That New R & R Feeling
That would be rod and reel. The new St Croix Avid that I ordered came in the mail on Friday. For those keeping track, St Croix is the last major rod company to be made in the United States and be American owned. All the spinning and casting rods from the Premier on up, are made in Park Falls, Wisconsin. They also make a large variety of fly and saltwater rods.
This rod matched up perfectly with the Ambassadeur low profile that came as a replacement from Abu Garcia. Even though technically an early Father’s Day gift for my dad, I couldn’t wait to get it spooled up with the 30 lb Power Pro, tie on a snap n swivel and go playing in the back yard.
You can buy the plastic weighted casting plugs if you want to spend the couple of bucks. Believe they go up to 5/8 oz in weight. The easiest way to do it, is take that ol’ Dardevle that was made up in Dearborn, MI, remove the treble hook and go practice.
I set up a 5 gallon bucket 30 yds away from the back drive. Set the tension on the reel’s spool, which can be done by a hit of the thumb bar to see how fast the lure drops from the tip of the rod. Get it to the point where the spool stops spinning when the lure hits the ground or water if you are fishing. Tighten the small knob for heavier lures, and back it off for your lighter lures. The kicker is if you are starting out with a baitcaster, not to go below or above the reccomended lure weight for that rod you are using. Either way, if you arent extremely experienced using one, you can have a birdsnest in no time.
So the first cast, bucket 30 yds away…not even close. The line on the reel just kept going and going. Sixty yards away, 20 feet up in the pine tree it went. If it had landed, would have been an 80 yd cast easy. Crazy distance on 1/2 ounce spoon!
Thats the deal with a good baitcasting reel. The better it is, the more responsive it will be. The difference between a spinning reel and a baitcaster is, with a spinning reel, even the cheapest model will cast a good distance. A good baitcaster makes a huge difference between it and a lesser quality reel on distance.
Match the rod to the reel, reel to the rod and go catch fish!