I'm looking for a baitcaster that will not produce a backlash. It's for my daughter who is a special needs young lady who is not capable of properly throwing a baitcaster. She will be fishing for Esox. There's no way she can thumb the reel and she does not cast with a consistent result everytime with her spincast. Some casts will be perfect. Some casts will not be, like landing 10 ft from the boat in a big splash with a poorly timed release of the button. She does not throw with a lot of power, so the brake will have to be pretty loose so she gets some distance, but I'm not looking for her to be able to throw a mile. She's going to be throwing smallish musky/pike lures on 65# braid like the typical Buchertail, 5" crank baits, and topwater sized like the Dr. Evil, sizes that she can handle yet give her a chance to hook some esox and not be screwed by a poor drag system. It needs a 30+" retrieval intake because she reels slowly. Maybe what I want does not exist, though I think the Shimano Tatula Slx Dc maybe a candidate (Kastking and Shakespeare have products that may fit this criteria but the reviews are terrible). Obviously the rod will have to have pretty fast action to give her some whip action and not be too long and hard to handle. That I can dial in, but advice on that is welcome as well. The main thing is finding a baitcaster that she can throw with success every time like she can a spincast, as in not make a mess of the line on the reel. Budget isn't a big issue, this is a long term investment. Thanks in advance.
Fishing Equipment
Backlashless Baitcaster
Plus one for what Bacon said, Abu made the Anti-Backlash (AB) series in the mid-90s that was effective, but you lost 20-30% casting distance and they were crap with light lines- if you can find one online or at a pawn shop/swap meet it might be right up your alley.
Just IMHO, wouldn't a softer (glass) rod make it easier for her to cast? The softer rod would make it easier to feel when it is loaded to help the cast and not rely so much on arm/wrist speed. And, it's a lot more fun with smaller fish and especially with Esox, it absorbs a lot of the headshakes.
The heavier line is a good idea, and you might try a heavy stiff mono as well- Ande mono is pretty stiff at 30# test and above, and almost impossible to backlash, and if you mange a birds nest, it is super easy to pick out.
Even throwing heavy double bucks or spoons into the wind, I can get a sense of when the line on my reel is getting "loose" because of casting into the wind, and every 15-20 casts I might turn around and heave the bait downwind just to "repack" the line properly on the spool. Keeps the backlashes away.
To answer your previous question, you can use braid on a spincast IF you have a round braid, and the line pin on the reel is ceramic- a metal pin will wear a groove real quick if you use braid.
EDIT- Also, forgot to mention- not sure if you are aware but 99% of baitcasters have inertial brakes on the spool itself- these are the little plastic "sliders" on the spool that are visible if you take the side plate off, and you can lock them in the outermost position from the axle- this will reduce the casting distance, but reduce backlashes. Just slide the pins away from the axle and you will feel them click and remain in place- this doesn't affect the "coarse" cast control by the drag or the "fine" cast control (magnets).
Well, I opted for the Curado DC150. I haven't been able to finish dialing it in yet due to the weather, but our initial set-up and practice program have been a success. She basically casts it like a spincast, whereas instead releasing the button at the right time she releases her thumb off the spool at the right time. She has good distance with a 2oz weight on it, which mimics the heaviest lure she will throw. The only thing to work through is if she releases really late and plants a digger 5 ft out, that backlashes. I do believe I can adjust that out yet, I haven't got the adjusting dial to 4 yet as we work through all the levels of adjustment to see how they react. We will continue to practice a lot this spring in the backyard so when the opener hits she's ready.
my dad had a big zebco reel on this musky rod. i think it was a 707 model or 777 maybe. something like that anyway. would possibly be a better option then a baitcaster. abu ambassador made a anti backlash device on some reels at least back in the 90s they did. i want to say it involved running the line though a flip up piece on the reel. seems like it altered cast distance to much that it was rarely used, but might also be worth looking into.
abu 6600ab on ebay with a quick look, but not sure how well they work.
Interesting ideas. I think the Curado DC seems like a good candidate for a reel designed to minimize backlash and with the less line on the spool trick I think it might just work. I watched Lee Tauchen test it and he didn't thumb it at all and casted into the wind with no problems. He was throwing harder than Maddy will, and she tends to rainbow once and awhile. I would have liked to see him do a few weak rainbow casts. The neat thing is if I get this to work for my daughter, maybe my Mom can use it too.
These jumbo spincasts...do you put braided line on them?
I haven't found any baitcaster that I don't get an occasional backlash with, so my comments might not help for you.
My thought for your situation is that you want to adjust the brakes so the lure has a lot more resistance. Almost max it out if you have to. You will definitely lose a good amount of casting distance, but at least the line will be in the water rather than dealing with a rat nest of backlash every cast. A 25 foot cast is better than a mess of line. Once she starts to get comfortable casting with a baitcaster then maybe take a little bit of resistance off the brake and see if she can do it. I'm thinking she just needs some practice using the new reel and dealing with the backlash every cast isn't helping her get familiar with a new style of fishing.
I like my Abu Revo S for bass and pike. I bought it a few years ago after using only cheap baitcasters and it's been way better than I anticipated. I rarely get a backlash and it's easy to adjust with only one brake adjustment rather than 2 or 3 separate adjustments like on some reels. I have it on a 7' med/hvy rod and can cast anything from 1/4 ounce jigs for bass all the way to 2-3 oz spinner baits for pike. That should be enough for what you want to throw. I don't think you should go with a large musky size combo as it's heavier equipment than needed for this situation.
I know people that have been fishing 50+ years that still don't know how to use a baitcaster. It takes a lot of practice to get good with and I hope you can figure it out.
Have you ever thought about just using a larger sized open bail spin-cast reel for Musky/Larger Esox fishing? I have buddies that will refuse to use baitcasters (cause they won't take time to learn...) and they use big spin-cast reels and seem to do just fine.
I like the idea of only have 50-100 yards of line on the spool. That could potentially help... At least you are throwing larger baits. Wayyy less potential for backlash in those situations but when you do its usually bad!
