Chief Grey Bear]

My advivce would be to go ahead and turn your mags all the way to 10. That is where I keep mine.

On your tension, until you get pacticed set it a little tight. Not real tight, just to where it will hold the plug or spinner or what have you. Make your practice casts. After making a few casts, slightly and I do mean slightly release a small, very small amount of tension. Make some more cast. Keep doing this until you can get to where you have it loose enough that your plug will slowly drop to the ground.

Also in making those long cast with the extra umph, try to practice a with a longer, smooth motion. Too many times you will put the extra umph on the fist part of the cast and this will get the spool really spining way faster than the plug is sailing through the air.

Also, I have my thumb just slightly riding the spool. Then just as your cast hits the water, smash the spool with your thumb. Back in my fathers day all they had were free wheeling spools. All he time I was growing up, he stressed to me that you had to have an "educated thumb".

I hope this helps.

[TroutRinger]

BTW, anyone who says they never overrun can't be trusted with your money.

Ain't that the truth. Anyway, I'm by no means an expert with baitcasters, in fact I usually prefer spinning. However, I find it easiest to cast baitcasters with lures that have good weight to them (multiblade spinnerbaits, big plastic worms with bullet weights, etc.). Also, even though I don't think it is the technically right thing to do, I usually set my real tension pretty light and just thumb the line. That's the only way I can get good distance.

With all that said, I don't really know why I use baitcasters. In open water, like ponds, I can usually cast them a little farther than spinning outfits, but I'm more comfortable and much more accurate with spinning reels.

[ozarkgunner]

Ain't that the truth. Anyway, I'm by no means an expert with baitcasters, in fact I usually prefer spinning. However, I find it easiest to cast baitcasters with lures that have good weight to them (multiblade spinnerbaits, big plastic worms with bullet weights, etc.). Also, even though I don't think it is the technically right thing to do, I usually set my real tension pretty light and just thumb the line. That's the only way I can get good distance.

With all that said, I don't really know why I use baitcasters. In open water, like ponds, I can usually cast them a little farther than spinning outfits, but I'm more comfortable and much more accurate with spinning reels.

Try a little Reel Magic line lube. It will help with the overruns / backlashes. Also, make sure your reel is not "too full" of line. I get the best results at about 80% capacity on a spool. (Just think of the last time a bass ran you ALL the way down a spool... For ME never!).

[Dutch]

You can minimize the really bad backlashes by making a long cast and stripping about 20' of line more than you cast and putting a piece of electrical tape across the spool then rewinding the line. You will still get backlashes but they won't be any deeper than the tape.

[RSBreth]

Another thing to remember is no rod you'll ever own is right for both flipping and spinnerbaits. Way different needs in a rod, and trying to learn both on one rod will lead to frustration. You need to concentrate on one presentation and one casting and retrieving style to learn.

Go slow.

[OzarkFishman]

Thanks guys, all of this info is good. I am going fishing tomorrow morning, so I will have more practice time. Of course, I will take some spinning rods so I can catch and not just practice (well at least that is the plan). One of these days I will only take my baitcaster and just spend all day practicing, but tomorrow is not the day.

Thanks again,

OzarkFishman

Well I went back and these tips definately helped. I set the mags to 10 and tightened the tension knob even more. I didn't get incredible distance, but didn't have ANY overcasts. Yet again, the people on this website pulled through for me. All was well, until I broke the tip of of my rod . Good thing I bought it at Bass Pro and they said they would exchange it free of charge.

[Larry Richards]

Make sure that you are not over filling your baitcaster with line.That is one of the biggest problems that I see with people that are having problems with backlashes.Keep that line 1/8 of a inch below the top of the spool do not over fill

[Al Agnew]

To get the most distance on your casts, in addition to what everybody else has said, you have to match your lure weight and aerodynamics to your rod power. With a medium heavy rod, it will be much more difficult to cast lures under a half ounce than it would be with a medium power rod, and you'll get more backlashes. The power of the rod is, in my experience, much more important to getting good, trouble free casts with particular weights of lures with casting tackle than it is with spinning, although it also makes a difference with spinning tackle. All that was alluded to in previous posts, but is worth stressing a bit...the rod that works well with 1/2 ounce jigs and flipping will not work well with 1/4 ounce buzzbaits. Having one baitcasting rod that you expect to do everything you want to do with baitcasting just doesn't work well. It's why most of us baitcasting fans have LOTS of rods and reels.