bought my first baitcaster

Abu Garcia Ambassadeur 6601c4. With a Shimano Scimitar 8'6" medium rod. I have always used spinning reels so this will take some practice.

I taught myself and my two boys to cast with baitcasters over the last year.

my 7 year old has some skillz. 10 year old is a bit behind. they use 30" ice fishing rods.
I like to practice with a short whippy 5.5' rod.

buy yourself a few of those practice casting plugs. spool with mono, like half the spool to start.

a full spool will backlash more easily. plus you are going to be cutting it out anyway if you start
with a full spool,  .

use a 1/2 oz casting plug if you can. it's easier starting with a heavier weight.

go outside and practice a little each day.  It's easier to learn with light 5.5' rod
if you have one, even a spinning rod flipped over will work.

start with short casts, slowly lengthen them. use a target like a bucket.

don't forget to adjust the casting control so that the plug slowly drops when you put
it in freespool. as your thumb gets better you don't have to do this.

keep your thumb on the spool and feather the landing.

if you get a small backlash, pull it out and reel on clean. if it sticks, pull the spool backwards,
loosen the tangle and try to pull it out again. if you can't do it, just cut it out, it's
just mono and you will be surprised how much mono you have left after cutting it
out.

practice seems to make a he-uge difference in lack of birdsnests.

I am not sure exactly what we are doing right now but birdsnests are way fewer.

with your setup, you can use a 1 oz weight and go perching which is a way to huck a
small heavy weight a long way and good practice for baitcasting.

have fun.

I took it to the park yesterday and caught on pretty quickly. I still need to work on accuracy but the backlashing was minimal and improved quickly.

Thanks for the detailed tips, John. I've only used the baitcaster for jigging (I have good thumb action when hitting the bottom) and trolling (I let line out in freespool while I'm paddling). Maybe practicing casting in the backyard should be one of my winter projects.

Janice aka "Big J"

I'm learning too...

Nothing gets that thumb educated like picking out a huge birds nest, and getting an even bigger one on the very next cast.

here's some motivation for potential learners.
Although casting is not required for most of our fishing, it does give you a few more options.

I caught the halibut in my avatar when I cast a megabait out over some featureless terrain and lift and bumped it back to the boat on the bottom. hooked one at the bean south of the cove the same way.

In santa cruz, I cast a 1oz leadhead and fishtrap as far as possible let it sink in 30-40 feet and then lift it with the rod tip, retrieve 2 or 3 turns and let it drop to the bottom again. repeat to boat. the schoolie size rockfish like this. and sometimes, that's all you are going to catch anyways in santa cruz,  .
the baitcaster combines bottom control with casting ability in a nice way here.

good idea to bring a spare setup or at least a spare reel in case you do get a gnar backlash on the water.

I did some perch fishing with a baitcaster this year. a 3/4 to 2oz lead weight and tiny grub casts pretty easily. that's a pretty gratifying way to use your new baitcasting skills.

I don't think I'm ready to cast an anchovy on 20lb line on a newell just yet tho...

John

Well I do a lot of LMB fishing, and even though I've found it is possible to coast right up to bass in a kayak, casting is pretty much neccesary.  There's a gap in my rod arsenal...

If anyone can recommend a good bass rod that will match with an Abu 5500, suitable for casting and maybe some flippin too...  I'm all ears.

I was looking at the Shimano Curado's too...  but I swore I was done buying reels.

here's some motivation for potential learners.
Although casting is not required for most of our fishing, it does give you a few more options.

I caught the halibut in my avatar when I cast a megabait out over some featureless terrain and lift and bumped it back to the boat on the bottom. hooked one at the bean south of the cove the same way.

In santa cruz, I cast a 1oz leadhead and fishtrap as far as possible let it sink in 30-40 feet and then lift it with the rod tip, retrieve 2 or 3 turns and let it drop to the bottom again. repeat to boat. the schoolie size rockfish like this. and sometimes, that's all you are going to catch anyways in santa cruz,  .
the baitcaster combines bottom control with casting ability in a nice way here.

good idea to bring a spare setup or at least a spare reel in case you do get a gnar backlash on the water.

I did some perch fishing with a baitcaster this year. a 3/4 to 2oz lead weight and tiny grub casts pretty easily. that's a pretty gratifying way to use your new baitcasting skills.

I don't think I'm ready to cast an anchovy on 20lb line on a newell just yet tho...

John

John,

I had amazing success and tons of fun on the opener this year down in Stillwater. I was casting a 4 oz diamond jig Using a brutal 7' Musky rod and a Squidder, it was easy to lob the jig 50 yards. I'd cast it, let it drop for about 5 seconds, and then would buzz/rip it back to the kayak. This was much more productive than vertical jigging in terms of fish/hour at least on this particular day. The Blues and Olives could not resist the speeding lure.

Eric,

I'd identify just exactly which technique you wanted the rod for, and then make a selection. I've been buying Shimano rods recently, even over Loomis. The Clarus series runs about $60-$70, and the Crucial rods are $130-$150. Both have lifetime "free exchange, no questions asked" warranties.

Regards,
Scott

scott, remind me to run for cover when you start firing those broadsides!

as for using a baitcaster for bassing, well, the best local bassers I know (is compa reading this  ) seem to fish mainly finesse and use senkos on mono leader to 10lb braid, and ML spinning rods. that, and fishing all day long, and what seems to me to be every single day,  , seems to the their technique.

but finding a good conventional bass rod to fit to a 5500 has to be about the easiest shopping mission on the planet. sometimes it seems as if that is all that is being made by rod manus. the choice might appear hard, but I think almost all of those rods will work pretty darn well so its not like the choice matters that much.

eric, for that matter, you could use your 'blue' rod for spinnerbaits and deep cranks, no?

John, the Dblue rod that I like so much works great for stripers and rockfish, but it's much too stiff to cast anything I use for bass.

For Senkos and such I probably outta stick with spinners, and I probably outta have a dedicated flippin conventional setup...

I was just trying to keep it simple, but there's no one setup that does it all, I guess.

When guys with a peacock-like plume of rods proudly sprouting from behind the seat I used to think they were just gear hounds, but I can see where you almost need three rods minimum to do it right at some places.

going from having 1 to having 2 rods rigged up is a big jump in what you can cover it seems.

I'm sure after that it starts to have real diminishing returns.

If you take out 2 rods, good chance you get them both wet. Take out 6 and I bet most stay dry.

A ML spinner and a conventional setup ought to cover quite a few applications.

I just got a Curado 200BSF....  and I like it.

Hi Yakers:

            Make sure to to thumb down the Spool as soon at your
Jig hits the water. I use a Penn 505 w/ 25 Lb. X-Pline for
Halibut and, a Penn 9M level wind w 15 Lb. for my Sabiki rig and RF.
            My $45 Shamano 6'6" Rods are from  the discount bucket at Big five.
                                                                   Ernie
                                                     
           

I just got a Curado 200BSF....  and I like it.

save that sweetie for freshwater tho.