FS Digest

What’s the difference in the way you fish with them?

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by UndeadFrogman

FS Digest

You mean spinning vs baitcasting? If so, bait casters can be adjusted to cast any weight bait and lure where spinners aren't adjustable for casting different weights.

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by Ohsighrus

FS Digest

No I meant conventional reels vs baitcasters. It sort of just seems like a bigger version of a baitcaster. If so then what’s the point of having both?

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by UndeadFrogman

FS Digest

Good, I just wanted to make sure I would not confuse you with my answer if you meant a spinning reel rather than an actual conventional reel.

Baitcasters are designed to use brakes and magnets to give the most efficient casting without back-lashing or bird-nesting. Conventional reels are designed to be bulkier in nature and aimed towards landing larger fish with the emphasis being on it's ability to efficiently bring in large fish to the board. These are designed to lower the stress on the rod and reel while reeling in obviously large fish. They are designed to be comfortable for long fights with big fish at large depths. Conventional reels require the angler themselves to thumb the spool themselves to prevent back-lashing and bird-nesting.

So, bait casters are designed for the reel to help with casting, which means large fish can really put serious wear on the reel and it's parts. Conventional reels are designed to make the angler as comfortable as possible while reeling in large fish, they are designed to put as little stress on the angler and the gear as possible.

So, _BIG_ fish? Conventional. Big bass? Baitcaster.

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by Ohsighrus

FS Digest

Ah I see thanks for the good reply that all makes sense. So if you’re fishing for Calico bass with a swimbait with a baitcaster(looking at getting the abu Garcia beast 40) and a Yellowtail or White Sea bass happens to hit it the reel will be fine to fight the fish and land it but it’s not what it’s designed for and could end up damaging the reel if you fought big fish on it all the time, correct?

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by UndeadFrogman

FS Digest

I would not personally want to test out the entire 30 lbs of drag often. Amberjacks can push close to a 100 lbs, so I would try to avoid catching too many. ;)

Your reel may never sound the same, but I'm sure you can land 30 lbs on it.

Plenty of people have caught 30 lbs AJs with revos.

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by Ohsighrus

FS Digest

Conventional reels are designed mostly for trolling as they tend to be much larger and hold much more line. Conventional reels often lack a level wind while baitcasters typically include one, but increasingly some baitcasters use no level wind to aid in casting distance. This is something often seen in surf casting setups where distances over 100yd are often achieved.

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by redmeansdistortion

oldsalt Loc: Holland Pa

we always used conventional reels when ocean fishing from a boat where no casting was required - you simply let out line to troll or reach the bottom

GlennMc928 Loc: Tualatin OR

A conventional reel and a bait casting reel are both the same design only a conventional reel is a bigger version of a casting reel and it is made for fishing for bigger and heavy fish. A bait casting reel is small and is used for lure's and small baits. Typically a conventional reel is used for fishing bait with lead sinkers on the shore or by boat and is a good for long cast.

mr.sleeve Loc: Anaheim Hills

They are essentially the same thing. The same method is used to cast them, but the only difference is that a baitcaster usually has a level wind attached to it and it’s smaller. Conventional reels can have a levelwind attachment as well, but the majority of them depend on the fisherman to use his thumb to manually level wind the retrieved line....