Need a little help with choosing the correct fishing rods.
- Thread starter Mudfrog
- Start date
I went by Gander Mountain today and I was overwhelmed to say the least. There are so many rods in the $50-90 range and aside from marketing they all seemed very similar to me. I'll probably head back tomorrow and pick something up. I almost spent $80 on this Abu Garcia but I just couldn't pull the trigger on it without knowing for sure if it would be ideal for an all around pole. It would be pairing with my Okuma Trio 40 and probably using 8lb mono.
Picked up the Abu Garcia Vendetta to use with my Trio 40. I also picked up a Shakespeare sturdy stick but I opted not to use it as a catfish pole. Instead I ordered a Shakespeare Two-Piece Medium Heavy Action Wild Cat pole. I think it will be a better match with the Cardiff 400A.
Good choices imo. I'm not a huge fan of the vendetta since I felt it was not very comfortable to hold due to that rather rough reel seat thing they put on it. The other two look pretty good though.
I'm loving this Vendetta and Trio 40, it is so much better than my old Abu Garcia Cardinal and Ugly Stick. The catfish poles I'm struggling with quite a bit. They are my first baitcast reels so I need to work on those some. Every cast ends in a tangled mess.
Watch videos on YouTube and make sure the reels are set correctly. With a 2 oz weight and a properly set braking system it should be almost difficult to backlash those reels. As long as you stop the spool before the bait hits the water you won't get too much of a backlash. If you really hate them send them my way, I'll pay a fair price
Yea I watched a couple vids after I posted this and I did not set the brake at all. I always kept my thumb on it but I knew something had to be wrong. I'll toy around with it.
Do you set the brake every time you change the bait or will setting it with a 2oz weight suffice for most baits? I'll mainly use a big portion of chicken liver on these poles.
Do you set the brake every time you change the bait or will setting it with a 2oz weight suffice for most baits? I'll mainly use a big portion of chicken liver on these poles.
set the brake every time you change the amount of lead weight you're using when catfishing, but no you don't have to set it to pick up the change in the size of one liver to the next etc. cardiffs are fairly nice reels and should help with your learning curve.
As said above, its not an exact science. It is rather difficult to explain but my best advice is to hold the rod with a weight tied on your line and click open the bail. Don't let the weight hit the ground or you'll get a back lash but watch the speed at which your weight falls and stop it right before it hits the ground. You want it to fall fairly quickly but not in complete free fall...you can slow it down as much as you want by adjusting the brakes. The slower it falls, the more forgiving it is when casting but it won't cast quite as far(insignificant at this point). Just mess with it, if you get a backlash, tighten down the brakes and try again...you'll figure it out and you can eventually not even use the brakes. Another pointer is to not use too light of a weight...start with 2 oz and you can try 1 oz if you can cast two but lighter things are always harder to cast with bait casters. When you cast you should only have to touch the spool right before the weight hits the water to slow it down, don't keep your thumb on the spool the whole time. Once you figure it out you can cast a mile and a half with those reels. Last thing, that model has a cool clicker on the bottom. If you're not familiar with it, it is that black switch on the bottom of the reel and it allows to you to put the reel in free spool and when the fish pulls it will make a clicking noise while it pulls line...cool little feature, works best with live bait.
