PDA

View Full Version : New Set up


Braun
01-03-2011, 08:58 PM
Whats up guys. So i am down in Houston and I helped out a buddy big time and in return as a thank you gift, his buddy hooked me up with a custom made rod. Apparently custom made rods are a big deal down here. The rod is pretty sweet, but seeing as he did it as a surprise he didn't really know much about my preferences. The rod is designed for a baitcasting set up. I have never used a baitcaster ever. A spinning reel cannot be used on it for 2 reasons. the grip has the finger groove to where the real needs to be sitting on top of the rod and (here is the unique part) the eyelets are small fuji eyelets and the first one is on top of the rod and the next 3 transition the line around the rod so that the top 4 eyelets are on the bottom of the rod. When i spoke to a guy at a tackle store and told him about the rod he said that stet up of the eyelets have become very popular with custom made rods and alot of people prefer them now. however, i was considering trying out a baitcasting set up sometime in the future as there is alot of upsides to them.

We decided we midas well get in some fishing in while we are on the gulf coast So i went and picked up a quantum catalyst baitcaster (I have the catalyst spinning reel on my outfit in calgary). I have had the rod set up and have been testing it out in the back yard before we head out in the morning. I knew that learning how to use a baitcaster properly was going to take some work but it is alot harder than i thought. I got the brake all set up properly but every cast im still not used to stopping the spool with my thumb or my casts are 5 feet. Any one have any tips or tricks on controlling the line coming off of the spool or how to learn to control it?



on a side note, i cant wait to get back out on the hard water. I visited a store that is claimed to be the worlds largest tackle store. Pretty big place but alot of the room was wasted on open ocean gear. In my opinion, WWS and BPS in calgary had more fishing lures but there were a few things that they had a bit more variation. For example, i picked up a bunch of spinners from mepps that ive never seen in canada; ones that use a single hook and a barbed stick that you stick a tailed grub on, and a spinner that has a minnow grub hidding the hook. there were a few other spinner styles i had never seen that i picked up. the guy said 96% of the anglers here use baitcasters which is odd to me.

chubbdarter
01-03-2011, 09:05 PM
the most critical part of not being able to use it as a spinning outfit is if its of high quality the spine is on the wrong side.
To learn
Tie on a medium sized bell wieght and hit the release button. Set the brake so it barely drops. practice away. soon you'll be good enough to remove the magnets all together

npauls
01-03-2011, 09:12 PM
Hey Braun,

I am also learning to use a bait caster set up. I picked up a reel for dirt cheap on the net that is usually a couple hundred bucks and decide to try a berkley shock rod set up for bait casting. I haven't really tried it all that much other then for trolling spinner rigs for walleye. Baitcasters work really well for this.

If you want to join me on an trip or 2 to BC for bass we could try and learn to chuck stuff with them. I am also thinking of using mine on a small pike lake around here for chucking through the weeds and top water baits.


Nate

Braun
01-03-2011, 09:28 PM
the most critical part of not being able to use it as a spinning outfit is if its of high quality the spine is on the wrong side.
To learn
Tie on a medium sized bell wieght and hit the release button. Set the brake so it barely drops. practice away. soon you'll be good enough to remove the magnets all together

that is precisely it. When i went into the tackle shop, i talked with the guy about the rod and he said that this particular setup that was made for me was a pretty expensive rod. He said that the spine is meant to be used for flipping bait casters. I didn't ask him exactly what the set up cost but i was getting the impression it was very easily over 100. Like i said they are big into custom made rods and also just selling blanks, eyelets and grips for building your own rods.

Hey Braun,

If you want to join me on an trip or 2 to BC for bass we could try and learn to chuck stuff with them. I am also thinking of using mine on a small pike lake around here for chucking through the weeds and top water baits.


Nate

I'd definately be down for that nate. After the hour or two i spent in the back yard practicing today, i think that tomorrow is going to be a long day on the water. I picked up a light 5'6 berkley rosewood and a cheap advoset reel for the girlfriend to use tomorrow and i have a feeling that next next to her with that set up, i will look like its my first time fishing.