Videos on YouTube where they do a "casting test" but don'tactually measure the distance of the casts are stupid.

So I did a test of my own, to test how the dual braking works on a Lews Custom Black. Now I wasn't trying to see how far it could cast generally speaking, so I didnt use a 7'6 rod for my lunchtime lure launch.

I ran downstairs before leaving for work when I saw that it was gonna be in the 40s, grabbed the reel and a rod real quick, 6'9 MHF, and ran out the door.

Part of my motivation for this test was that I had upgraded the bearings to ceramic hybrid and was anxious to feel the difference. I do wish I had an opportunity to cast with the old bearings more recently, I haven't casted this reel in 5/6 months, but it was noticeable how much easier it was to get a cast out without exerting much energy.

I started with 2 centrifugal brakes on and magnetic dial on like 8, casting a 1/2 oz bullet weight with a 5 inch stick bait. I was able to bring those magnetic brakes to just about off and maxed out about 80 ft on avg.

I popped open the side and switched one of the brakes off and brought the external dial back up a bit. With one centrifugal brakes I was able to bring the magnetic dial down to 2 and averaged about 96ft.

Now on the way down to 2 on the magnetic brakes I would make some casts at each whole interval and then half intervals as I got below 5 (10 total on those Lews). What happened next was utterly unexpected and made me literally say "WoW" out loud.

Oh, and I almost forgot, throughout the testing I would also loosen the spool tension as I got the magnetic brakes real low and then dial them back up to see how much of a difference that made. Now I already had set the spool tension to just barely wiggle a tiny bit, so when I backed it off it never really seemed to make much of a difference if any, certainly nothing noteworthy.

For the final phase of the test I turned the internal brakes completely off amd brought the brakes up to 7.5. A smooth casts with minimal effort brought incredible distance for how little effort it required, and I'll say after I saw where it landed and walked out to it to measure I thought to myself "I'll never need to cast further than this is reality anyway."

I mean once you get far enough away with a cast the risk of losing the fish increases significantly. Of course there's no way to measure the effects of a long distance cast and hook up ratio or hook off ratio, but from my experience and the anecdotal evidence shared by others I think there seems to be a consensus on this.

That being said, it didn't take much effort at all with a relatively short rod to cast 40 yards+. I didn't feel like I had to chuck the bait, I didn't feel like doing this for hours would tire my shoulder or aggravate my elbow, and I was totally impressed by the results.

Testing the limits brought me to a fluff up which caught the line and broke me off. I'll admit I'm not a thumb, it was probably me more than anything that ended my experiment. But I do plan to test the extremes again and see what happens.

The way you should set your dual brake is set mag casting your light end to dial out mid-cast backlash (no centrifugal) - set this way, mag is compensating full time for the mass of the spool, line, and centrifugal.

Then pick number of centrifugal shoes casting your heavy end to prevent start-up backlash.

All with zero spool tension, which you add on the water in tiny amounts as needed.

This worked well enough for me setting on short rod casting 100+ feet, to backlash-proof casting 14' rod beyond 100+yards

54 minutes ago, bulldog1935 said:

way you should set your dual brake is

So basically set the brakes once and leave it, then only adjust the spool tension going forward?

That will work, or if you know you're going from casting 1/2 oz to over 1 oz, change the number of centrifugal shoes as needed.

@Banned User look at this mag set as baseline for your spool + line mass. You can add a mag notch or two for casting into wind, subtract a notch or two for max distance casting heavy weights.

5 minutes ago, Banned User said:

So basically set the brakes once and leave it, then only adjust the spool tension going forward?

Ideally, you'll set your spool tension to zero play/zero tension and leave it that way.

@bulldog1935 Okay cool, I'll definitely mess around with it for sure and see what happens. That 30ft gain with no centrifugal brakes was completely unexpected, but it was a very calm day. Crazy how one brake pad can make that huge of a difference. And of course it was a very aerodynamic lure

I plan to do some testing with my other reels as the opportunity arises

4 minutes ago, PhishLI said:

set your spool tension to zero play/zero tension and leave it that way.

For dual braking systems or all centrifugal and all magnetic braking systems? That's what I do with my Daiwas

2 minutes ago, Banned User said:

For dual braking systems or all centrifugal and all magnetic braking systems?

For any system. Once you're accustomed to using only the brakes with zero tension and get a feel for loading and unloading the rod, you'll get the best distance. You'll have to apply thumb a tad earlier before splashdown though. I fish at night most often, so I can't see the lure in flight, but I'm calibrated to the sound of the spool and its associated vibrations.

2 minutes ago, PhishLI said:

fish at night most often, so I can't see the lure in flight, but I'm calibrated to the sound of the spool and its associated vibrations

I'm in the same boat, one more reason I'm swapping to hybrid ceramic or full ceramic, easier to hear how the cast is going

just remember to set your brakes with the weight you're really going to be casting and the setup/combo you're going to be putting it on. It's all well and good to test and try different things in the yard. I did a test last summer looking at braid vs mono, heavy vs light braid, MGL vs SV vs Abu. Great to get a feel for the variables, but it didn't tell me anything I didn't already know. And since I was using a 7' MH MF and throwing a 1/2 oz frog as the lure, it told me nothing about the real world since I'd never throw that combo ever.

If a half ounce plus 5" bait is what you're throwing a bunch (that's around 7/8 oz total weight) then put it on your heavy rod and go to town. Play with the brakes, find what works for you.

I remember a backlash in 2018 - it was because I had a single line wrap on my rod tip.

(Loaded back-up reel and fished a great morning at Little Cut).

Only backlash I can remember.

How many people do you know fishing threadline braid on conventional surf reels (and pendulum cast) - takes high confidence in your reel setup.

Careful with the messing around thing. Treat it as a system, understand the parts of the system, why, how, and when to adjust each part.

Mag is for mid-cast, centrifugal is for start-up.

I remember back in 2009 when I thought i had made a mistake but I was wrong, don't hate me for being right 🤪

2 hours ago, casts_by_fly said:

did a test last summer looking at braid vs mono, heavy vs light braid, MGL vs SV vs Abu. Great to get a feel for the variables,

But what did it tell you that I might not know?

2 hours ago, Banned User said:

I remember back in 2009 when I thought i had made a mistake but I was wrong, don't hate me for being right 🤪

But what did it tell you that I might not know?

SV spools dont' cast quite as long as MGL spools which don't cast quite as long as a Revo spool. Braid is a little longer/better than mono but it really depends on the diameter. 30 lb 832 vs 16 lb supernatural is close to a wash I think, bumping to 50 lb 832 lost a little distance vs 30#. If you really want to cast a long way, use some 8 lb supernatural on a revo with the brakes as loose as you can tolerate it.

And in all the combinations above they were all casting 40 yards +/- 3 yards or so (if my memory is right) which is going to be much further that nearly everyone needs in a bass fishing scenario. And that was with an underpowered rod and a not so aerodynamic lure (frog with a fluffy tail). If you have a specific need (bombing crankbaits or heaving a big bottom rig) then you can set up for that and you'll get a lot more than 40 yards but for plain old bass fshing any of the combinations were more than sufficient.

Not sure if you know all those things but that confirmed what I knew.

Anyone who bench tunes will have a different knowledge base, because results are proportional to spool mass and bearing inertia, along with brake type - reducing spool and spool bearing inertia needs less brake force to get the same brake result, and more cast energy goes into distance.

On 2/19/2026 at 4:08 PM, casts_by_fly said:

Not sure if you know all those things but that confirmed what I knew

I definitely didn't know that the Revo was like that, and although I never thought the SV reels I've used were choked i didnt think it would only be within about 3 yards of any other reel (properly set up of course).

Did you measure the casting distance or eyeball it?

Thanks for sharing

Bit of both on the distance. I shoot my bow in the driveway so I know my yardage markers. The mailbox is exactly 40 yards to the other end of the driveway on the rangefinder. From there I can gauge 1-2-3 yards on where the lure lands.

With a more aerodynamic lure the SV could have been opened up a little more. I would cast and then reduce the brakes. Repeat until it was significantly fluffing mid cast but basically cleaned at the end of the cast. Something like a plopper would let you open it up more, though the same is true for the other spools.

Let's do the math here.

If you cast with wrist snap, SV will CYA and remove jerk energy from your cast, which also slows the spool start-up response. If you cast without wrist snap, SV functions more as a linear mag brake and casts every bit as far as Revo or Lew's linear mag - both depend on how you set your mag. If you don't want SV, you can use fixed-inductor spool in Daiwa and it will only have linear mag. Put a 4-g spool in your Zillion ot Steez, and hang on.

This is the reason you will see people with marginal cast habits say their SV is reliable but costs them distance, while others say their SV out-casts everything else.

SV Boost is for heavier weights, MagZ and MagZ Boost are for heavier yet.

Daiwa makes excellent tools. Linear, SV, MagZ. I use them all & set up is everything. Understanding your casting stroke is vital. I want minimal fluff on my midcast setup. Anything more is either your stroke is changing cast to cast or your reel set up is incorrect. I don’t read much on here about MagZ, it’s always fishermen complaining about the so-called limitations of SV. There are no limitations other than the very low, low end or the above 1 oz range. (Under 3/16 for an SV Shallow spool) However a simple 34mm spool change gets you BFS weights rather easily as Ron @bulldog1935 explains so very well in a multitude of threads including this one & thru-out the past couple years. He has delivered a wealth of information concerning these very topics.

Magnetic & spool braking design is fascinating to me & when properly understood, it’s brilliant engineering..

17 hours ago, bulldog1935 said:

SV Boost is for heavier weights,

In your experience, what weight range would a standard 34mm SV boost spool be ideal for casting?

About to order a Zillion, looking for a comfortable range of 1/4-1oz.

Sorry, don't mean to hijack the thread. Thanks.

@LCG both SV and SV Boost will cast 1/8 to 1 oz well. Boost gives a distance advantage on the heavy end by reducing start-up brake sooner.