Loop_Dad

Hey Silas, I had the exact thought as yours. Right handed guy pitching with right and reeling with left. I already cast with right / reel with left on spining set up anyway. 2-3 of weeks ago I bought a LH reel. Well it didn't work out for me and gave up, returned it and replaced with RH reel. ( I had a thread.) I wasn't thinking about any problem when I bought the reel. I thought it was just matter of getting used to and practicing. First time out, I found out quickly that my right arm got so tired and even had some pain in the wrist area. What I didn't realize before was that by casting right and reeling right, I'm constantly switching the arm all day long, which was good for my arms and wrists. I think the thumb position had something to do with it too. With thumb on the spool with bait caster, the tendon for the thumb is kinda stressed. With spinning, that area is nicely stretched out when I am reeling. Hope you get better luck than me. For me, I actually practiced pitching with left arm now and I am surprised that how I can still learn new stuff at my age. I'm liking left arm pitch.

I'm bit confused...You know different baits, PB is 7-8 lbs, so you are not a total newbie even if you said you recently started. If the lake is really the question, why don't you ask local's, like fishing gear shop, to find out if there's any fish in it or not. If there's no fish, no technique or persistence will get you any fish.

I bought a pack of Owners. I thought it was good idea first, but then I quickly realized that I am stuck with the hook size they use. I probably would not buy these type of set up any more. I rather have the freedom of selecting the hook size for the bait and weight for the depth by using T-rig.

I'm about the same as Bass Ninja. $100 rod + $150 reel. I don't think equal price between rod & reel means the same level of quality.

What knot you guys use for dropshotting with FC? I am thinking this 16/20 might be a good one to use because it is small.

I wonder if I can use my daughter's hair conditioner / detangler. That stuff makes hair slippy and cannot imagine that contains some strong stuff in it...

roadwarrior, do you only go 3 wraps with this?

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I think that's a decent plan. I would also bring some split shot weight and add them as needed. Sometimes faster fall rate can entice strikes. Sometimes you need a bit more weight to cast far, cast into the wind, fish deeper or you just want to feel more of what is going on under the water. And if you absolutely need to catch something and it turned out the lake is full of baby bass nibbling the just the tail of your worm, then you can go 4" senko, or you can bit off of your 5" I guess...(never done this.) Have fun out there!

That's very interesting.

I also think it is matter of preferences. The way I like to hold casting rods is not by palming the reel, but holding the rod behind the reel. With that, any combo is tip heavy. I once added some weight in the back to try out, but didn't notice much difference at the end of the day.

Does 200E come in different gear ratio? I don't see notation like 200E5, 200E6 or 200E7...

I'm planning on picking up a couple of used Shimano Citica from eBay. I know 200G is the current model (I've got one), but not sure of the other ones. Is the order from oldest model to newest model like the following?: CI-200 200D 200E 200G How old is CI-200, if that's the oldest model? And are they pretty much the same or was there noticeable improvement happened during the course of model changes? Thanks!

Is the rod's max line rating based on how much pressure it can take before breaking? I was always wondering about the line rating on rods. I have always been setting drag roughly by 'feeling' also. My initial setting is always loose side, but not too loose to effect the hook set, then I adjust as I got fish on the line. Maybe I will test my 'adjustment on the water' with a scale one day, so that I know where I have been setting. BTW, SirSnook, I have tried palming the spinning the other day after I learned from you, and it worked perfectly! I guess you can do the same with baitcaster?

Jigs occupy 1/4 of my limited tackle space. So it is definitely not the thing of the past for me. And at the local small fishing store, jigs occupy good chunk of one wall. So they are obviously making good money on them.

This is tough one, but I think your buddy did the right thing by telling this guy that it was illegal to kill. I wouldn't mind sending a friendly letter to HOA merely pointing out what you witnessed that day, stressing the illegality of the action. I would word it in the way to show that you appreciate the privilege of fishing the pond and felt obligated to report this. You might make one enemy, but I wouldn't care.

I like my Shimano Clarus. I'm not sure if you need to cast long, like fishing from shore, if so, I'll go longer with 7'6" MH, otherwise 7'.

If I were you, I would get a few in basic color group and switch around. Color might matter, color might not. Only bass know for sure. Us human are only guessing. Over time you know what worked and what didn't. Now you are talking actual data here.

It looks like you are getting more than 10 ft and you at least look like you know what you are doing. Looks is important in fishing I'm still practicing myself so use this at your own risk.. but a couple of things I didn't realize first but helped me. 1. Loosen the break a lot for distance. 2. Position the wrist higher. 3. Have a bit shorter line out than generally recommended length of 'lure by the reel'. 2 & 3 will lets you shoot out lower without going up. Hope you get more tips. I'm interested too.

Were you doing okay before? ---> If yes, then I would suspect something you are doing is causing. Did you just get a new spool of the same line? ---> If yes, maybe you got a bad batch of line?

So you were doing okay until recently? Does it break at the knot or somewhere else? If it is not at the knot, maybe something is wrong with your guides? Make sure all of them are nice and smooth.

Does anyone use any good senko biodegradable alternative? I bought a pack of Gulp (not worm) before and didn't like it because it hardened.

You might be right, BH. But I gave up. The potential benefit did not outweigh the problem for me. It was just not fun. Interesting thing is that I use right hand to hold spinning rod and reel with left. Sometimes I use this for long time, yet I never had this problem. I only have one spinning set up and this is 7"6". It might be lighter, but I don't think by that much. It might have something to do with the right wrist and thumb position on baitcaster over spinning. I did have some problem with my right wrist with computer, so I currently use my left hand for computer mouse. This might have something to do with it. Idk.

Lefty for flipping/pitching/punching application. I would hope my post will help folks who are thinking about the same thing. And I don't see anything wrong with trying new things. I don't know about you, central.PA.bass, but for me, the big part of fun in fishing is about trying something new.

I've decided to go back to right handed reel. I will "enjoy fishing again", as RM said.