On a side note, one of the most important things you can do for superior performance is to make sure the internals of your reel are clean of debris and properly lubricated so I suggest, at the very least, you clean and lube your reel yearly. Of course if they get dropped in salt water or sand you will need to service them as soon as possible and if you fish as much as I do then at least a couple times a year. With that, lets proceed with cleaning, smoothing and polishing components for maximum performance.

Polishing internal contact points will allow your reel to achieve its maximum performance because the contacts will be smoother therefore less friction. The tools required are a Dremel rotary tool, of course a generic brand will work as well, some wet/dry sandpaper in 600 and 1500 grit, some round toothpicks, a pair of scissors, an exacto knife, some rubbing alcohol, cotton swabs with wooden sticks, Post-It note pad, I like the super sticky ones, and I like to use micro fiber cloths for cleaning up.

First off let’s polish the Cast Control Shims. Take an exacto knife and cut a centered slit in the end of a toothpick approximately ¼ inch long, basically splitting it in two. Then cut a piece of the 600 and 1500 grit sandpaper with the scissors about ¼ in wide and 2-3 inches long. Place the toothpick in the Dremel tool, slit side up of course, insert the piece of 600 grit sandpaper into the slit and wrap it around the toothpick in the direction that will allow the abrasive side to be exposed as the Dremel is turning. Remember, your not trying to remove weight or reform anything during any of these steps so be sure to sand lightly.

Clean the old oil off of the shims with rubbing alcohol, dry them and stick them to the back, sticky side, of a post-it pad. This will hold the shim in place while you sand and polish it. Turn on the rotary tool and lightly rub the sandpaper across the shims surface, if you apply to much pressure you will snap the toothpick. After lightly sanding with the 600 switch to the 1500 grit sandpaper and again lightly sand until the shim surface looks even. Remove and clean it with alcohol and Q-tips. Get a new sheet of the post-it note and place the side of the shim you just sanded down on its sticky surface. Repeat the process on the other side of the shim, when finished clean it with alcohol and Q-tips. Place the sanded shim on yet another Post-It note pad, cut a cotton swab in half and place it in the Dremel tool, rub a small amount of Brasso polish onto the cotton swab then polish across the shim till its smooth and shines.

Next lets service the Pinion gear. You may ask why service the pinion gear. When you cast, the pinion gear is basically an unsupported brass bushing as far as the spool shaft is concerned. It gets pulled away from its engagement point with the spool by the pinion yoke when you depress the cast button making surface to surface contact with the shaft. Smoothing this area will reduce friction to maximize casting distances.

Before you start sanding the inside of the pinion gear you will need something to allow you to hold it while sanding because it will get hot. You do NOT want to hold it with any tool because since its made or brass chances are that you will damage the gear and have to replace it. I got a pair of Aviator Nomex gloves that I use but a folder up paper towel or cloth will work as well. Using the same toothpick/sandpaper setup as above start out lightly sanding with the 600 grit then lightly sanding with the 1500 grit. Keep in mind that you are not trying to bore the pinion out, just smoothing it so don’t apply much pressure or sand for to long. Once its smooth clean with cotton swab and alcohol then polish it with a toothpick and Brasso just like you did with the shims.

Next you want to polish the Brake Plate Friction Ring. This is the ring of metal that the centrifugal brakes rub against to slow the spool at the end of the cast. Follow the same steps as before, lightly sand with 600 grit sandpaper then lightly sand with the 1500 grit, clean with alcohol followed by Brasso on Q-tip for final polishing. Note, if your reel has a chrome ring skip the 600 grit step and start with the 1500 grit.

Finally we come to the Spool Shaft. Have you ever noticed that if your having problems getting distance during a cast if you place a drop of oil on the spool shaft ends you can improve the distance? This is because you placed a liquid barrier between the pinion gear and the spool shaft. By polishing the ends you will be reducing friction

This is the part of the Super Tuning process that you may have difficulty doing at home. While it can be accomplished with a drill or even a Dremel tool it can be a huge pain. I spent under $100.00 and purchased a mini-drill press like jewelers use and it works great. Remember, replacement spools are expensive and can be damaged easily because they are made of soft metals. Make sure you use tape to wrap up the end of the shaft or the rim of the spool that you plan to insert into the grip of the tool you are using. Tighten down just enough to get a decent grip being careful not to over tightening because you will damage the spool. Be sure you lightly sand and polish the shaft ends and the area where the pinion gear rides ONLY! Like always, start sanding lightly with 600 grit, then 1500, clean with alcohol followed by polishing with Brasso.

I can promise you that if you take the time to perform the steps mentioned in part 1 and 2 of my Super Tuning articles you will be impressed with the results. If you deicide to pay a professional to tune your reel be sure to ask what is included with the service cost.

Thanks for visiting my site. Be sure to tell all of your fishing buddies and come back soon

Until Next Time, Good Luck and Tight Lines To Ya!

Let me start off by saying that any servicing or upgrading that you do to your reel you do so at your own risk and I will not be held responsible for any damage caused so proceed at your own risk. I highly recommend that if you don’t feel comfortable upgrading your reel then pay a professional to do it for you. While its true that it can get a little expensive its still cheaper than having to replace the reel because of damage caused. I’ve been servicing and tinkering reels since I can remember and trust me when I say that I have ruined more than 1 reel over the years. Upgrading them yourself can be very a very rewarding experience, WOO HOO, I did it myself!

I suggest the following before you dive into upgrading, first and foremost be sure you have the schematics for your reel. Next Google the specific reel your upgrading, chances are there is a ton of information out there and maybe even a video or 2. Finally, use a digital camera or video camera to “document” the tear down process that way you have a visual of how it looked before you removed all the pieces making it easier to put them all back together. I know whenever I upgrade a “New to me” reel I take pictures every time I remove a part for reference.

Because there is a lot of information involved in Super Tuning reels this will be broke into 2 parts. In part 1 I will talk about bearing upgrades. In part 2, I will talk about smoothing and polishing contact points to get the most out of your reels. Seeing how I already talked about the Carbontex drag upgrades in my Revo Upgrade video post I wont be talking about that here although in my opinion the drag upgrade is a very important part of super tuning a reel. I will not be going into high tech things like Spool, Frame and Side Plate drilling to lighten things up because you can easily throw the balance off by drilling holes in your spool or damage the structural integrity of you reel.

The first step in my super tuning process is replacing the stock bearings with Ceramic ones. Ceramic bearings have 1/10th the friction of steel, weigh about 60% lighter, last up to 5 times longer than steel and will run cooler because there is no micro weld adhesion between the balls & races which equates to lower friction. Ceramic also has a lower amount of thermal expansion which also reduces temperatures so they run cooler.

You may ask yourself, with all the choices, which bearings do I need? First I’ll cover a little background on bearings. I’m sure you have all heard the term ABEC ratings but what does that mean? The ABEC scale is an industry accepted standard for the tolerances of a ball bearing. It was developed by the Annular Bearing Engineering Committee (ABEC) of the American Bearing Manufacturers Association (ABMA). There are five classes from largest to smallest tolerances: 1, 3, 5, 7, and 9. The higher ABEC classes provide better precision, efficiency and greater speed capabilities, but do not necessarily make the components spin faster. The ABEC rating does not specify many other critical factors, such as smoothness of the rolling contact surfaces, ball precision or quality/type of steel used. Kind of confusing huh? Bottom line, just use quality bearings and you wont go wrong.

While most reels stock bearings only have an ABEC rating of 1 or 3 I prefer to upgrade them. Like I mentioned above, there are ABEC 5, ABEC 7 and even 9’s but in my opinion the 9’s are complete overkill. Once again, in my opinion the 7’s are not really needed unless your competing in distance casting contests so I like to use the ABEC5’s because they are a great upgrade that wont break the bank.

I’m not going to go into to much detail on how to replace the bearings because every reel is a little different and unless you know that your doing I would suggest paying a professional to do it for you but if you’re an adventurer its really not all that difficult, especially with all the information that is readily available via the internet.

Back in the day you had to physically measure your bearings, inside and outside diameter and the order them but today sites like Boca Bearing have a search feature that you just put in the reel information and it tells you which bearings you need. They sell kits that contain a total bearing replacement of just the spool bearing replacements. I usually like to do the complete replacement because it makes the reel overall smoother but you will notice better performance by just replacing the spool bearings. Of course, if your going to take the time and money to use quality bearings be sure you use quality oil.

Usually the bearings from Boca Bearings will come dry and you will need to oil them lightly prior to installation, detailed instructions are included with the kits. You can also ask them to oil the bearings, free of charge, prior to them shipping them.

OK, that completes part 1, stay tuned for part 2 where I’ll talk about smoothing and polishing contact points to get the most out of your reels.

Thanks for visiting my site. Be sure to tell all of your fishing buddies and come back soon

Until Next Time, Good Luck and Tight Lines To Ya!

The trout baits generally imitate stocked trout, which at least in California are a big bass staple. These trout looking lures range in size from 5 to 18 inches and resemble a rainbow trout. There are a wide variety of lures out there the Huddelston Deluxe  is one very popular soft trout imitation’s on the market as is the Rago and Matt Lures. For hard bodied ones the JSJ Tackle Snack Size Swimbaits and Bettencourt Baits Real Fish Trout are hard to beat.

Believe it or not but out here in the land of Giant bass you can ALWAYS be sure that many of the largest bass in the lake will make their home somewhere close to the boat ramp. No, not to ambush sleepy bass fishermen launching their boats but they do stay in the area to ambush something.

Speaking from my own personal observations I know for a fact that bass get “In Tune” to the sound of the trout stock truck. Hold on, I know what your thinking “Mike, you’ve spent way to much time in the sun and you’ve gone crazy” Hear me out. Over the years, back before I got my first bass boat, I can remember sitting on the dock fishing, have the stock truck pull up and as it sat preparing to dump its load and start seeing huge dark objects start to appear out of nowhere, as they got closer it was clear that these objects were bass, big bass, and this is well before the first trout hits the water. Then as the trout were being dumped the carnage begins, DINNER IS SERVED!

Here these poor trout are stunned from the ride, not knowing what is going on, dumped into the lake where they are considered Candy to the bass. I remember trying all kinds of different lures at these monster bass in an attempt to get them to bite to no avail. They were 100% focused on the trout. During this same time frame I talked to several other fellow anglers who had witnessed the same phenomenon at other lakes so I knew it was not some kind of fluke.

I covered allot of the history of trout swim baits as well as rigging techniques in “My Personal Quest For Trophy Bass” post so I don’t think I need to do it again. One thing I didnt mention was if you see trout “porpoising” on the surface, running scared cast your trout lure in that direction. Chances are Mr. Trout is being chased by a big bass wanting to make a meal out of him.

Next lets talk about other swimbaits. In case you didn’t know there is whole array of different types of swim baits. There are the Shad looking, Sunfish looking, Bass Looking models and of course they come in Shallow diving, deep diving, suspending and sinking models. We have the soft plastic, hard plastic ones, part hard part soft ones and wooden ones.

A person could easily spend their kids inheritance trying to buy everything out there but as a basic rule follow the K.I.S.S rule, (Keep It Simple Stupid). If you can afford one of each, do it. If not some soft shads, soft sunfish and soft bass in the 3-5 inch variety should be sufficient.

As a general rule of thumb these lures are not as big as the trout imitators so they don’t require the magnum tackle one would use with the trout lures. However depending on the size of the lures stout tackle will still be needed.

Some tips on how and when to use each swim bait are as follows. When? Anytime of the year, of course you need to factor in several variables when selecting which one.

During spring the sunfish would be a good choice. Bass will be protecting beds from sunfish so this would be a good search bait on flats around spawning grounds.

During summer the bass would be a good choice mainly because there will be allot of small bass swimming around from the spawn.

During late summer into fall the shad type lures will excel mainly because bass will be keying on them during this time of the year to fatten up for the winter when forage is not as readily available.

The best tip I can give you for winter time swimbaiting is to go slow. I’m talking so slow you almost fall asleep, yes all, I’m talking very slow. During the colder months the bass’s metabolism slows way down and especially the big bass, 10 pound plus, generally will not chase down a fast moving bait. But as I have mentioned before, nothing is written in stone.

I’ve touched on the when, now I’ll touch on the how. What I do is keep a close eye on my electronics, looking for bait on structure, this is when good electronics come in handy. When I find the bait I’ll cast my lure out past the structure, let it sink to the desired depth and start my retrieve.

Remember to impart some erratic action, even if very subtle, to make your offering look like its injured, bass by instinct will always pick off the injured ones first, its in their genetic makeup. Once again, nothing is written in stone. There has been times that I would make a long cast and get a professional over run, yes, even I get the breaded backlash from time to time. Anyhow, as I’m picking out the backlash and my lure is sitting motionless on the surface I’ve had bass just blast it as it sat there so as with ant other yime of the year, let the bass tell you how they want your presentation.

Another tip is to watch for balls of shad suspending. These can also be seen on good electronics as a big gray ball. Watch the shore line for activity, “dimples” on the surface could be sunfish or shad feeding. This would be a good place to make a cast. 

Try some of these tips on your next trip and you should have some success.

Thanks for visiting my site. Be sure to tell all of your fishing buddies and come back soon.

Until Next Time, Good Luck and Tight Lines To Ya!

Several companies make quality replacement hook, from my personal experience, so this is just my opinion, while Gamakatsu hooks used to be one of the very best, I feel that over the years their quality control has gone down some. I have found that one pack will be great while the next pack, lets just say, leaves something to be desired.

In my opinion the Daiichi Death Trap Trebles are some of the finest made, yes they are a sponsor of but after using them I can honestly say that I would not hesitate to pay full price for them, in my opinion, they are that good! As to which size hook to use just match up the size of the hook that came originally on the lure. Some people like to go either smaller or bigger but I believe the lure companies used a specific size after tons of research to be sure the lure runs true and it achieves the best action and the hooks don’t get tangled with each other.

After replacing the hooks, and me being me, I can’t leave well enough alone and have to make what I consider are improvements. Years back I remember buying an Excalibur Fat Free Shad crankbait that had what was called a Rotating Treble Hook which according to the company featured a 6-degree counter rotating shaft in each hook bend. All this meant was that the points of the hooks shafts are slightly bent so the points are not lined up with the shaft. According to the company “This gives them a counter rotating angle in each hook bend, each of the 2 free points of the rotating treble hook travels counter clockwise once contact is made. This movement of the hook points results in at least one other point coming into contact with the fish! This unique treble hook can increase your hook ups by 30%!” From my personal experiences, this little modification has helped me hook and land more crankbait bass. The biggest down side that I have found to modifying the hooks in this manner is they seem to grab everything, sticks, trees, rocks, etc. To perform this modification is very simple. All I do is use a pair of pliers, grab the hook close to the bend and bend them slightly so the point is not in line with the shaft.

I have been intrigued by the new Basstar SpinTech Treble hooks with the built in “Swivel” but have yet to give them a try. In my opinion the ideal of a treble hook that spins freely should mean less bass lost because as the fish throws his head back and forth he will not be able to use the hook as leverage against the lure to shake the hook because the hook spins instead of holding still.

Try changing out or just sharpening and modifying your stock hooks and I can pretty much promise that you will land more fish.

Thanks for visiting my site. Be sure to tell all of your fishing buddies and come back soon.

Until Next Time, Good Luck and Tight Lines To Ya!

I’m going to try something a little different, this post will be a video post, hopefully this will work. By the way, just a warning, the video is almost 30 minutes long so it might take a few minutes to load up so please be patient. Also, if you double click the video you can view it in full screen mode.

Disclaimer: Any servicing you do to your reel you do so at your own risk and I will not be held responsible for any damage caused.

One trick I thought of after making the video is after you remove the cover take a few pictures of the internals with your digital camera. That way, in the event that parts fall out you can compare your pictures with the schematic and you should be good to go.

Well, what did you think?

Thanks for visiting my site. Be sure to tell all of your fishing buddies and come back soon

Until Next Time, Good Luck and Tight Lines To Ya!

Before I go any further let me say that in my opinion, there is no one perfect pair for everyone. We all have different facial features and different needs so you need to find ones that fit your face as well as your application and of course if they don’t make you look like a dork, that’s another plus, HA!

From my personal experiences first and foremost, you must try them on in person. I live in a small town with very limited choices so it made it pretty difficult to find the right pair for me. Lets just say that the BassnMan has a larger than average melon. I also don’t have much of a nose bridge so it is very difficult to find a pair that I am happy with.

I needed ones that were wider than average as well as having larger lenses and they had to have longer nose pieces so the lenses would be further off of my face so they didn’t ride on my cheeks.

I have more than once ordered them pairs thinking they would fit my face right but was sadly mistaken when they arrived. Yes, I was able to return them but it was kind of a pain in the back side.

OK, now onto the actual post.

Brands: Lets see, you’ve got Oakley, Ray Ban, Maui Jim, Solar Bast, Costa Del Mar, Wiley-X and countless more brands, both inexpensive as well as expensive. Speaking from personal experience, buy the best you can afford, you won’t regret it. I know the more expensive ones tend to have better quality optics which are better for your eyes and are usually offer prescription lenses so that’s a plus for people that need them. You can also purchase the ones that just go over your prescription glasses like the Cocoon brand.

Frames, Metal or Plastic: Back in the day metal frames were heavier that plastic ones. Now days the metal is considerably lighter so weight is no longer an issue. One thing to note is that during the summer metal frames tend to get hot quick and tend to hold heat longer, that’s why I prefer the plastic frames.

Lens: There is more than one aspect to consider concerning lenses so I’ll try and break down the basics.

Glass vs polycarbonate. For clarity it’s difficult to beat glass lenses and if I could afford 2 pairs of quality shades then I would own one of each pair. The glass ones for driving and casual wear and poly carbonate for fishing. I personally went with the Poly Carbonate ones. The main reason I made this choice is because more than once I have been hung up on some sort of structure, a shallow rock or tree limb and while attempting to free my jig, it abruptly came free and flying back at me like a bullet. Two times I have been hit right on the lens. If I had glass lenses chances are they would have shattered from the impact.

Polarized or not: For fishermen this question is a no-brainer, Get Polarized, I can promise you that you won’t regret it. Their ability to cut through the glare and being able to see through the water better makes them a valuable asset. About the only down side I have experiences is when at the gas pump. I noticed on some gas pumps you cant see the numbers when wearing polarized shades.

Lens colors: Here again there are several hues to choose from. I’m just going to go over the basic 3 color even though there are others to choose from.

First we have gray or smoke. Gray lenses usually come in light or dark and will reduce the light intensity without changing the color of objects.  Therefore they will provide the most natural color vision. Statistics show that gray is far and away the most popular color lens in America. Gray lenses are best for bright clear days.

Next we have brown lenses. They enhance contrast by blocking more of the blue light than gray lenses do.  Brown lenses tend to provide a warmer appearance to all colors and have been known to make greens look greener. These work well in medium to bright light and are considered good all around lenses.

Finally I’ll discuss amber which block almost all blue light and provide superior contrast.  Remember the Blue Blocker sunglasses? They have amber lenses as do shooter’s sunglasses. While amber does enhance contrast, they tend to distort colors and may not be the right choice for activities that require accurate color recognition. They work well in flat to medium light as well as shallow water applications.

I have a pair of goggles that have an amber lens. I especially like them when I’m going across the water at high speeds in low light conditions because they make objects, tree stumps and rocks, really stand out.

From the sounds of things a person actually needs several different pairs of sunglasses. For me, I went with a pair that has interchangeable lenses so I’m able to change out different lenses as conditions dictate. Purchasing extra lenses is considerably more cost effective than buying the entire setup.

Hopefully I didn’t confuse you even more and gave you some things to consider. To summarize, shop around, try them on, consider your specific application and buy the best you can afford.

Thanks for visiting my site. Be sure to tell all of your fishing buddies and come back soon

Until Next Time, Good Luck and Tight Lines To Ya!

Not to long back, I believe it was around 2006 Abu Garcia introduced its new line of low profile baitcast reels. There is the Revo S, Revo SX, Revo STX, Revo Winch, Revo Skeet, Revo Premier, Revo Inshore and Revo Toro.

I personally think that Revo reels are kind of cool looking, and the specifications on them are pretty impressive as well. They all come with the following, an oversized main drive gear and X-Craftic^TM aluminum alloy frame that provides corrosion resistance, which Abu says will stand up to salt water use. High Precision Corrosion Resistant ball bearings for smooth casting and retrieving and world renowned Carbon Matrix^TM drag system which they claim will generates up to 24 lbs. of drag, precision machined Duragear^TM brass gears for torque, and a six-pin centrifugal braking system. The STX series also adds a Linear Magnetic Brake^TM system. Most Revo models are available in either right or left hand retrieve depending on your needs. The High Precision Corrosion Resistant Stainless Steel ball bearings range from 6 in the Premier series up to 11 in several other series.

Another thing I love about the Revo reels is the way Abu stayed with its simplistic design making it easy to service yourself. Basic cleaning oiling and greasing is very straight forward if your even just slightly mechanically inclined. If you want to upgrade the ball bearings to say an ABEC 5 if your not comfortable doing it yourself you might want to consider having it professionally done.

I can only write a review on the Revo series reels that I currently own. As of the writing of this I have the STX, Skeet, Winch and Inshore versions, all of which I love. They all cast effortlessly, are smooth as silk in their cast ability as well as retrieve. The STX series reel which is silver and its close cousin the Skeet version, which is basically an STX in Yellow and Black with a few slight differences are a couple of my favorites. One very noticeable aspect of these reels is the ported gold spool which is kinda cool looking in my opinion. They added an oversized handle as well. Abu basically kept the same design of the tension knob and star drag, they just upgraded them somewhat. The STX is available in two different gear ratios, 6.4:1 and 7.1:1 whereas the Skeet is only available in a 6.4:1 ratio.

The Revo Winch has 11 ball bearings and is geared lower than other Revos, 5.4:1 which Abu says is designed for retrieving deep diving crankbaits as well as pulling big fish out of heavy cover. I like to flip jigs and Senkos with mine as well as throw crankbaits or slow roll spinnerbaits

Next is my In Shore version, it comes with 7 ball bearings and a 6.4:1 gear ratio and additional power handle for use in salt water applications. It also holds more line than the other Revos, I’m guessing this is for the times when you need more line because you hook into a big hard fighting fish that will pull the 24 pounds of drag pressure without much trouble. I like to use mine primarily when I go striped bass fishing and I’m doing the bait and wait thing with anchovies or throwing Hawg Raiser jigs at them.

The only negative things I have noticed about them is number 1, Abu seems to not oil and grease them very well when you buy them new, this is not really a big deal seeing how all you need to do is un-screw one thumb screw to remove the side cover and add some oil to the bearings and grease to the gears, which only takes a few minutes. Number 2 is the fact that they are no longer made in Sweden. While I have not personally noticed that they are an inferior product now that they are made in Korea instead of Sweden, I know that the older Swedish made Abu’s last forever, only time will tell with the Revos but I can say that I use mine a lot and they have shown no sigh of being inferior.

As I mentioned earlier I do like my Revo reels and I would recommend them to anyone looking to get a nice low profile reel.

Thanks for visiting my site. Be sure to tell all of your fishing buddies and come back soon

Until Next Time, Good Luck and Tight Lines To Ya!

Bait casting reels. There are a few different type’s of reels that fall into the realm of bait casting reels. There are the ones with level winds, which I feel are much better than the ones without a level wind, I’ll explain more later. You also have the 2 speed type, which are primarily in salt water applications, I wont go into too much detail but the 2 speed reels have a high speed setting for a fast retrieve and a lower gear ratio for hauling in that big ole fish.

To spool up a bait casting reel is very simple. You don’t need any specialized equipment, as a matter of fact a regular ball point pen works fine. Take your pen, poke it through the middle of the spool, attach the line to your reel, place the pen between your toes with the spool in the middle and reel the line onto the reel with the line exiting off the top of the spool, so the spool is actually rolling towards you. When the line is within about ½ to ¼ of an inch from the top its full. Another tip, follow the manufactures suggestions.

One tip with spooling up any reel was handed down to me by my father. While he loved to fish we were by no means rich and even though dad didn’t have the luxury of having a sponsor he would only purchase quality brand line. To save money we would leave some backing on the spool when we replaced line. All this means is when replacing line just remove about half the old line and fill it up with new line. Think about it for a second, no matter how long of a cast you make, the line half way down the spool will not ever see the water so its basically wasted.

When your spooling up is one of the times when having the level wind makes it really nice but in my opinion when your fighting a fish is the time your most thankful for that level wind because you don’t have to concentrate on moving the line back and forth with your finger so it lays on the spool evenly instead of bunching up on one side or the other. As far as I know all of today’s bait casting reels designed for bass fishing do have the built in level wind.

Bait casting reels have come along ways, even since I started using them. The basic ideal of them is a spool that spins on an axis with sealed ball bearings located at least on both sides of the axis. Back in the old days they had bushings instead of bearings, heavier parts and older technology so the reels were not nearly as light and smooth as today’s high tech reels.

One thing I always tell people who want to get one of these reels is to be sure to get a quality one because the cheaper ones are allot more difficult to learn with because they just are not as well built as the cheaper ones. I have more than once had people tell me that bait casters suck and then I’ll let them try one of mine and then they are amazed at the difference between the 2. Its then that they realize quality does make a difference.

Some people think that a spinning reel can out cast a bait casting reel. Maybe this was true back in the older days but it is no longer the case. Today’s reels are capable of casting very light lures along distance. Bait casting reels are however a little more difficult to master but with the advancement of technology of today’s reels it’s a whole lot easier than it used to be however, even with all the updates the term backlash is still a common term with bait casting reels, especially when you try casting into the wind. You must train your thumb to know when to apply pressure onto the spool to slow it down or even stop it when need be.

The technique to cast a bait casting reel is basically the same way as with any other rig. You push and hold the button, bring the rod back over your shoulder and swing forward. Just like other rigs you swing your arm forward and release the line at about the 2:00 position. Now comes the tricky part.

You attempt to make a 50 yard cast however something happens that makes the cast fall considerably short of your intended distance, wind, you released the line to late, whatever. The spool is spinning like mad and you must stop it from continuing to spin or you get what’s called a back lash, or in fishermen’s terms, a professional over run. This is when the spool keeps spinning but the line is no longer going out the end of your rod tip.  Trust me, this is not a good thing. You look down at your reel and it’s a mess. This mess is often referred to as a birds nest. Yes, it tends to resemble a birds nest.

When you get one of these you basically have just a few options. If its not all that bad you might be able to pick it out. This can be quite a pain and depending on if the line came to an abrupt halt you might have damaged the line and even though it might appear the line is Ok, by the way, what I’m about to say is from personal experience, you can make a cast, hook a nice fish and the line breaks. Of course this seems to happen most when your in a tournament and that fish that just broke your line with your favorite Lucky Craft crank bait in his lip would have won you the tournament. That is when you wished you had taken the other option to dealing with the bird nest.

The other option I’m talking about is if you have a few rods available to place it into the rod locker, wait until you get home and replace the line then or if you don’t have an arsenal of rigs at your disposal then replace the line right away. Yes, it is can get a little expensive but trust me when I say that the price is more than worth the frustration of breaking a fish off, especially if it’s the fish of a lifetime.

There are a few other ways of using bait casting reels, these are a little more specialized ways of utilizing your reels. Flipping, pitching are 2 techniques that come to mind. Both of these techniques are similar yet different. In flipping you using a set amount of line and fishing pretty close to your targeted spot. Basically you peel off all the line you need, click your reel to engage the spool, and flip your offering into the spot underhanded with a low trajectory so it enters the water quietly.

Pitching on the other hand you do with the line free spooling so you can toss it a little further than flipping but not a real far distance like a normal cast. This is still considered a stealthy technique because it is executed underhanded with a low trajectory just like flipping. In order to utilize this style of fishing you need to have a decent quality reel or you will be picking out back lash’s all day long. Another trick to pitching is to peel off about 20-30 feet of line, maybe a little more depending on the distance you will be pitching, and place a piece of tape on your line. This will only allow so much line to come off the spool therefore if you do get a backlash you will only have to cut off the pre-determined amount of line.

Thanks for visiting my site. Be sure to tell all of your fishing buddies and come back soon

Until Next Time, Good Luck and Tight Lines To Ya!

Why so many choices, Which reel is right for me?

I went over the basics of reels in another post now its time to dig a little deeper.

Seeing how I’ll be going considerably more in-depth into reels I’m going to break this up into 2 different posts. I’ll start out talking about the good old spin cast reels.  Chances are this is the type of reel a lot of us first started fishing with. The spin cast reels are very simplistic in design thereby making them very easy to use. Basically you push and hold the push button, bring your arm back, swing it forward, release the button when the rod tip is at about the 2:00 position and out goes the line. That is one of the big reasons kids love spin cast reels, they can be cast a long distance, which kids really enjoy and at the same time they are very easy to use

I know my first reel was a Zebco 202, which I already mentioned. This reel is ok if your doing basic stream type trout fishing or sunfish but it will not stand up to the rigors of big trout or bass fishing but the bottom line is that it was not designed for that. In my opinion, it’s just a great starter reel. There are other spin cast reels that are of a higher quality that will stand up to any fishing situations. Once again, in my opinion the Zebco Platinum 33 falls into that category.

Now let’s move onto the Spinning Reels. Also known as open faced reels because unlike the spin cast reels the spool and line is exposed. With a little practice these reels are quite easy to master and like the spin cast reels you can cast light stuff, lures, baits etc., a long ways.

The only difference in casting between spinning reels and the spin cast reel is your finger. You grab and hold the line with your index finger, flip open the bail, the little metal hoop that holds the line and cast the same way as describer above releasing the line at right about the 2:00 position.

I remember quite a few years back when dad and I went fishing on San Carlos Reservoir, located on the San Carlos Indian Reservation in Arizona. I watched the locals catching fish with line wrapped around a tin can. They would make side armed casts and were able to cast quite the distance and then fight the fish by winding the line back onto the can. Me of course forever seeking knowledge, I questioned him because I was very curious. He explained that he could not afford the fancy rod and reel setup I had but he made due with what he had.

It was then that I discovered that the Spinning reel design is very similar in design to the basic rig he was using. It also made me realize that one does not need the latest and greatest tackle to be a good fisherman, but it sure is nice and makes fighting fish much easier when you at the very least have a rod to assist in fighting the fish.

Spinning reels are available in a wide variety of sizes and actions. Everything from ultra light models designed for 2-4 pound test line to extra large models that are made for deep sea fishing with heavy line.

I prefer to use a spinning reel when trout fishing, finesse bass fishing with small baits and light lines. A couple techniques that fall into this catagory are split shotting and drop shotting, which I discussed in other posts. Spinning reels are also an excellent choice when the crappie bite is on. While I primarily fish with a bait casting reel I do have a few spinning reels in my arsenal.

Whew, I hope I didn’t bore you too much and you actually gained some knowledge concerning the reels I talked about. Be sure to check back soon when I’ll discuss the bait casting type reels.

Thanks for visiting my site. Be sure to tell all of your fishing buddies and come back soon

Until Next Time, Good Luck and Tight Lines To Ya!

I don’t think so but then again I’m not your normal person. I probably think about fishing at least 100 times a day, even while at my normal 9-5 I constantly think about ways to compare work subjects with fishing ones.

In this post I’ll talk about the basics of rods and reels, their general uses and applications. I’ll start out with the reels then move onto the rods.

Reels

Spinning Reels, vary in size from the TinyLite up to the  Big Saltwater Saltiga BlastReel.  Hold the line, open the bail, as your casting let loose of the line.

These are easy reels to master and are widely used in a variety of applications. They work very well any time a light line presentation is needed, be it for trout fishing as well as split shotting for bass the spinning reel is the go to reel for these applications.

Baitcasters are designed for small light weight finesse type lures to the big ocean reels.  These are the most difficult to master.

Professional Over run, aka backlash, this is when the spool continues to spin but your lure stops and it causes a big Birds Nest in your line that can be a real bear to try and pick out. Most of the time if you do manage to pick it out because the line had been kinked it will weaken the line.

A Baitcast Reel is generally used for heavier type lures or baits but with technology today they make them where you can cast ultra light lures into the wind with out any backlash, you will however pay a premium price for these reels.

BaitCasters are used mostly for bass fishing as well as inshore applications.  If your deep sea fishing I would recommend getting a level wind reel, which is similar in looks to a baitcaster.

Spincast Reels are basically trouble free.  With a spincast you push and hold the button, swing your arm and release the button, just don’t release the rod!   

These reels are probably the easiest ones for kids just learning to fish to use. Chances are that a lot of you started out with this type of reel.

I remember when I was a kid the little black Zebco 202 was my first reel. Actually my first 2 reels were the 202’s followed quickly by the Zebco 33.  Let me explain.

When I first got the 202 I went fishing at a pond in a city park, Randolph Park in Tucson Arizona to be exact. In this pond they had some bass and big ones at that.

I remember catching several nice bass one that weighed over 6 pounds. The 6 pound bass just gutted my drag gears, they were plastic.

Anyhow, I returned the reel to Kmart and they gave me another one just like it. The following weekend the exact same thing happened with a bass that weighed over 7 pounds.

When I returned that one they gave me a refund and I moved up to the Zebco 33.This reel is a great reel that will last many years with just minor service. I know mine served me well for quite a few years.

If you take kids fishing and give them a spincast reel to use chances are that you will be able to fish as well.  The kids will enjoy fishing because like I said, these reels are pretty much trouble free. Think about it for a second, almost all of the kid novelty type rod and reel setups are the spin cast reels.

Then you’ve got your Fly Cast Reels. These outfits are used primarily for casting hand tied bug and minnow imitations.

Of course these lures basically consist of a hook covered with some kind of dressing so they tend to be very light. Therefore you actually use the weight of the line to cast your offering.

In the past these outfits were basically exclusive to trout fishermen but now days they are commonly used by bass fishermen as well as deep sea fishermen.

Rods

Of course for each different type of reel there is a different type of rod. Well, that’s not 100% true …

The Bait Cast and Spin cast rods are pretty much interchangeable, the only real difference being that the Spin Cast Rods usually have just a pistol grip whereas the Bait Cast Rods do have a pistol grip they also have quite a wide variety of different handle lengths.

Bottom line, the longer the handle the more leverage it will provide On these type of rods the line eye guide are all small. From the closest to the reel to the rod tip they are all small, or at least allot smaller than the ones you will find on a Spinning Rod The reason for this is because the line comes off the reel in pretty much a straight line. The reel seat on these type of rods differs from those on a spinning rod.

Next you have your Spinning Rods. These will usually have a straight handle. The line eye guides will start out big and progressively work down to small at the tip. The reasoning behind this is because on a spinning reel the line comes off in a loop so the first eye guide it meets should be bigger allowing less friction which in turn allows for longer casts. As the guides get progressively smaller it is straightening out the line.

Fly Rods are very long with a very light action. Because your using light line or leader with these rigs your rod plays a very important part in fighting out the fish. You will never be able to horse a fish with these rigs because of their light action.

As far as how long of a rod do you need, that all personal preference. There are several factors to take into consideration, what type of fishing are you going to be doing, what kind of lures are you going to be using and of course what feels comfortable to you personally. This would hold true for any type of rod you are considering.

As far as which action rod you need, again, it depends on what your fishing with and for. Of course you wouldn’t want to use an Ultra Light rod when flipping jigs into cat tails and by the same rule you wouldn’t want to use a heavy action Flipping stick for trout fishing. Look at the rod and the line and lure weight ratings listed on it and purchase accordingly.

Sure, there are a bunch of specialty rods on the market, just in the bass market alone, a person could easily go to the poor house. There are everything from Drop shot, spinner bait, crank bait, flipping, the list is endless. If you don’t have a lot of cash or just don’t want to have a whole mess of rods a good general purpose rod would probably be a 6-6.6 foot medium action one. With that action rod you can fish for just about all species of fish, from trout and pan fish to bass and bigger.

As far as the price goes, you can buy your basic discount store brand or get into the custom made rods. Custom made rods usually are a better quality rod in how they are made as well as the supplies used, they do come at a premium price though.Then again you can build your own. I won’t go into much detail here because there is a lot of information needed to perfect this. Ican say that I don’t have much knowledge in this department. If however your interested in building your own rods a must read is Tom Kirkman’s Rod Building Guide: Fly, Spinning, Casting, Trolling. This book is widely accepted as one of the authorities, covering all the basics of rod building.  Of course there are a lot more books out there but this one is a great starting point. One of the nicest things about building your own rod is just knowing that you made it yourself puts a smile on your face.

Well, I believe that I have at least touched on the basics of rods and reels. Hopefully you gained some knowledge reading this.

Thanks for visiting my site. Be sure to tell all of your fishing buddies and come back soon!

Until Next Time, Good Luck and Tight Lines To Ya!

[tags]Rods and Reels, Baitcast Reels, Spinning Reels, Fly Cast Reels[/tags]