Detroithiker: lots of good advice in here.  I am a 60 yr old life time fisherman just completing a transition from spinning gear to baitcasters.  I recommend (like most others here):

- put brake and tensioner to the max setting and back off as your proficiency improves. 

- use a weight or plug as close to the max on the label for the Rod as you can find. 

- use a good mono, I like Sufix elite or trilene XL. Big Game did not work for me and yes, I backlashed and cut off a bunch of quality mono. 

- make sure line you spool on to the reel is within the rated range of the Rod.  

I had problems with each of these very basic items, so I include them even though most are common sense.  Above all, be patient. You will have some epic backlashes.  It is inevitable.  

 

Im not an expert so forgive me if i am wrong. First I would use just weight that match you rod for pratice. I would say 3/8 would be good start. Do not try very light weight just yet eapecially below 1/4. Backlash is normal in baitcaster even with pro so dont worry about it that much, think about you get to learn how to handle backlash the more you deal with backlash the faster you can clear it. If it is too difficult to clear the line just cut it off and start again. In this case just get a cheap line not too big nor too small. I would say arounf 10-12lbs would be good start. Avoild braid since that even harder to clear.

Set the brake just light start from full level depend on what type of reel you got magnetic or centrifugal brake, then use cast control knob to adjust more free spool. Now the reel, If you dont have one, i would say get something in between not too cheap nor the expensive high end. Something that you can use for a long time if you decided to stick with bait casting reel. In this case if you dont have the rod yet I would recommend something like Lightning casting rod in medium action.