Centrifugal Vs. Magnetic Breaking

[Bill Babler]

Plug, that is a very good point for you flippers and pitchers.

 For most of us including the play for pay guys the more their bait is in the water and the fewer cast they have to make to keep it there are what the majority are shooting for.  I heard Mike a couple of years ago credit his win here on how much water he covered with each cast, and how the fish seemed to bite the bait as the extreme length of his cast rather than nearer the boat.  I also heard Mark Davis make the same remark when fishing the wobblehead.  He said you want to throw it absolutely as far as is humanly possible to bump it on every rock that is out there.  Casting length he said was a huge factor in him leading the tournament for the days he did.

That is one of the reasons the two handed rod has become a mainstay in todays professional fishing arena.  Not only are they less stress on your shoulder and your rotator cuff, but they enable even some of us a bit long in the tooth to propel baits at great distances by loading the rod to the fullest and letting the rod propel the bait great distances rather than the old baseball toss we all used to have.

Fly fishermen have been doing this for years, and really the fly cast is very close to the 2 handed split grip cast with a 7' plus bait caster, letting the rod load in the mid-section thru the tip and then letting rod propel the bait rather than your arm.  Only difference is the fly rod propels the fly line and the casting rod propels the lure.

Good Luck and a very good thread here with excellent information by all.

[Champ188]

4 hours ago, Old plug said:

Around LOZ it is 95% flipping and pitching. Ido not like hard cast. i can  pitch a 3/8 oz lure 30 ft I m sure using my standard 12lb mono. I like my reels as fast as I can get them. I like to sort of float the bait out to the if you know know what I mean. 

Plug, I've spent a fair amount of time on LOZ and I know what you mean. With all of the boat docks, it's a pitcher's paradise. I would say, though, that you might try a good quality fluorocarbon line. The difference in feel between it and mono is remarkable.

[Guest]

19 minutes ago, Champ188 said:

Plug, I've spent a fair amount of time on LOZ and I know what you mean. With all of the boat docks, it's a pitcher's paradise. I would say, though, that you might try a good quality fluorocarbon line. The difference in feel between it and mono is remarkable.

I started using yozuri hybrid a couple years ago, thanks to Mitch F. It's a good blend of no stretch line with neutral buoyancy & has very little memory. I use the 8lb for Ned's, 10lb for cranking & the 12-15lb for jigs. It's really good stuff. 

[GNSfishing]

I'll throw my 2 cents in for what it's worth on my reel setup. 99.9% of the times I turn all of the centrifugal brakes off and set the magnetic on 3 or 4 depending on the lure I am throwing and the wind. I set the spool tension to the point that when holding the rod straight out and releasing the spool to free spool down that when the bait hits the ground I get a wrap or 2 back on the spool. I also use braid line also which enhances the flow of line through the guides on the rod. This setup allows me very long casts which I think is important with the clear water conditions we have most of the time here on Table Rock lake. I also use about 6 ft of Yozuri fluorocarbon line as a leader for all of my rods. Yep I'll get a backlash once in a great while with this setup, usually have to use the thumb once in awhile to slow the spool at the end of a cast. I do use Lew's reels which works for me. Over the past 65+ years of fishing I have used about every type of bait casting reel there is from before the free spool reels to the latest Lew's and so far the Lew's reel is the best for my use..