What is a Baitcaster

The Bait Caster is popular amongst the Large Mouth Bass Anglers but the reel is used for other fish as well, in my honest opinion I’ve only seen Anglers using them in freshwater I believe their might possibly be saltwater Bait Casters but the closet to them would be the next step up which is the Conventional Reel Which we will talk about in another post in it’s own.

Bait Casters do have some Pros and Cons which I’ll sure below.

Pros:

Ability to cast far

Must models can hold a lot of fishing line.

Lighter weight than most spinning reels.

Decent casting accuracy.

Cons:

Can take a bit of time to learn.

Adjustments need to be made to the Spool tension knob every time you change bait or lures.

Backlash is likely when making casts, which means your line one turn into a birds nest on the spool.

When it comes to the Bait Caster it can for some people be over whelming to use and figure out, a lot of the men and women who are good with casting a bait caster can get really good distance when casting without getting a birds nest also known as a backlash where the line on the reel gets to looking like a bird nest and it can some times be almost impossible to get it untangled. The key is if the spool is too tight you won’t be able to cast as far as a spinning reel can. If the spool is too loose then you face having your reel bird nest on you.

So the key is that you have to learn how to make the spool tension loose enough that while you’ve your bait or lure hanging in the air and your rod tip pointing roughly 30° or 60° you’d tap the casting button on the reel to see how fast the lure or bait is falling if it falls way to fast thing you will run the risk of a bird nest the key is finding a nice smooth drop that the lure or bait should have but this needs to be adjusted every time you change lures or baits. Reason for is weight differences will cause the spool to spin faster or slower.

It’s also important to learn how to feather the line as your lure or bait is about to hit the water. Because just as soon as our lure or bait has hit the water we need to have our finger on the spool to stop it from spinning otherwise you will get that bird nest. Feathering the line means that we’d lightly have normally our thumb lightly touching the line on the spool like a feather would feel on your hand if you were to take a bird feather one rub your hand with it. It would be a soft touch almost barely touching it.