thanks for the site alot of good info. i have been fishing with a spinning reel my entire life but have recently move to virginia beach and my buddy talked me into buying a casting reel. yesterday i bought a shimano charter special 2000, a 7ft MH rod, and spooled it with 25lbs test line and was ready to go. i went out last night in the street with some weight on the end and was going to practice. for every cast i spent about 15 mins picking out the back lash. i dont know what im doing wrong or if my set up is wrong but every time i cast i back lash. any suggestions. thank you
I think we all know the fustration casting with a conventional reel. You are not alone my friend. It took me years to learn, and now, relearn. You need a controlled thumb to "feather" or slow down the spool. One way to slow it down. As I recall, this reel does not have a way to brake (slow down the spool) when put in free spool. Personally, I would probably buy a descent used jig master to practice with. The jig master has a spool tension knob on the opposite side of the handle to slow down the free spool. Tighten a bit then cast. If you still get backlash, then tighten a little further. As you are getting less and less backlash, loosen the tension knob, cast and cast, and when you get no backlash, loosen again.
Another trick we used is take a used dish soap bottle, clean it out and fill with water. Before every cast, wet down the line. It will make it easier to cast and less burns on your thumb.
There are also a lot of YouTube videos out there that you can see how the person is standing, casting motion, etc. It's different than casting with a spinner.
Good luck and don't give up. It will come with practice.
what do you think about the rod size. my buddy tells me to get a 8 ft MH. he says it will make it a bit easier
Personally, I think it's all timing irrespective of the rod length. I've see some cast a good distance with stout 5' trolling rods farther than someone with a 9' surf rod, and vise versa. That tells me it's all timing based on the rod you have.
Your problem is that the Charter Special is not a casting reel. Being a lever drag with all the drag washers attached to the spool the spool weight is greatly increased. This creats inertia at the start of the cast and a flywheel effect when the spool gets going.
X 2. You need to seek out a reel that is more caster friendly.
I'll ad my $.02......
Conventionals can be designed as primarily a casting reel, a trolling reel or jigging reel or any combination.
Some cast much, much better than others. Bryan's suggestion of finding an old Penn Jigmaster is a great idea as they have bushings instead of bearings and are topless in design. This makes getting those
"professional over-runs", or birds nests, under control.
I would suggest a few pointers in your quest. First, spool your (jigmaster) reel with a stiff 40 or 50 test. Use a 2 oz weight or thereabouts.
Use Bryan's suggestions and YouTube references. When casting, use a long sweeping motion, ( with your arms), instead of a spinning reels' sharper action, ( with a lot of wrist). Secondly, as your lure or weight finishes its arc and lands on the grass or water, make sure you thumb the spool to stop the spools action. This may be a significant cause of the backlashes you experienced.
Make short casts to begin with. As you educate your thumb, you can you can loosen the reels' tension knob, cast a bit harder and eventually eliminate the thick 40/50 line and you will be ready to take on the fish.
One last thing. Email Alan about his Charter Special Reel Frames. It will convert that trolling reel into a real serious casting reel. Have a look....
http://alantani.com/index.php?topic=501.0
thanks for all the info. i have never really posted anything before and didnt know how much feed back i would get. i am looking at the jigmaster right now on ebay and noticed it is not a levelwind. how hard is it being i have never used one, my thinking was it was one less thing i had to think about while learning.
To level the line across the spool, you use your other thumb.... the one you grip the rod with. Place your thumb over the line at the grip. Leave a gap between the rod's grip and your thumb. Then, as you wind in line, just guide the line across the spool.... it's easy!
Casting conventionals is the only time you can compliment someone by saying, "He's all thumbs"!
alright i found a jigmaster 500l never used still in box for 34 plus shipping. worth it or keep looking
It's $34. bucks well spent. You can always sell it and upgrade later. On the other hand, Jigmasters are always worth keeping as back up outfits.
thanks for the advice, im trying to pick up a jigmaster now and thinking about returning the shimano for now and just playing with the jigmaster until i know more about this. but no doubt i will still be fishing even if i have spinners out while i practice with this other one.
$34 is a decent price for a like-new Jigmaster. Like phinaddict said, toss some weight out there and as soon as it hits mother earth, stop the spool with your thumb. All the tips already given are good. Some other things that may help: practice in daylight, tie a piece of something bright on by the weight so you can see its travel, put some tape over the pad of your thumb to eliminate burning (adhesive tape or even a fabric "Band-Aid"), and take your time.
You'll get there, be patient.
And keep the Jigmaster; it's a good, semi-fast reel that's perfect for 20# line. And they're so simple to maintain and work on!
Good luck! ;D
I completely forgot about the line guide (doh). That will screw you up all of the time casting with a reel that size. The line guide is swinging way to faster than your line is coming through the guide getting caught and drastically slowing the line down from leaving the reel while your spool is flying trying to get the line off the spool causing overruns.
I learned casting on a Penn Long Beach (No. 259). The reel is about the size of a jig master with 50# line, a 13 ft. rod, and 5 oz lead. Looking back, through all of the fustration, I should have started with a 7 or 8 ft. Rod, 3 oz lead. Timing would have been easier than trying to sling something that long and that heavy through the air.
Again. Good luck.
Hang in there.
When you get it right there is no greater feeling in fishing.
I started with a Daiwa 250SMF, 2000 meters of line, a pair of scissors to "Undo" the birdsnests and went to the local park. 1st day a little girl about 3 yo rode out on a bike to where I was and said "Dad said to tell you you should have been here yesterday".
Here I am 40 years later still using over heads for all my fishing and 50% of the time I am sure I should have been here yesterday.
Dave
"my buddy talked me into buying a casting reel. yesterday i bought a shimano charter special 2000"
kchancey, you have simply got the wrong reel for the job. These things are designed to be tough as nails overheads for bottom bashing over the side of a charter boat. My 13yo kid loves his for reef fishing (and his dad caught a 22kg Spanish Mackerel with it recently). Casting? Experts and desperates only nomatter how many modifications you make. Go back to your spin reels. But the Charter Special when fully spooled packs a punch.
One of the things we used to do to fine tune casting, was to attach the jig you're going to use to the end of the line after the line is fed through the rod guides (with reel mounted on the reel seat, of course). Then drop the jig to the floor, boat deck or whatever. There should be some friction when it's dropped. You can visually adjust the friction of that particular lure by turning the casting adjustment knob on the right side of the reel. Don't be afraid to adjust it on the slightly tight side as the lure starts to drop slowly, but not too slowly. It mustn't drop as if in free spool. That'l cause backlashes every time. You must see the lure drop in a controlled way. Then you know you're getting closer to the friction tension required for the weight of that particular lure. It takes some patience and time but works well when properly adjusted. When casting, feather the right side of the metal spool itself with your thumb. Don't feather the line. That'l get you into trouble much of the time. Good luck casting. It took me a lifetime learning how to cast and I think I still could use a lot of improvement.
Not all reels are designed to allow use of the spool bearing as a cast control device. In particular, almost all of the Penn conventionals -- this includes the Jigmaster -- should always be fished with a tiny amount of spool side to side slop. If the spool does not have this play, you can ruin the bearings or, worse yet, warp the side plates if you keep tightening the end bearings and fish heavy drag. I see this very frequently in the shop. Many people don't read the brochure that comes with the Penn reels and use the end bearings to stop backlashes just lke you would in a genuine casting reel like an Ambassadeur.
Amen, akfish! Many Daiwas come with the adjusting knob for casting drag, like the Ambassaduers. If there is a knurled knob under the star drag wheel, you probably have this feature.
kchancey, keep working with the Jigmaster (or other conventional reel). I started out on a spinner and have found the conventionals are a lot more fun and functional. I'll never sell my Jigmaster even if it is outclassed by my red-plate Senators and Sealine 350H.
Tight lines . . . .
Rob