INDIANANGLER

If anybody from forum could help suggest a good baitcasting reel for salt water fishing, am planning to use it for casting plugs and jigs from shore and jetty using 10 feet rod or will pair it with 7 feet rod while boat fishing am looking for a strong reel with good drag.
Thanks

Marathu uses a lot of bait-casters, he is probably the best person to advise.

I seldom use them I have a Penn and an Abu that I had custom ordered for left hand wind, I like the Abu very much but honestly, a spinning reel works better on the sea, the bait-caster is a pain to cast into the wind and on the sea we get a lot of that.

In my opinion Americans love to complicate things so they popularise the bait caster. If you think about it, it is unnatural to use. The reel sits on top of the rod so it is acting against gravity unless you hold your rod dead straight with the reel at 90 degrees, most of the reels are right hand wind so you use your weak hand to fight the fish if you are right handed, the only favourable thing about the bait-caster was it eliminate line twist, the rest is marketing BS. Americans love to complicate things and sell it. As if cricket was not already complicated with batting at two ends and other complicated rules, but they had to modify it and they play baseball, Rugby to American football where you seldom use your foot, and football is called soccer...just to confuse the crap out of everyone as far as I know the multiplier was a Chinese invention but the Chinese claim to have invented several things.....and this that may not be true.

Regards,

Bobby

@bobby I was impressed by gong lie using okuma baitcasting reel to catch black bass and how much fun it is to use baitcaster on boat

Gong Lei is a master of the baitcasting reel .... it may take a long time to reach his level of proficiency!

I personally dislike baicasters, they have a propensity to create a birds nest at the most inopportune time ... usually when you are in the middle of action.

Some may be able to clear the birds nest routinely, others will just have to cut the line and rerig.

Give me a spinning reel anytime.

Kingfish

Don't know Gong Lei, but I completely agree with Kingfish.

Bobby,

Gong Lei is a well known Chinese angler who is renowned for his casting skills ( with baitcasters) and for catching very hard fighting fish, such as the Papuan Black Bass.

If you check him out on YouTube, there are numerous episodes showing him fishing in different locations around the world ...... I always marvel at his accurate casting into snags and under overhanging branches to catch large fish.

Kingfish

Kingfish,

I did check him out, impressive, but those Youtube videos are edited, so the snags etc are taken off...

Bobby

Bait casting reel for shore fishing with jigs and plugs is not a good idea. Generally people use bait caster for shore fishing, when they use bait with a heavy weight, that's the term bait and eight(meaning 8 ounce of weight) to hold the bottom in rough waves. With spinning reels it is very difficult to cast a heavy weight and chance are more that you end up cutting your finger, where as you can easily hold the same weight with the thumb in the bait caster.

As Bobby pointed out in most of the videos, birds nest and snags would have been edited out. Birds nest in a bait caster is a real problem and in surf where winds can change quickly it is amplified.
A bait caster can be good for bottom jigging in a boat. But my advice would be to have a good spinner for surf and you will enjoy fishing most than spending your time removing tangles.

I have only a small bait caster and I love it using for freshwater fishing and for light fishing near the jetties. Maruthu has plenty of bait casters, and I am sure he will also advise against using them in the surf.

Regards,
Venkatesan

Just a tip, we used to cast out some seriously heavy weights and metal lures using spinning reels, and I used to tape my index finger with medical tape to prevent the cuts. It takes a little getting used to and sometimes the feel of the line against the edges of the tape is a bit weird but you get used to it.

Ramper,

I use a lot of baitcasters and love them, but prefer a spinning rod/reel while fishing from the beach. Not because of the backlash or bird's nest, but because of the speed of retrieve of a bait caster compared to a spinning reel. I used to drop a lot of fish because of that lack of control during a strike, specially when it is windy on the beach, while fishing top water lures and such, that have a slack in the line . I still love casting my Abu 7000 on my 10' lamiglas surf and jetty rod as it casts like a charm, but with modern day technology with braid, reel spool and rod guide design in spinning gear, I think a spinning reel can cast really good as well. I however, prefer a bait caster for fishing from the rocks in saltwater and also for freshwater fishing, as I am very comfortable with baitcasters when it comes to casting accuracy (to get that lure within 12" gap between the rocks). That being sad, some people do that with spinning gear as well, though I don't get how they do that.

My love for bait casters mainly come from the following reasons....

1. I prefer the line to go over the rod than under
2. The line stays more closer to the rod in a bait caster as the guides are smaller (a well connected feeling)
3. Prefer the way how the line comes straight out of the spool while fighting the fish with some drag
4. Prefer to hold the line with my thumb pressed against the reel, than holding it with my index finger while casting
5. I prefer to push a button and cast as opposed to opening the bail and picking the line before casting in a spinning gear
6. Makes me look like a Pro Just kidding by the way

All that being said, an Abu 7000 reel is great to pair with a 10' rod. For a 7' rod, I'd go with a Shimano 200 or 300 size bait casting reel depending on how heavy the rod is. I use a Shimano calcutta 200GTB reel with my 7' St. Croix Avid inshore rod rated for 1/2 to 1 1/4 oz lures and 10 to 20# line, and a Shimano 300TE with my 7' G.Loomis Pro Blue series rod rated for 12-25# line. Hope that helps!

Cheers!
Maruthu

@Maruthu
am planning to buy daiwa lexa 300, okuma citrix, shimano SLX to fish from the boat specially to target small GT where we need to cast near the rocks continuously and same setup ill be using for casting at the jetty where we cast below the jetty.
btwn with your abu 7000 reel and 10 feet rod how much distance you get on 40gm lures ?
on spinning setup i can do around 80 mts using ultegra 5500 and 10 feet rod.

The baitcasting reel is mainly used for Barramundi fishing in Australia from a boat, as extreme accuracy is required to cast to barra suspended in the water under mangrove branches.
Some also use it or freshwater angling for Australian bass and Murray cod.

For everything else, such as shore fishing, estuary fishing and chasing pelagics, the Aussie Angler has started to favour the spinning reel. Part of the reason being the inability of baitcasters to cast very light lures and the advent of new spinning reels with powerful drags, combined with light weight( such as the Shimano Nasci).

@RaMpEr .... I wish you every success and enjoyment with your new baitcasting outfits. We look forward to pictures and videos of your future trips.

Regards,
Kingfish

I think on open water, it is relatively easy to cast accurately with any reel, spinning or baitcasters. There have been plenty of times anglers fishing with me have lost their floating lures due to broken knots and I have reeled these in with my spinning outfit for them.

I have fished for plenty of Barra from a boat and will be the first one to admit that, despite plenty of
practice, I cannot reach the accuracy of a competent Angler using a baitcaster casting under tree branches by skipping their lures to catch Barra.

Yes, using my spinning gear I can reach under branches upto a certain stage or cast upstream and let the floating lure reach the desired location using the current but I just cannot ever hope to compete with these guys using a baitcaster.

Just have a look in YouTube under "skipping lures" and you will see what I mean. I am sure that the majority of Indian Anglers have never encountered such situations.

Kingfish

Hi have seen videos of guys casting 2.5gm weight up-to 50mts using shimano curado k baitcasting reel, using spinning reel I can cast within 1 meter radius of a target usually they are floating plastic bottles in the ocean. Live bait fishing I think bait caster is better when targeting pan size fish, as of now I have picked Abu Garcia black max and daiwa rod for practice and so far no backlash.

I bought a local store branded baitcaster after I saw multiple folks to right and left of me use to it free line live bait and some chucking 1/4 oz plastic shrimp. I tried it a few times, first with mono and later with braid. Needless to say, now it's tucked safely somewhere in my garage.

Spinning reel let me do what I want with the accuracy required to chuck lures out in an open beach front or the confines of a jetty. I do however see some value in close quarter fishing under brush conditions and the bass angler live by it.

Cheers...

Another technique, that I use, to control accuracy in a spinning reel is to "feather" the line. What this means is that I can purposely overshoot my target and then quickly put my forefinger on the spool rim to stop the line coming off.

The result is that the lure is stopped mid flight and immediately plops down into the designated target zone. Handy if you wish to land your lure in sunken timber or just short of the branches overhanging the water. Barramundi and mangrove jacks stay under this type of cover.

This technique also comes in handy if you miscalculate the strength of your cast and are in danger of landing your lure in a tree branch, rocks or bush overhanging the water ... just feather the reel and the lure will be pulled back from the danger.

It sounds more difficult than it actually is but one does need to practice it until it becomes second nature.

Kingfish