For live bait fishing, what's your pref? Open or spinning reels? Why?

Sorta depends upon the target species. Open reel is much less prone to have
line problems for most. It takes a lot of skill/experience to handle a bait
caster well, IMO. I always take both. Usually use both. Open reel is
often better if you want to simply drop a live bait over and just let it
swim. A bull minnow can strip a lot of line off and cover a lot of
territory with an open reel rig. I often get much longer casts with a bait
caster. That can be useful in some situations. I load my bait caster with
heavier line in case I get into a mess of bull Reds (rare but terrific fun)
or hook up with a Jack or other big fish. I like both but tend to favor a
bait caster as that was all there was when I was a lad and began fishing
with my father.

Butch
"SoFarrell" wrote in message
news:1112533058.e03e077ee05b93a2e6a153ff6cdd29f7@t eranews...
For live bait fishing, what's your pref? Open or spinning reels? Why?

"SoFarrell" wrote in message
news:1112533058.e03e077ee05b93a2e6a153ff6cdd29f7@t eranews...
For live bait fishing, what's your pref? Open or spinning reels? Why?


I use spinning reels for all my freshwater fishing and used a conventional
open reel while on a charter boat several years back while in Miami. Open
reels were also the only reels we had as kids.

I still prefer the spinning reel.

The open reel is definitely more prone to tangles and backlash if you don't
know how to use it. I don't know about any advantages it has over the
spinning reel.

"JimH" wrote in message
...

"SoFarrell" wrote in message
news:1112533058.e03e077ee05b93a2e6a153ff6cdd29f7@t eranews...
For live bait fishing, what's your pref? Open or spinning reels? Why?


I use spinning reels for all my freshwater fishing and used a conventional
open reel while on a charter boat several years back while in Miami. Open
reels were also the only reels we had as kids.

I still prefer the spinning reel.

The open reel is definitely more prone to tangles and backlash if you
don't know how to use it. I don't know about any advantages it has over
the spinning reel.


I think I cast farther with my smaller open reels than with my smaller spin
reels. It took me a while to get the hang of the open reels so I wouldn't
backlast them in uselessness but once I learned I grew to like them. It
reminded me of learning to ride a bike, actually.

"Harry Krause" wrote in message
...
Butch Davis wrote:
Sorta depends upon the target species. Open reel is much less prone to
have line problems for most. It takes a lot of skill/experience to
handle a bait caster well, IMO. I always take both. Usually use both.
Open reel is often better if you want to simply drop a live bait over and
just let it swim. A bull minnow can strip a lot of line off and cover a
lot of territory with an open reel rig. I often get much longer casts
with a bait caster. That can be useful in some situations. I load my
bait caster with heavier line in case I get into a mess of bull Reds
(rare but terrific fun) or hook up with a Jack or other big fish. I like
both but tend to favor a bait caster as that was all there was when I was
a lad and began fishing with my father.

Butch
"SoFarrell" wrote in message
news:1112533058.e03e077ee05b93a2e6a153ff6cdd29f7@t eranews...

For live bait fishing, what's your pref? Open or spinning reels? Why?

I use both for inshore and close offshore fishing. Penn spinning reels and
a couple of Shimano 251 open reels. For trolling these days, I use Shimano
charter specials, because I prefer the lever drag. I've got em all spooled
up with the proper weights of Berkley Fireline. When I have "rarely fish"
guests aboard, they prefer the spinning reels.


I use the shimano 250 You are left handed!

On Sun, 03 Apr 2005 11:10:10 -0400, JimH wrote:


The open reel is definitely more prone to tangles and backlash if you
don't know how to use it. I don't know about any advantages it has over
the spinning reel.

I think they both have their place, but I can think of a couple advantages
to an open face. Probably most important is lack of line twist, followed
by, potentially, added casting distance. AFAIK, all long distance casting
records were using open faced casting reels. Additionally, although
modern spinning reals have improved dramatically, open faced drags still
seem the smoothest, at least to me. Then there is the the additional
cranking power, if needed.

On Sun, 3 Apr 2005 08:57:38 -0400, "SoFarrell"
wrote:

For live bait fishing, what's your pref? Open or spinning reels? Why?

That's a good question.

Open reels are pretty versatile. Back in the day, my Dad taught me to
use an open reel while chucking eels at stripers off Devreaux Beach.
They require a lot of "educated thumb". They are easier to cast using
dacron line rather than mono. For big game, open reels are best with
mono.

Drop dropping, jigging or chop casting (sometimes called flipping)
open reels are the best. Thumb control isn't as important as your
target is - well, open water. Can't really mess that up. Open reels
are also better for large baits.

The problem with an open reel is retrieving the line. Again, an
educated thumb is your best friend, but the technique is easily
learned. It you have something big and heavy on the line, then that
can present some different problems, but again, once you get used to
it, it's pretty simple.

As to spinning reels, I use them when searching around for fish if I'm
close inshore. I occasionally will use a large spinning reel if I'm
looking for stripers or bluefish in deeper water or along a ridge line
like the SW Ledge off Block Island. In short, for casting in salt, I
use spinning rigs.

In fresh water, it just depends on the presentation, time and place. I
normally carry four bait casting rigs and four spinning rigs in
various line weights, although all the rods are 6 1/2 foot, MH rods
with a fast taper.

I do have a couple of ultra light spinning rods, but that's mostly for
the kids and for panfish when I'm bored.

Now, let's discuss line. :)

Later,

Tom

On Sun, 3 Apr 2005 08:57:38 -0400, "SoFarrell" wrote:

For live bait fishing, what's your pref? Open or spinning reels? Why?


I haven't had a bait caster since I was a kid. I got tired of untangling the
backlashes, and when I got old enough to buy my own stuff, I went open face.
It's all I've used for a long time and I'm quite happy with it.

I don't like the braided line (8-12 lb) with the open face. It seems to tangle
too easily. I tried it and went back to monofilament. Of course, I've loaded
monofilament in the wrong direction and had tangles with that too. Now I just
let the pro's in the shop do all the work and quit trying to save the dollar
extra that the line might cost.

--
John H

"All decisions are the result of binary thinking."

On Sun, 03 Apr 2005 14:30:50 GMT, "Butch Davis" wrote:

Sorta depends upon the target species. Open reel is much less prone to have
line problems for most. It takes a lot of skill/experience to handle a bait
caster well, IMO. I always take both. Usually use both. Open reel is
often better if you want to simply drop a live bait over and just let it
swim. A bull minnow can strip a lot of line off and cover a lot of
territory with an open reel rig. I often get much longer casts with a bait
caster. That can be useful in some situations. I load my bait caster with
heavier line in case I get into a mess of bull Reds (rare but terrific fun)
or hook up with a Jack or other big fish. I like both but tend to favor a
bait caster as that was all there was when I was a lad and began fishing
with my father.

Butch
"SoFarrell" wrote in message
news:1112533058.e03e077ee05b93a2e6a153ff6cdd29f7@ teranews...
For live bait fishing, what's your pref? Open or spinning reels? Why?



Butch, do you live down in the Richmond area, or am I thinking of someone else?
--
John H

"All decisions are the result of binary thinking."

On Sun, 3 Apr 2005 08:57:38 -0400, "SoFarrell" wrote:

For live bait fishing, what's your pref? Open or spinning reels? Why?


Got two Okuma T20L' s at a fishing show in Solomon's Island, MD, today for $110
each. Nice reels according to a couple expert friends. I can't wait to use the
things in only about two and a half weeks!
--
John H

"All decisions are the result of binary thinking."