PhishLI

P, I had no intention of leaving you wishing you'd never asked your question. I understand that you know how to cast, but that pitching has you stumped. I get it. My first ever pitch went straight up and nearly came down on my noggin. I ran in the house and googled "pitching helmets". I get how frustrating it can be, but there are a few tips that can have you rolling quite quickly. I was thinking about how to properly articulate them, then remembered a video I watched that sums up what I'd say and what's happened to work well when I taught myself and now teach brand new guys. Keep a few points in mind. You can start with the rod's handle on the inside or outside of your wrist. I recommend keeping it on the inside to start with. Frame your arm this way: Point your arm straight out, parallel to the ground, then bend it 90 degrees, but with your upper arm 45 degree to your body. This is simply a starting point. Your motion should be limited to your wrist and a touch from your elbow to your wrist. Again, this is just a starting point and mentioned to limit excess motion that'll complicate the process and have the bait moving too fast. Also, begin with a heavier bait that won't stall. You'll feel the spool with your thumb easier if the bait pulls line with more force. These points and more are covered in the vid. One more thing, I strongly disagree with CFDoc on one issue. Practice in your backyard like I did to avoid heckling from your neighbors and small furry creatures.?

Because he doesn't, and neither does anyone else. Once you learn to pitch you can pitch with anything. Skipping is something else altogether. Where he's running into difficulty is with timing and feel. Throw in where he frames his arm/elbow in relationship to the rods butt during the toss/drop and the rod's angle. Timing the thumb to this when he's most definitely looping the bait up instead of flat to the water while using a Light-Switch thumb instead of unbroken thumb contact is causing quick over runs. I'm not saying a particular braking type won't help to some degree, but none will overcome those technique issues while pitching.

Earlier this season I hit a lake for some night wading with my brother and a pal where both Smallmouth and Walleye live. This lake's version of rip rap is just large chunks of busted up concrete slab the town dumped along a few hundred feet of the shoreline. This spot is known to be the smallmouth zone, so we started there first with high hopes. It's a bit treacherous to wade along the chunk slab, but we do it anyway. At one point I stepped up onto the pile to change baits. I pulled out one of my two 3600 boxes from my shoulder bag and opened it. As I was contemplating my choices I slipped on the wet slab. Not badly, but enough to juggle the open tackle box. I didn't hear anything splash into the water or skitter across the concrete, so I was happy nothing was lost and thought nothing of it. We fished that spot for a spell, but the Smallmouth weren't playing, so we went to the Walleye flats on the other side of the lake. During the first hour I was killing it. I had 14 just like that. I decided to try my then favorite bait, a Whopper Plopper 75 in perch, but it was nowhere to be found. I ran back to the spots I'd been on the Walleye flats to see if it was dropped there, but no good. I guessed that it must've fallen in during my slip on the concrete. We continued fishing for 5 more hours where I bagged 54 Eyes! It was the best night of fishing of my life with about 15 that were 4-5 pounders. Lots of pics were snapped. Smiles everywhere. When we called it quits my mind turned back to my long lost WP 75. I'd caught my best bass of the prespawn on that very bait. I just had to find it, so at 5 am I went back to the busted up slab shoreline, solo. That was reckless and stupid, but I can be sentimental about odd things. I looked and I looked, but no dice. Defeated and irked, I made the 40 mile trip back home. When I got home I made a mad dash to the throne room, and just in time might I add. I'd been clinching down on that one since about 4am! With the utmost satisfaction and relief I stood at the sink to wash my hands, then proceeded to splash water on my face to clear the sweat from my brow. Once I saw my reflection in the mirror, in one insane moment, the great Whopper Plopper mystery had been solved! Amazingly, the dudes that snapped all the pics didn't catch it. Still shaking my head just thinking about it. What a crazy night in every direction!

Maybe. Maybe not. The Lew's has a CF handle too. Spools weigh the same. Both have quite free centrifugal braking systems and fast spools. Both require sharp thumb skill. The difference is that the TP LFS has a dual pinion support and the Revo doesn't. There's a reason Lew's-Doyo is moving to a fully supported pinion, even in $100 LFSs. Lots of Doyos get a bit geary quite quickly after several good fish or fighting fish out of cover. I've lived it. My TP has stayed the same all season, which is relatively smooth for an aluminum geared reel, and I fish in predominately weed choked, giant pad fields. My Tat SVs gears didn't stand up here either without a fully supported pinion. My Quantums have, but they all have that feature. Anyway, with all things being practically equal, I'd go for the Doyo with a beefed up gear train.

$139 at Sportsman's Outfitters

Bearings can trick you into thinking it's the gears. The pinion bearing closest to the spool gets more exposure to water and grit.

It'll be fine. Find fish. Catch fish. Don't worry about your new reels and enjoy yourself.

Others will disagree, but I'm not a fan of the Fury 795SB. I disliked fishing with it. However I'm a big fan of the Champion 794SB. Perfect for 2 oz baits. Great stick and totally worth the difference in price, especially if you're sticking to that weight range and not using 12/0 beast hooks.

Yup. It's fantastic. Poor man's Aldebaran 50.

The Tournament Pro LFS has a spool that's just as light as the ABU's, and you won't have to mess around with opening the side cover to adjust brake blocks like the ABU as it has externally adjustable centrifugal brakes. It's an excellent caster with light baits. Mine's been trouble free all season. Not one quirk or one bit of mechanical weirdness. $139 in some places.

The Tackle Trap usually has them in stock.

If iabass8 isn't down for a pro bono tutorial, be careful what you watch on YT. Don't take a wire wheel to your pinion and main gear! That's not what he's talking about.

For night fishing its Daiwa all the way for me, even with looser settings. They're just less tricky to deal with during the second half of the cast.

Sounds like the spool friction spacers are missing on one side. If it was taken apart that's possible. On the schematic they're part #s 11,12, and 54

Meh.

Those Doyo built Daiwas in that series use Doyo-Lew's-ABU Korean MagTrax mag brakes.

I picked up a Tour S3, which is just a dressed up Smoke S3, during this years Classic sale. It's just about my favorite reel to fish with. I now have 6 Quantums in total including the Vapor PT that I added last week. I put them all through the ringer with baits up to 2 oz Bull Gills and wakes. They all feel great still. They're fantastic distance casters, seriously, are comfortable to use, and have good drags.

That's cool. I'll wait and see. TW had several blowouts over time on the OB2s, so I picked up several different sizes. After 2 years and plenty of comparisons they're worth their retail price, IMO. I'm not going to follow the herd and apologize, or half apologize, for liking anything from 13. The 7'3" MHF is the standout for me. I'm glad I got two because I really like the way it fishes. They've all taken a beating due to where and how I fish, and have held up great. No issues after dragging in a ton of bass through dense pad fields and clipping tree branches while casting. I'm not crazy about XF actions in general, but the Fast OB3s I've handled in the store seem to be just how I like 'em. Full cork will be icing on the cake, but if that doesn't happen I'll still grab the MF eventually. My impulse control couldn't be checked and I picked up a FR733C from F&S Friday night. Expiring rewards cash, 25% off, and the promise of decent weather this past weekend pushed me over the edge.

Michigander, What is it that you feel you're missing with the Fuego? What are your expectations from an "upgrade".

Neds, flukes, small swimmers, finesse jigs, jerk baits, small cranks, etc. I have a few local spots with flats that allow me to wade out a few hundred feet, and trudging back to shore to change rigs during winter kinda sucks, so I wanted a light bait, versatile, do-all combo. Actually, I already have that covered several times over, but I like to try different things, and I'm digging Quantum's braking profile for slinging baits for distance. It suits my casting stroke and style.

Don't expect a world of difference regarding casting from reels near the same price point as the Fuego. Stick with 150 sized reels and under if you value versatility and just want to try something different. The Curado K isn't in it's element with lighter baits, but the SLX MGL and Curado K 70 MGL both are. But be prepared, both of those reels require more skill to use.

In order to keep myself from doing something truly stupid, like plundering my new 2020 Daiwa Zillion fund, I slipped into F&S just 8 minutes before closing on Black Friday. Our local F&S has a huge selection of jammin' goodies, and 25% off is intoxicating, so self governing using the no-time-to-shop method saved me from myself. I couldn't wait on TW and the Omen Black 3 7'3" MF that I really wanted, so I grabbed this Fury 733c instead for my new Vapor. It's a nice and light combo that balances nearly perfectly.

I only have Champion swimbait rods, but I just picked up a Fury 733C. It's just barely a medium + , if that, and I won't be throwing anything much over 1/2" total weight with it. That excludes 1/2oz chatterbaits. A 3/8 oz chatterbait with a smallish trailer like a single tail grub might be OK, but a Zako would push it way past it's limits IMO, and you need to consider the jig hook size on those baits.

I've been so impressed by how solid and smooth the now discontinued ICON PTs have been for me that I just had to try the newer Vapor PT due to it's heavily ported super light spool at 11.4 grams, sans bearing. They're essentially the same reel otherwise. The Vapor will get the standard lube job including Shimano ACE on the gear set. If it works out the way I hope it'll go on a 13 Omen Black 3 7'3" MF, and I'll be slinging light baits into the stratosphere. We'll see!