Nothing ventured is nothing gained?

[mcdougy]

I have a small problem as of the last 2.5 years. Bought a motor for our hunt camp, then came the boat, now is the tackle and equipment purchasing.

As of late, I picked up my first casting rod from the classifieds on here. (Thanks musky_hunter). Last weekend I picked up a new chronarch 201e. Now I have no idea what I'm supposed to put on the end of this rig. Looking for examples of lures that are new b friendly and will give me a chance to boat a fish or two. The first trip where I can have a week to give this new rig a whirl is in some water that has pike, small mouth, walleye, and rumored to have some musky also.

I'm sure your going to ask what rod and unfortunately I'm not exactly sure, but maybe musky hunter can tell us, as I have not received it yet from my buddy that picked it up for me. I know it is a rapala shift and believe it is a 7'1 mh xf .

The reel is spooled with 40lb power pro

Thanks for the suggestions on lures and any other advice to a casting new b is appreciated.

Cheers MM

[kickingfrog]

I'd suggest a top water bait or floating crankbait. That way if you are pulling out backlashes, and there will be back lashes, you don't have to worry about the bait getting snagged.

 

The lures don't have to be heavy but I'd stay away from light ones.

 

Have patients, it takes some practice but most of us monkeys have figured it out and so will you.

 

Some suggest pulling out enough line for a long cast and then putting some electrical tape on the spool so as to prevent your backlashes from going too deep. Nobody told me about this when I was learning but many have used it with lots of success.

 

Don't try to cast far or hard until you've worked on your thumb control and the reels cast controls.

[mcdougy]

Thanks the tape idea sure makes sense. Will that prevent me from knowing that I'm doing something wrong though?

[mattaw]

Practice, and practice some more. A casting plug of some kind and a park or backyard is your friend. Practice makes perfect, and at least if you backlash, you're on land and don't have to worry about getting your rig snagged. Good luck with the new rig!

Edited June 25, 2014 by mattaw

[vance]

The practicing part with a plug on land is a good idea but it will leave all kinds of nicks in your line that will cause the line to break when you get a fish on,so I would suggest that you re spool before you go fishing.

 

 

vance

[Sinker]

Put your lure of choice on, push the btton on the reel and let it drop straight down. Set the spool tension so the spool stops spinning when the luure hits the ground, THEN practice casting.

 

Id start with a spinner bait myself. They can be casted easy, fish fast, slow, shallow, deep, weedy, rocky, and are pretty much snag proof. Something around 1-2oz is easy to cast and easy to cast all day. Any colour is good, as long as its white . Add a grub to the hook for a bit of flavour.

 

Let us know how it goes.

 

S.

[chris.brock]

that's a quality reel, that will make things a lot easier, cheap bait casters can be a nightmare

 

mono may be better to start with, even a small nest with braid can be nasty and require cutting the line to clean it up

 

I showed my wife how to use my Curado a couple years ago, she picked it up right away, 10 minutes and she was making long casts

 

yeah, let us know how it goes

Edited June 25, 2014 by chris.brock

[mcdougy]

Thanks fellas for the input, any little tricks to picking out these bird nests that i will have. I recall a conversation regarding braid and looking for the V to untangle?

[lookinforwalleye]

and try to avoid casting into a stiff wind for the time being!

[porkpie]

Buy a castin plug and practice lots, then buy some big spinnerbaits. You don't need much more than that to catch Muskie. You can expand your repertoire later.

[mcdougy]

Buy a castin plug and practice lots, then buy some big spinnerbaits. You don't need much more than that to catch Muskie. You can expand your repertoire later.

You may have just opened the big door for the musky debate.? I have read several times that I need a boat full of gear to go after musky. Truthfully I hope I never catch a musky because that would fuel the fire of this addiction to More More More equipment.

[musky_hunter]

hey bud...practice and i'd start off with tighter brake settings and back off. takes a few days but you'll get a hang of it. if you want shoto me a pm and see if you have time and i can show you.

[porkpie]

You may have just opened the big door for the musky debate.? I have read several times that I need a boat full of gear to go after musky. Truthfully I hope I never catch a musky because that would fuel the fire of this addiction to More More More equipment.

My entire tackle system is down to a milk crate and multiple Plano boxes. Wether I am in the kayak or in my boat, if it won't fit in the milk crate, it doesn't leave the house! I used to carry a boat full of gear, but I'm done with that. Now if I could just bring myself to whittle down my tackle collection a bit...LOL

[bare foot wader]

when setting the spool tension knob, the lure should free fall and when it hits the ground the spool should stop turning without backlashing...after that engage 4 vbs brakes in a symmetrical pattern or even all 6 if it's windy....have taught many newbies to quickly cast with proper spool tension and extra brakes engaged

 

biggest tip is you don't need to bomb the cast with max force, load the road and just give a normal cast....work on controlling the spool and then distance casting will follow

 

I kind of find braid is easier to pick out, but if you really do a number on it, expensive to re-spool....pull the mainline out and then keep pulling at the loops/the v, then pull more mainline out...loosen the backlash bit by bit and pull the line out as you go

 

lure suggestion is highly personal opinions, and didn't mention if you're fishing weedy areas but I would assume you are....spinnerbaits, pop-r, x rap, rattlin rap, big O, big plastic worm/minnow rigged weedless all quickly come to mind

[bare foot wader]

1 milk box would be hard for me...I give you minimalists credit for that lol