brick75

Thanks everyone for the feedback and tips. Took them to the backyard, and have already made good progress in reducing the backlashes. No idea how the guy in the video I saw was able to get his spool to stop dead without his thumb after a cast, but mine sure as heck doesn't do that no matter how it's set. Glenn, thanks for the video. Definitely helps to see the technique in action.

Thanks for the feedback. The spool tension isn't loose, that's the frustrating part. Like I mentioned I did a fair amount of research on how these reels work and how to properly set them up before and after getting one. The spool isn't loose in the housing at all, and when the thumb button is pressed, I've got the lure falling at a fairly slow and smooth pace. I watched a video of a guy demonstrating the brakes on one of these (at a high setting), and he didn't even stop the spool with his thumb when the lure hit the water and the spool was stopped by the brakes. I'm sure the more expensive reels probably handle this better, but can't imagine that this one wouldn't work at all. Any other ideas on why the brakes are seemingly not working?

Decided to try out a baitcasting reel, but haven't had much luck with it. Did some research beforehand and watched videos on how to adjust and cast to avoid birdsnesting, but the brakes on my reel don't seem to be doing their job and I'm hoping someone has some advice on how to fix it. I've got an abu garcia pro max reel. Tied on a lure and adjusted the spool tension so it falls nice and smooth when dropped from a standing position. I set the brakes to the max setting to test them out, but when the lure hits the ground, the spool keeps spinning and a ton of line comes loose. While watching a video from someone on how to set these reels up, it showed that the spool is supposed to be stopped by the brakes when the lure comes to rest. Any idea why this would be happening with the brake set to the max setting? This is a brand new reel, so a bit frustrated. Thanks