making the leap finally to baitcasting

[Guest the_muddy_man]

I got rid of all but one spinning rig I kept my 6'6"med action StCroix Premier with a #35 Pflueger President reel for rapalsa and some light stuff I gave the rest of my rigs to my bestfreind Ron.

Risk Kid hooked me up with a BPS 6'6"MH Woo Davies worm rod and I just ordered a BPS EXTEREM BC reel b/c its an aluminum reel with a lot of features I want and it was reduced from 99 to 49 bucks Its what I can afford now so I dont want this to be a discussion on brands.

I want to get one more BC oufit beore the fork trip and I want something for Senkos(Trigged 5 to 8 inches) and a variety of other worms I was at cabelas and I really like the 7 MH Fisheagle II rod with a Pflueger Trion reel its 129 and I am gonna get it right before the FORK Trip Anyway Like I said I dont wanna discuss brands I want to know 2 things

A. Is a 7 ft MH rod good for this application]

B.Am I better off with the smaller capacity spool

[Catt]

I generally believe the length of a rod should be based on the persons over size more the far a specific application. Since there appears to be no set standard for rod manufactures medium heavy means little, one should also look at the rods recommended lure weight and line class.

For the Texas Rig application a rod with a length of 6' 6 to 7', Line Class: 10 to 20 lbs. Lure Weight: 1/4 to 1 oz. is generally preferred.

My personal choice is length: 6' 10 Line Class: 10 to 17 lbs. Lure Weight: 5/16 to ¾ oz

Line capacity in bass fishing is a non issue in my opinion, since you will probably never have a bass spool your reel.

[Bud]

   Your 7 foot rod will work fine.   And like Catt said a bass is not going to spool your reel.

[nboucher]

Hey, Muddy, we can pick at each other's bird's nests when we're at Fork, like two apes picking the nits off each other.   :

[flechero]

I got rid of all but one spinning rig

Muddy,

You just up and jumped off the bridge!!

I like a MH for soft plastics, even a Hvy at times and certain lakes.  6'6" or 7' is preference... I always favored 6'6" but now that I fish deep clear water a little extra length helps.  I'm still not comfortable with 7' but am up to 6'8" and 6' 10" rods.  ...lol  Seems like no difference but feels very different when fishing.

I'm going to bring a few extra rods to fork because I think there will be some out of towners that don't have hvy rods.

I can't help much on the reels, I don't know the ones your looking at.  I do want to add one thing on capacity... everyone says it doesn't matter... if you fish braid or light line it doesn't but if you fish hvy mono or fluoro it just might.  It is a factor for me since I use a lot of 17# & 20# XT.  Many of the low profile reels have a small spool and using hvy mono doesn't mix well.

[Guest the_muddy_man]

Thanks fellas I got a lot of help from you guys in the spring and chickened out I actually was having a relatively good time learning how to baitcating I got it in my head Im never gonna get this and justified not taking the leap.

 The only way to do it is like when I wnated to learn how to fish artificials The key was NO BAIT IN THE BOAT and little by little I got to the point where I was doin just fine with articials So the only way to do this is to loose the spinning rods. I could think of no person better to give them to then my best friend and the other half of the 2 MOOKS IN A BOAT FISHING TEAM. I really love throwimg origianl Rapalas and shad raps with the one out fit I kept

SO here we go Im trying real hard to join the ranks of the Bait Casting crowd!

[Craw]

A 7' MH will work fine. 7 footers are a little harder to perform those little underhanded roll casts with but they can give you an edge when pitching. Whether you go 6'6" or 7', I really like the MH choice for what you described.

Low capacity spools...My favorite. Not having much experience with baitcasters, you might not be aware of this but the farther away from being fully spooled you are, the greater casting distance you lose. This might seem like a no brain-er cause all reel types suffer from this but it's really bad on baitcasting reels and after a long day of T-rigging in the heavy stuff you will certainly retie enough times to have an effect on ease of casting and distance. I personally prefer low capacity spools so I don't waste so much line when I re-spool. Lots of people will back fill a conventional spool before attaching the main line and that works fine to. It leaves them with the option of using a deeper spool if they pursue larger specie of fish that are able to make incredible runs.

[RiskKid.]

Muddy....I jumped into the baitcasting last spring just like you are doing now. I have one spinning setup like you w a 6'6" MF. My baitcast rods are a 6'6" MH-F, 7' MH-F and a 7' M-MF. I don't know if it's totally right but I use the spinning rod for finesse stuff, The 6'6" MHF for jigs, the 7'MMF is a crankbait rod and the 7'MHF has braid and I use it in heavy weeds and when I went to Canada this one was perfect for the big pike.

[Guest the_muddy_man]

Thanks Risk How bout posting some closing remarks on our BB thread OOOPPPSS HIJACKED MY OWN THREAD ;D

[dodgeguy]

good choices muddy man.