one last baitcast question

[wallywallace]

well i am finally able to get it to most places if i am standing sideways. everytime i throw it straight it becomes awful backlash city, i throw with my left hand it goes almost sideways to the right and the opposite if i do it with my right. i want to trow straight, i am missing alot. thank you any advice will help

[Bassboss]

Just practice. Letting go of the spool with your thumb might help too!

[wallywallace]

oh ok, i thought i was doing somthing wrong.. thank you

[bamabassman]

practice,pratice,pratice......and remember, oyur thumb is oyur friend.

[nobass]

try turning your wrist a 1/4 of turn inward and stand facing your target, but a coffee can at 15 ft then 20 then 25 and so on till you can do it at 50 feet

[wallywallace]

thank you, and as always, this is the best website ever

[Tavery5]

Without actually seeing what is going on, I am going to make an assumption that you may be casting too light of a bait for your current setup. Try throwing something heavier and see if it makes any differnce in your accuracy.

[wallywallace]

it is doing i for about everything but weight over an 1 oz. it has magnetic breaks and i have been using each level, so i guess i just suck at it till i practice more

[bamabassman]

turn the brakes all the way on at first. then tighten the drag just a little more than you need. lighten up as oyu improve. practice,practice,practice. lol.

[Tavery5]

How tight is the cast control knob, how did you adjust your reel for the weight you are throwing?

[wallywallace]

jeez, i forgot the knob or the reel drag, i need to play around with it

[Bassboss]

Originally Posted by wallywallace

jeez, i forgot the knob or the reel drag, i need to play around with it

Drag doesn't do anything with casting, just the tension knob and breaks (in your case mag breaks).

[Bassman96]

Originally Posted by bamabassman

turn the brakes all the way on at first. then tighten the drag just a little more than you need. lighten up as oyu improve. practice,practice,practice. lol.

Practice is key. Youll be amazed at how a couple fishing trips with practice can help. Goodluck!!!

[pro reel]

What reel do you have?

[bamabassman]

my bad boss. oyu are correct. NOT the drag knob, i MEANT the tension knob. thanks bossman for correcting me.

[wallywallace]

i have several, but the main one i use in my pinncle 7 gear caster, so been praticing and got it pretty good, the only real problem in the light top waters, like the small heddon top water plugs with the spinning blades in the back,

[islandbass]

Originally Posted by wallywallace

well i am finally able to get it to most places if i am standing sideways. everytime i throw it straight it becomes awful backlash city, i throw with my left hand it goes almost sideways to the right and the opposite if i do it with my right. i want to trow straight, i am missing alot. thank you any advice will help

.
Practice will only get you so far. I would qualify it by saying focused, quality practice will get you the results you desire. You need not look any farther than folks whacking golf balls at a driving range to prove my point.

To your question - Fortunately, the root cause is simple, and I know because I experienced the exact same thing when I first started.

Case: Side Arm casts flying to the "other" side -Lures flying to the left from casts made with the right hand while making a side arm cast and vice versa.
Cause: This is the result of the thumb coming off of the spool a little too late during the cast.
Solution: The thumb needs to be trained to come off of the spool just a little earlier.

If you come from a spinning background, the release time of the thumb off of the spool with a baitcast reel is slightly earlier than the forefinger coming off of a spinning rod during the cast.

For overhand casts, late release of the thumb results in the lure slamming in front of you and usually results in a bird's nest because the lure has been stopped and the spool is still spinning and the newbie has not yet gained the experience to know better (speaking from personal experience).

If you see your lure with a rainbow trajectory, the thumb came off a little too early.

Overhand Cast Disasters for beginners - Why in the world are side arm casts "easier" to make than overhand casts? It's a question many newbies have. On the contrary, overhand and sidearm casts are identical mechanically but they are made on different plains.

Probable Cause: Assuming that the reel has been set properly, the weight of the lure is within optimum functionality of the reel (not all reels do well with lighter weights - some fare better than others), and it is not too windy, the usual culprit of the overhand cast bird's nest is the angler's failure to have the lure's weight properly load the rod.

People using spinning gear can get away with such sloppy mechanics, but not readily so with casting gear. The angler must learn to properly load the rod with the lure. It actually takes less effort to do so.

A typical sign that the lure's weight did not properly load the rod is the whipping/whiffing sound the rod makes as it passes the angler's ear (overhand cast) moving forward, and the lure is still moving backward and as a result did not yet load the rod.

Learning to load the rod properly also reduces the chances of making harmful "wristy" (using too much wrist) casts. Wristy made casts aren't detrimental if the rod were properly loaded. However, if the rod doesn't get loaded, the chance for a bird's nest increases greatly.

The best way I can explains is the go through the motions of making an overhand cast. As you initiate the cast and move the rod back, stop moving it back when the rod is directly above you. At this time, DO NOT LET your thumb come the spool. With the rod stopped, the line and lure will continue to move behind you. Then the line will eventually become taut, the lure's weight will bend the rod backward (this is the lure's weight loading the rod) and then the lure and line will be propelled forward.

With your thumb still on the spool, rock it back and forth a few times. That is what a properly loaded rod will feel like.

If you do this, you can practically cast as hard as you want and (well if it's a Shimano Shimano's centrifugal brakes spoil the angler) not even have your thumb on the spool and you will not bird's nest as a result of the cast.

However, the bottom line for preventing bird's nest at the end of the cast is to STOP the spool from spinning BEFORE the lure hits ANYTHING - The water's surface, a tree in your yard or the neighbor's window. It also doesn't matter how you stop the spool from spinning. Feather it to a stop, or stop it dead cold. That is the bottom line.

Lastly, practice with nothing less that 1/2 oz. Going any lighter than 3/8 oz can make getting the timing down more difficult among other difficulties.

[Bassman96]

Originally Posted by islandbass

.
Practice will only get you so far. I would qualify it by saying focused, quality practice will get you the results you desire. You need not look any farther than folks whacking golf balls at a driving range to prove my point.

To your question - Fortunately, the root cause is simple, and I know because I experienced the exact same thing when I first started.

Case: Side Arm casts flying to the "other" side -Lures flying to the left from casts made with the right hand while making a side arm cast and vice versa.
Cause: This is the result of the thumb coming off of the spool a little too late during the cast.
Solution: The thumb needs to be trained to come off of the spool just a little earlier.

If you come from a spinning background, the release time of the thumb off of the spool with a baitcast reel is slightly earlier than the forefinger coming off of a spinning rod during the cast.

For overhand casts, late release of the thumb results in the lure slamming in front of you and usually results in a bird's nest because the lure has been stopped and the spool is still spinning and the newbie has not yet gained the experience to know better (speaking from personal experience).

If you see your lure with a rainbow trajectory, the thumb came off a little too early.

Overhand Cast Disasters for beginners - Why in the world are side arm casts "easier" to make than overhand casts? It's a question many newbies have. On the contrary, overhand and sidearm casts are identical mechanically but they are made on different plains.

Probable Cause: Assuming that the reel has been set properly, the weight of the lure is within optimum functionality of the reel (not all reels do well with lighter weights - some fare better than others), and it is not too windy, the usual culprit of the overhand cast bird's nest is the angler's failure to have the lure's weight properly load the rod.

People using spinning gear can get away with such sloppy mechanics, but not readily so with casting gear. The angler must learn to properly load the rod with the lure. It actually takes less effort to do so.

A typical sign that the lure's weight did not properly load the rod is the whipping/whiffing sound the rod makes as it passes the angler's ear (overhand cast) moving forward, and the lure is still moving backward and as a result did not yet load the rod.

Learning to load the rod properly also reduces the chances of making harmful "wristy" (using too much wrist) casts. Wristy made casts aren't detrimental if the rod were properly loaded. However, if the rod doesn't get loaded, the chance for a bird's nest increases greatly.

The best way I can explains is the go through the motions of making an overhand cast. As you initiate the cast and move the rod back, stop moving it back when the rod is directly above you. At this time, DO NOT LET your thumb come the spool. With the rod stopped, the line and lure will continue to move behind you. Then the line will eventually become taut, the lure's weight will bend the rod backward (this is the lure's weight loading the rod) and then the lure and line will be propelled forward.

With your thumb still on the spool, rock it back and forth a few times. That is what a properly loaded rod will feel like.

If you do this, you can practically cast as hard as you want and (well if it's a Shimano Shimano's centrifugal brakes spoil the angler) not even have your thumb on the spool and you will not bird's nest as a result of the cast.

However, the bottom line for preventing bird's nest at the end of the cast is to STOP the spool from spinning BEFORE the lure hits ANYTHING - The water's surface, a tree in your yard or the neighbor's window. It also doesn't matter how you stop the spool from spinning. Feather it to a stop, or stop it dead cold. That is the bottom line.

Lastly, practice with nothing less that 1/2 oz. Going any lighter than 3/8 oz can make getting the timing down more difficult among other difficulties.

Good Job!!!

[wallywallace]

WOW, thank you man, that was aloot for you to help somone, i copied and pasted to reread, thank you

[islandbass]

Anytime! I did type it rather quickly without editing so are a few grammatical errors in there.

I hope it helps you. What I wrote is based off of my experience learning to use a casting reel.

If you heed properly loading the rod, those "where in the world did that bird's nest come from," won't be from the mechanics of making the cast which is way cool. The other bird's nest scenarios, like catching the shrubbery or brush behind you, can and will still occur.