hey boys i have a citica and when i was tryin to pitch a lighter bait today it was getting "hungup". how can i use my break system to help me out. do i turn on the breaks or off? idk. im sure this has been posted somewhere but a quick explanation would be awesome . i was throwing a 1/4oz jig with 12lb yorzuri. not sure if the line will hinder a light lure or not commin off the spool? :-?

trav

Sounds to me like you have to loosen your spool tension knob.

Yup, I agree with Tom. The spool tension knob on most reels should be a small 1/2inch or so diameter knurled knob on the handle side. To adjust it, hold the rod horizontal and release the spool. The lure should slowly fall to the ground and when hits the ground the spool will immediatly stop. Adjust the tension on the knob to achieve this. This setup is for normal conditions with little wind. If you were to use something like a spinnerbait that has a chance to get 'hung up' in the air you may want to tighten it just a hair.

The brakes on the Citica, (I beleive there are 5 or 6) will be adjusted to your experience level with baitcasters, the type of lure, the amount of wind and the speed of your thumb. If you are new at baitcasters you may want to make all of the brakes active. Pull the cover off the side and you will see 5 or 6 little white (red on some models) plastic T-shaped pieces around the inside of the spool. To activate a brake simply unclip it from its position and it should now float free on the small shaft it is on. To deactivate it push it towards the center up the spool until it clips in.

The more you have active the shorter your casts will be and the less likely you will get a backlash. The less you have active the further your casts will be but the likelyhood you will get a backlash will be higher. Start with all of them active and work your way down until you are satisified.

I have the same reel and pretty much all I flip is 1/4 (mostly stumps and cypressknees). I leave 2 brakes on and the tension knob loose with some thumb action depending on how far I am piching.

I would set 2 brakes on and the spool tension knob on the loose side.  Then just use your thumb for applying brake pressure to the spool.

Later,

2 brakes on works best for me as well when using cent. braking. I set the spool tension knob so that the lure/soft plastic free falls slowly to the ground. You can take more tension off the knob as you get better at thumbing the spool.