Reels

How To Cast A Bait Casting Reel

This ia a post from Steve Chaconas with National Bass Guide Service.

Hi! I’m captain Steve Chaconas with National Bass Guide Service. Today we are going to talk about how to cast a baitcasting reel. We have already shown you the key components, and they are very important, the parts of a baicasting reel and learning how to cast one. Again, this is going to revolve around your thumb; being able to control the speed of the spool with your thumb. When you hit the button on the spool, it releases the spool, and the spool rotates and you reel it up and do it again, but again, push the button, that releases the spool; let your thumb barely touch that spool to control the speed of that spool, and educate your thumb as to what it feels like to have that spool revolving past your thumb – and slowing it down, stopping it, slowing it down and stopping it till you really educate that thumb, and it may become second nature. Otherwise, if this thing goes uncontrolled, you end up with a backlash with line that gets all looped up and nerved like that then you have to learn how to get rid of those. And hopefully, I don’t have to show you that because that could get kind of complicated. What I want you to do is, I want you to hold the rod out horizontally from your body, bring the bait up to the tip of the rod, push the button, and slowly allow that spool to let the line out by controlling the speed of that spool with your thumb.So again, do this several times until you learn what that line feels like going through your thumb; retrieve it back up, start it again and just let that bait drop all the way to the bottom, but feel that spool and that line rotating through your thumb. Once we do that, we are going to go to the next step where we are going to have the rod back here, we are going to push the button, and we are just going to lob it; just try to lob it up, just allow that line to pull through your thumb. We are now looking to make a cast; we just want to educate our thumb, so we learn how that feels, so we can control the speed of the spool. And eventually, we are going to make longer casts, but everything is a lob; we are just lobbing it straight up, trying to get this thing a little further away to educate our thumb, to feel what that thumb feels like with that spool revolving underneath our thumb.Once we get the hang of it, we are going to make a cast thats basically off our shoulder; we are going to make a cast off our shoulder a little bit further. Start to get the feel of what this feels like, and eventually, once you get the hang of doing this, we are going to let the rod load up behind us and use that rod, and to cast that bait forward. Aim at your target, point your rod where you are going, and you won’t have any problems.

How To Cast A Spinning Reel

This ia a post from Steve Chaconas with National Bass Guide Service.

Hi, I am captain Steve Chaconas with National Bass Guide Service. No I am not sitting down on a job but I am going to demonstrate to you that you dont have to be big, strong or in my case even very intelligent to be able to cast. Casting all involves using your wrist, and to demonstrate that I am going to make a cast lying down in the boat and taking away my legs, my back, my arms, my shoulders and I am just going to cast with my wrist.

So, bear with me, I am going to lie down but still I am grip the rod the same way that we gripped it before. We are going to make sure that the line roller is in the top position, grip the line with our index finger, open up the bail with our right hand, grip the rod here, I am going to lay back and I am going to bring the rod back and forward and release and I have made another cast, just as well as if I were standing up or leaning into the cast. You have got to learn a lot of different casting presentations, when you prepare to cast you have to make a decision on where are you going to cast. With casting we also have to use our right hand from time to time, so you right-handed people same thing grip the rod with your right hand make sure you turn the rotor till the roller bearing is in the top position, grip the line with that index finger, open up the bail with your left hand, put your left hand on the back of the rod again a little flick of the wrist, and that bait will travel out there for you, close that bail, make sure the line is in the line roller and then start to retrieve.

Again, most of these reels are capable of taking the handle from one side and putting it on the other, so a left-handed person and right-handed person could probably share the same equipment.

How To Cast A Fishing Rod

If you are new to angling learning how to cast a fishing rod can be either very easy or extremely difficult depending on the rod and reel combination that you select. There are three types of reels. The Spin Casting Reel also known as the Closed Face reel is a favorite for beginners due to how easy it is to use. It does however have many limitations. Next in line is the Spinning Reel also know as the Open Faced Reel. These are slightly more difficult to use than the Spin Casting Reel but are much more versatile. They range in size from 2lb test to 50 lb test and can be used for anything from pan fish to monster cats. The Bait Casting Reel is the Cadillac of reels. They come in all sizes and once mastered allow for pin point accuracy of your cast. We are going to start with the spin casting reel.

How to Cast a Spin Casting Reel

Learning how to cast a spin casting reel can be very easy. The spin cast rod and reel combination is the easiest of the three types of rod and reel combinations to master. It is also the most fragile and least versatile of the three. I do not recommend it if you are trying for fish bigger than 10 lbs. I do highly recommend it for beginning anglers and kids due to it’s simplicity to use. Ok, with that said let’s get to it.

Setup
Place your right hand on the rod and grip the rod with your fingers while placing your thumb on the button of the reel. Depress button and hold.

Aim
Place your weight on your right foot. With your forearm in line with the rod, point the rod toward your target, keeping the tip at eye level.

Cast
Raise your right hand keeping your rod tip slightly to the right to avoid being snagged by the hook until your hand is even with your shoulder. The weight of the lure (artificial bait) will cause the rod to bend behind you so keep the tip high enough that you do not snag the hook on anything. Without pausing at the top, bring the rod forward in a smooth downward stroke, using a slight wrist snap.

Release
When the rod reaches the 2 o’clock position, lift your thumb to release the line. You have now made your first cast.

Practice
You can practice this technique anywhere you have an open area. Just attach a weight to your line a make a few casts. You will be an expert at how to cast a spin casting reel in no time.

How to cast a spinning reel

I was originally going to tell you how to cast a spinning reel but I found something better. View the video here.

 How to cast a bait casting reel – view this video here.