Hey everyone! It's been awhile since I have posted, I haven't had much luck with my 6ft spinning cast rod combo I bought for about $40 at a tackle shop here. I have been fishing for bass mostly, and cats every now and then. I've had quite a few bites but they always seem to either snap my line, or jump off.
My supportive wife of my fishing habit went out tonight and bought me a 7ft bass proshop graphite medium heavy rod and a Shimano Citical baitcast reel. She said that one of the guys at BPS helped her with the setup and said it's a great bassrod and a good reel to get started with when trying to learn to cast with baitcasters.
I'm extremely excited about giving this setup a try, they spooled it with 14lbs line. I was wondering what you all thought about this setup and if any of you gurus had some tips for me starting out with it? Any good lures or jigs to try with it if it's a good setup?
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Sounds like a great set up. I would recommend spinner baits. They work great for bass.
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I will definitely use some spinner baits I bought. Would it be practical to fish for cats with this rod and reel also, or should I use an entire different rod and reel? I didn't know if this setup would work good with cats if I used stinkbait.
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Great rod for cats.
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I'd started having some good luck flipping a shakey head, or football jig with a chiggercraw type plastic. Drop it down to bottom, then bounce a long, rest, bounce bounce. The smallies just hammered it.
Curly tail grubs too. Crappie were digging 'em also.
I'm not very practiced with a bait-caster, usually use spin-casting reels. One tip a friend had was to side-cast, rather than overhead.
I know a quick work with the drag helped my bassing. Needed it tight for a hookset, them quickly loosened so they could run. Sometimes I'd just finger the line for a solid hookset. But I've broke off a few good ones for failing to give them a chance to run - especially when they first realize the hook just got set (panic!)
Good luck, and tight lines! And loose drag....
Keep the drag set and get the bass into the boat. Less stress to the fish and you won't be using the drag. Keeps a good hook set too.
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Allow me to offer a thought: If you are breaking line often, suspect your knots. A poorly tied knot can reduce the strength of a line by more than half. One clue is if the broken end of the line has a tiny, tight curl. If it does, the knot broke. Line that breaks anywhere else has a straight but thinned end because it broke by stretching.
Here's a great website that shows animated knots. Watch a few good ones and then take some line and practice, practice, practice. (Lock a hook into a bench vise and pull until the line breaks with the line wraped around a piece of dowel (NOT your hands!)
http://www.netknots.com/fishing_knots/
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Thank you all very much! I have been trying to figure out how to set my reel up with my rod and am at a loss and do not want to break it. Any help would be awesome! I will also try and attach a picture of the 2.
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Here are 2 pictures I attached.
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The bait cast reel sits on top of the rod. The upper most grip spins. This will widen the fap so the reel seat will fit onto the rod, then turn it back to tighten into place.
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Sounds like the guy knew what he was doing!
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I have to get me one of them.. and a gal that buys me pretty fishing things would be nice too...
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One of the most critical aspects of using a reel, is properly setting the drag. Like previously mentioned, multiple break offs is a sign that one of two things is happening: the knots are bad (which you'll know, as the break offs will 100% of the time be at the knot, and it will look like it's unraveled) or the drag is not set properly.
You have to set your drag according to the pound test line you are using. It should be tight enough where you can gain ground when you reel, but loose enough that a fish can pull drag with out breaking off. There is a balance here, and it will take some trial and error.
Once you become more "seasoned" in the sport, you'll get to the point you can sense when your gear is near maxed out. I can tell when my line or my rod is on edge, and I know exactly how far I can push it before it hits the breaking point.
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