Chris W.

I cast with centrifugal brakes on my quantum.

He wanted a reel that day... i told him i could have gotten him a better deal online.

So now it's down to the Shimano Curado E7 or Abu Garcia Revo STX. What do you guys think out of those two? I know there's a huge shimano following here, and I love both companies, but as far as using and knowing about these two models exclusively, i'm lost.

Which reel do you guys recommend out of this list for both performance and money. I have an older quantum Accurist PT right now, i'm looking for a new reel. I fish lefty retrieve. So here's my list: -Shimano Curado E 200 (E5) -Wright & McGill Skeet Reese Victory -Abu Garcia Revo SX -Quantum Energy PT I want a solid reel, it will only be used for bass, pickerel and other similar sized fish. I'll be fishing anything from weightless worms to heavier spinner baits, probably using power pro.

So earlier this year i got my buddy, who mainly fishes saltwater, to come out with me a lot in freshwater. He mainly used an ultralight (yuck) and later on in the season he wanted me to try saltwater. So we went down to the docks and we were fishing and i spotted a jellyfish. ADHD moment: i grabbed his pliers and went to grab it with them and they slipped and are now happily laying on the bottom of the ocean. oops! Well, i felt bad and had no money at the time so i gave him my old Shakespeare SKP3000 round baitcaster. He's used it up until recently. He was getting tired of that one and liked my quantum accurist pt i have so i told him to start cheap and when he knows he really wants to use a baitcaster a lot to buy one that's more worth while. Plus i said, start learning maintenance on this one and if you break something, it falls in the water or someone ruins it, you aren't out a lot of money. So he went and bought a pinnacle platinum plus. For a 40$ reel at walmart it's pretty smooth. The drag is amazing and the only complaints he has is it's a righty and i later realized it's plastic. Oh well. Brought him out to a little river i fish at and we just brought baitcasters. I think all the time practicing in the backyard payed off for him because even though he got backlashes here and there his confidence went up and we caught fish and had a great time. Probably one of the best fishing times this year. So if you want to buy someone a baitcaster to introduce them to fishing buy one of these, they're cheap and nice. It's extremely smooth. Anyways, that was my little story.

Is the difference between the new citicas and curados huge?

What if i just go with a shimano reel and keep the ugly stik for now? Then that's 160 straight to the reel.

I'm looking for a good rod & reel combo that has a 6-7' medium 1 piece casting rod, shimano baitcasting reel with left hand retrieve and some braid to match it. Right now I have an early Quantum Accurist PT left hand on a 6'6" ugly stik 1 piece medium and some #50 power pro. I'd like something of equal or better value than I have now and it has to be under equal to or less than $160, preferably online for better deals.

http://www.abugarcia.com/prod.php?k=380972&sk=380972&u=ABUMATIC%201276

This is probably the most overlooked aspect of learning the baitcasting technique. Baitcasting requires an earlier release than spinning. If you release your baitcaster at the same point that you do your spinning rig, the result is "divebombing". Tom That can also happen when you have the rod pointed in the air. You want it to be straight out infront of you, not pointed up at the sky.

1. Did you set the brakes on the reel? Either centrifugal, magnetic or both. I'm unfamaliar with your reem. 2. Did you set the spool tension knob? This is a small knob on the handle side usually that puts tension on the spool shaft. If set correctly, for you right now, your lure should fall to the ground slowly and when it hits, no more line should come out. You need to set this with every lure. 3. Cast to your side with your lure a little above your head. When the pole is infront of you, turn the reel sideways, point the rod where you want the lure to go and release your thumb on the spool almost at the same time. Or do thumb, turn, point, whichever is easiest for you right now. 4. Thumb the spool softly and when it hits the water or just about, apply enough tension to stop the line from coming out. The reason you get a backlash is because the spool is still moving at the lure stops flying through the air. Its like having a coil of rope next to you and throwing a weight on the end of it out. If you dont stop the rope when it hits the ground, the momentum keeps it goin for a little while.

Yeah someone got into it and i wasn't aware lol. Oh well, i'd rather spool up all the way with the braid anyways.

love it. ive used it this whole season and its strong, cheap & doesnt have much memory. i have it on 2/3 poles.

Went to spool up and realized, i dont have enough mono! So i put the arbor tape on instead and it worked good. I pinched the ez spool between my knees and it didnt slip on the spool, so it's all good. I could fit a ton of line on there, i finally got the right diameter and didn't just settle for whatever my buddy had lying around in his garage lol. I also spooled up my spinning rod with the 6lb. I'm actually happy with my setups now, for once this season!

I'm going to be spooling straight powerpro if you guys give me the go ahead. Here are my three options. Either use a layer of 12lb berkley big game mono and tie an alberto to the powerpro, use the supplied "arbor tape" on the spool or use electrical tape. The 50# powerpro is going on my quantum accurist pt which has a spool with holes, but none go fully through. I didnt know if the holes would grab the powerpro either. So what's my best method of installing it without getting the slip? I used electrical tape on my spinning reels spool and got no slip from the fireline i was using.

Update: Went out and bought some 50# powerpro at walmart (150 yds) for my baitcaster which holds 125 yds of 12lb mono. And i bought 6lb spiderwire supermono ez for my spinning rod. The fireline original fused stuff sucks on the spinning rod.

Use the fluoro as a leader. Maybe 2' or so. Also, like he said, use an alberto. It's a modified albright. Very easy to tie. Before i knew it was called an alberto i was tying them. Then just use a polamar on your baits.

I hold the line on my fingertip when i cast, not on the middle of my pointer finger. Maybe try casting with the tip of your finger? I can bring it back, or even shake the tip and it doesn't slip off my finger, but i've been casting like that for like 15 years. I started out using a spinning reel, skipped the spincast.

as long as it lasts me the rest of the season i dont care! i think the maximum cast i do with my heavy lures is about as much braid as i have on there lol. but i also don't cast as far with my baitcaster as i do with my spinning gear.

I think i must have spooled up around 45 yards of braid, and under that is 12lb berkley big game as backing. My buddy gave me the 65. I should have just taken off the 12lb backing and put some electrical tape and gotten the most out of it. Oh well, next season i plan on buying #50 and #20 powerpro for my spinning and baitcasting reels. Hopefully it lasts all season.

How much usable line do you guys spool up?

hey guys. I'm running a quantum accurist pt. In the paperwork it says that the spool can hold 125 yards of 12lb mono. I put 65lb powerpro braid on there that says it's 16lb mono equiv. I have 2 or so layers of 12lb mono under the power pro. I think there's probably 45 yards of powerpro. My question is, should the power pro be fine, and how much line do I actually need on the reel for casting do you think? Normally I use mono and just spool it up this is the first year of using braid.

You're not going to find a rod for all that. Bass fishing will require a smaller freshwater rod & reel, where surf fishing, sturgeon, striper, blues, flatfish and the like youll want a longer 8-10' medium heavy surf casting rod with a reel to match. I don't think you'll find a do all for surf and fresh. BUT, you can buy a baitcasting reel for freshwater that's rated for light salt. My buddy and i use 12-25lb on my old shakespeare skp round baitcaster that i gave him and have used a lower quality quantum baitcaster also, on medium 7' rods, for striper, smaller blues (not snapper) and flatfish. I've even snagged bunker on it.

I love the spiderwire supermono for most stuff. Strong line, cheap price. I think its like 6$ for 220 yards or something at walmart. I've pulled logs in with the 8lb!

I've never caught a catfish before. Sweet catch! I bet it felt like a whale on that little pole. Great job, i still remember what it's like to go out fishing with my dad and i'm almost 23!