What exact does Shimano's VBS do & when does it kick in?

[okumasheffield]

Have tried different On/Off settings with Shimano's VBS on my Curado

and could not tell any difference

 

What did I do wrong?

[HTHM]

book a day with Garry2r's you will come out a master...

[mercman]

sorry wrong thread

 

 

Edited August 22, 2011 by mercman

[salmon]

All my Shimano casting reels are set as 3 on and 3 off on a Y pattern.

 

 

You should notice a huge diff. If I go to 2 on and 4 off I get a lot of backlashes.

 

http://fish.shimano.com/publish/content/global_fish/en/us/index/products/Reel_Icons/Variable_Brake_System__VBS_.html

[BFSC Kevin]

There is a huge difference. Try turning them all on and cast.. Then try turning them all off and cast.

[PainInTheBass]

The VBS system is a traditional centrifugal braking system. Depending on the number of brakes engaged, as the spool spins, differing number of brakes move outwards at high speeds and contact the metal race to create a braking force to slow down the top speeds of the spool in order to control birdsnests. Different numbers and types of brakes have different effective braking forces. If you are using too heavy/too light a lure, you will not notice a difference in performance. Or, if your spool tension knob is too tight, you then likely will see no difference in performance.

[GoneFishin]

Make sure you know how to adjust your tension knob, because it sounds like you might have it to tight possibly. You should be able to notice a big difference from having all brakes on to none at all. There is no all around set-up for the brakes. It all depends on the lure/weight, rod action, line and wind speed/direction.

[Garry2Rs]

There are two adjustments on your reel.

The first is the knurled knob under the crank. This a friction brake that puts drag on the spool axle to stop it when the bait hits the water. This brake is usually set to allow the bait to fall to the water under it's own weight, but to stop the spool at this point. In time you will not need it and will control the spool with your thumb.

 

The second control is the VBS and it is a centrifugal brake that does most of it's work in the first few seconds of the cast to keep the spool from out accelerating the speed at which the line is actually coming off the spool.

 

If this brake has too many shoes turned on, the cast will die in the air and the bait will fall to the water. If too few shoes are on you will hear a thrashing sound as loose line bangs around inside the reel's frame. You might even see long loops of line rising off the spool during the cast. In the worst case these loops will foul each other, stopping the spool in mid-cast, resulting in a birds nest.

 

Three on and three off is a good setting but you might want to start with four on two off, then back down once you've made a couple of casts. The actual number you need for optimum casting depends on the rod, the bait and the wind.

 

For Pitching I turn them all on so that the line doesn't get tangled on those short underhand casts, but that's in Baitcasting 201...grin.

Garry2R's

[HTHM]

As I said earlier, book a day with Garry, he can impart more knowledge in 6 hours than you can get on your own in a year.

[Garry2Rs]

I had my first bait casting experience a couple weekends ago with my new Curado, and after 3 bird nests, I think I have it figured out (still need lots of practice of course).

 

I started with the VBS at 3+3, and the tension knob tightened so that the spool stopped when the bait hit the ground after releasing the thumb bar.

 

I made lots of casts without a bird nest.

 

I then tried reducing the number of brakes to 2+4, which resulted in a bird nest cast after cast within the first two seconds. So, back to 3+3.

 

Next I gradually reduced the tension knob until it was almost all the way off. As long as I remembered to thumb the spool just before the bait splashed down, all was good.

 

That's all there is to it!

I believe that the number of brakes required has more to do with the rod than anything else. When I had more rods than reels I switched between a 6.5ft MH and a 7ft M and noticed that the softer rod didn't need as many brakes turned on.

Modern reels, where the side plate swings away with the turn of a dial, make small adjustments easy. Not like the olden days when you had to disassemble the reel to make a slight adjustment...grin.

[jedimaster]

I leave 3 on 3 off for all baits and wind conditions. The only thing I adjust is the spool tension. I hold the rod horrizontal and push the button and loosen the tension knob until the bait falls to the ground, bot deck or water and a couple loops of lines loosen when the bait stops. Then just cast away. If I am pitching I will loosen it off a bit more and thumb it to stop it. other than that thats all. I have 6 curado's and several other baitcasters I use for various Bass tactics and I rarely if ever have backlashes with any of my curados. The PT Tours on the other hand don't cast nearly as far and I have to play with them a bit more to set them up.

[jedimaster]

As to the original question the VBS works like this. When the spool spins fast the springed weights are pressed outwards by the centrigal force turning on the brakes slowing the spool down to prevent backlashes at the begining of the cast. As the spool speed starts to slow down mid cast the brakes release allowing the bait to be casted further. At the end of the cast the spool tension adjustment stops the overrun at the end of cast allowing the bait to land and slow down softly versus abruptly like from a spinning reel. The result is a cast that fires out nice and far and the brakes and spool bring the bait to a slow and controlled fall allowing the bait to land softly in the water. The more weights engaged the harder the weights brake and harder you have to and can fire it out there but the result is a shorter cast, but a softer landing.

 

Unless your real good with your thumb if you just set it up properly and let the VBS do its thing you will be a much softer landing and this will allow you to catch more fish as you will be less likely to spook those fish away from the splash of your lure hitting the water. Ideally you should use as little braking power as required to prevent backlashing. This will give you the best casting distance and softest landing.

Edited August 24, 2011 by jedimaster