31 minutes ago, WRB said:

^^^^This^^^^??

Tom

 

i'm completely confused... does he mean handle side of reel pointed up, or handle itself pointed up....  and  the handle itself is, i guess, parallel to the spool axis. i have never even thought of this concept. and this is to relieve torsion to the spool? i guess i can't figure out why this even matters.

ty. happy bait casting

 

If the spool shaft is positioned pointed straight up along with the handle means the spool is perpendicular to the water surface. This also positions your thumb on the spool pointed towards your ear at the top of the cast, allowing your wrist to have full range of motion as you cast.

Todays bass anglers tend to rotate their wrist during the cast putting force on the tendons to position the spool parallel to the water surface. 

What Rick Clunn is saying is correct casting motion plus the spool spins with less torque on upper bearing and nearly zero torque on the lower bearing. The result is more accurate casting with proper wrist motion and further casting distance with less friction on the spool shaft.

Try picking up your casting out fit keeping your arm near your side with the thumb towards your ear. As you cast keeping your thumb on the reel spool with the handle upright your wrist performs the cast without rotating the reel 90 degrees to position the spool parallel to the water surface. This is the traditional casting motion.

Tom 

 

Tom

Many backlashes occur when alternating between different lures, rods, reels, and line.  An angler may get into the groove for one setup, then switch to something entirely different and experience a few backlashes for a short while.  Swinging the rod like a baseball bat instead of properly loading the rod will cause problems, so will too little thumb pressure.  Too much line on the reel is a recipe for birdnests, so is line memory when the line peels off the reel like a slinky.  I have been guilty of all the above.

Those of us who came from here

and especially who tinkered with this for fun

probably count as having thumbs with post-doctorate degrees. 

We pretty much keep our thumbs close enough to the spool to read what's going on and react with gradual thumb-feed, modulated brake, or a light in-and-out touch as needed.  It becomes instinct to gradually ease thumb away from spool start, give it the lightest possible touch right before mid-cast, and adjust final elevation and stop during lure fall.  

Dating myself, in the early 80s, I was fishing Millionaire 6H.  Two overhead 2-hand casts where you're slowly feeding line with your thumb through the entire acceleration arc are the two extremes of casting weight:  weightless bait with forward centrifugal cast;  and surf cast with 2-oz spider weight plus that much meat again.  The technque for both produces maximum acceleration and distance with minimal start-up jerk - only 40 years ago, it was instinct on rod feel and spool timing.  

 

It was probably easier to recognize on these old reels that jerk = backlash.  It's also easier to describe physics of spool inertia than to describe the feel of rod loading.  

 

With modern brakes and light spools, you should be able to set up most reels as 100% backlash-proof over a wide range of lure weights and air-drag qualities.    Though it's also easier to get by with bad rod-loading habits, including jerk.  

 

Still, keeping thumb instincts handy and part of the cast for a first cast or two when you change lure weight and drag qualities, gets you through confidence and proof that the cast will go well with less thumb.  

I set up this reel today in two casts and made several more casts for grins.  

The set-up included finding mid-cast fluff with weightless senko, and adding the mag notch to dial it out.  

It will fish 3" weightless senko to 1/2 oz without ever needing to adjust the mag dial again, and will never backlash  

If I hand it to my buddy Lou, that would be different.  He casts spinning tackle without loading the rod - he casts with 100% jerk - and catches fish.  In fact, I have two friends who never load the rod.  They swing the rod back, stop and look forward again, letting the rod completely unload, then cast with jerk.  Can't do more than cringe and let them fish.  But if they asked, I could explain the difference. 

Rod loading - simply swinging the rod back, the lure weight puts an elastic bend in the blank - following through with forward cast in a continuous motion, the rod unloads like a leaf spring to add lure speed and cast distance.  The long arc of a centrifugal cast loads the rod the same way, also increases lure speed by acting like a longer rod.