The mega leap….baitcaster

I do fine with baitcasters while vertical jigging. Casting? Well, now that can become an ordeal. However, I am willing to put a foot forward to give one of these animals an honest go. That said, I’m on the hunt. Budget limit is $150.00/$175.00. I’ll be using this for top water bassing and pike fishing. I’d like to use braid but a decent mono in the 12-15 pound range will work too. The reel will be going on a 7 foot rod with what feels like a medium action, one that I think will toss swimbaits like the 4.2″ Kietech Swim Impact, maybe a crank of 5/8 to 3/4 ounce. So….

I see a lot of options in the Diawa line as well as a few in Shimano and other brands. Just in reading some of the descriptive stuff on the different reels I am leaning towards a Tatula of some sort. Any recommendations and why?

If possible I’d suggest going to a store to get a feel of the reel in your hand. Try a bunch out and see what feels comfortable. Palming the reel will give you better control vs holding it pistol grip too.

You’ve got the right idea with a Diawa Tatula. I have a 150 and it’s great for me, and fits my hand well compared to the smaller 100 or CT. Very easy to cast and I don’t know if I have ever got a backlash with it (although I’m pretty experienced).

Buy the best tatula you can. Easy enough.

When you start practicing go with the heavier weight for your rod then work back lighter. Heavy is easier to cast

Daiwa Tatula SV. It’s completely worth the money and when set correctly almost impossible to backlash. Still, make sure you practice your thumb pressure on it even so.

Also watch this video. It is one of the most helpful baitcasting videos on the web. Super simple too. Skip to 1:40 in the video.

Good video Mahto, I am still a bit old school and tightened the brake until the spool stopped when the lure hit the water or floor of the boat when just dropping it and loosened from that point. I have some old Curado greenies, trolling reels, and got a few Shimano DC reels last year but I picked up a Zillion this spring that I want to get into using more BC rigs as I have tended to lean on spinning gear a lot. My first Daiwa Baitcaster that doesn’t have a line counter on it.

As mentioned, I would like to use braid on this reel. Assuming I get the reel adjusted properly, how well does braid, say 20 or 30 pound test handle? My experience prior with braid on a casting reel resulted in a day-long lesson in backlash removal. I’ll also assume that I can add some backing to the reel ahead of braid to help get the reel “filled” to near the top of the spool’s sides. I think I have seen line level indicator grooves on a couple reels, am I correct?

Jimmy Jones wrote:

As mentioned, I would like to use braid on this reel. Assuming I get the reel adjusted properly, how well does braid, say 20 or 30 pound test handle? My experience prior with braid on a casting reel resulted in a day-long lesson in backlash removal. I’ll also assume that I can add some backing to the reel ahead of braid to help get the reel “filled” to near the top of the spool’s sides. I think I have seen line level indicator grooves on a couple reels, am I correct?

I have really only ran 65lb braid on mine. I cant stand finesse fishing for bass so I run heavy line. I have 0 issues with it. you may get a couple backlashes here and there as you learn how to use it but nothing that would take all day to fix. maybe 10-20 seconds. If you adjust the reel correctly its very hard to get a super bad backlash.

You will be fine with that lb test of braid. Braid is actually one of the easier lines to manage on a baitcaster. No memory like mono or fluoro.

I’m going to make a run to Scheels and handle a few of the reels, specifically those Tatulas. I’m thinking either one in the 150 or 200 size might balance the rod well I’d have to order either but hopefully I can get an idea on size and fit.

Thanks for guidance guys.

Jimmy Jones wrote:

As mentioned, I would like to use braid on this reel. Assuming I get the reel adjusted properly, how well does braid, say 20 or 30 pound test handle? My experience prior with braid on a casting reel resulted in a day-long lesson in backlash removal. I’ll also assume that I can add some backing to the reel ahead of braid to help get the reel “filled” to near the top of the spool’s sides. I think I have seen line level indicator grooves on a couple reels, am I correct?

I use a quite a bit of braid on my bait casters in this size. 20, 30, and 40 pound test, sometimes even 50 for frog fishing. 30 is a good start. And yes, use some mono backing first so the braid doesn’t slide around on the metal spool. Lou has good advice too, start with a heavier lure and then work your way to lighter applications.

Make your casts easy and fluid. Don’t try to bomb the lures out there. Usually a back lash occurs when you try to send one a country mile. Just let the leverage of the rod do most of the work.

To expand on Gimruis’ point, a lot of people forget is that backlash occurs because the spool starts spinning faster than it can let line out. For this reason, leave the spool tension knob a little tighter than necessary until you get the feel down. Once you start getting the feel loosen it a little at a time and it will allow you to get more and more distance. If you start backlashing, tighten it slightly again.

I run 10 15 20 and 30 pound braid on all my baitcasters it’s the easiest line to run in my opinion and the easiest to dig a birdsnest out of

I 100% agree with the recommendation of the Tatula line. I run the 100’s. I believe I have 6-7 of them. As far as line, don’t go lighter than 30 pound braid. The smaller diameter braids tend to dig into the spool worse on hook sets or snags. Once you become proficient with casting straight braid then you can look into running braid to a flouro or mono leader. But the leader knot can cause back lashes at times.

I have the Tatula 150 on its way. I have the 30 pound Suffix braid on hand so that’ll be going on it.

Thanks for all the info. I’m looking forward to spending some time with it soon.

Not much more I can add that has not already been said. The one thing I will say is that once you get the reel all set up and the lure on you want to use. adjust the brake setting so that the the spool stop as soon the lure hits the ground or floor of the boat. I would even tighten it up a little past that point. if you can set it tight enough that you actually have to really shake the lure to get it to fall, that is where you want to start. This will cut down on your casting distance but prevent a backlash and costing you money on respooling line. After awhile you can start to backoff the brake a little at a time to increase your casting distance. Like others have said, Braid is far more forgiving than mono when it comes to backlash. That said its also much more expensive if you get a backlash you are not able to work out. Good luck. Once you get it down you will love fishing with a baitcaster.

BassBoatCentral offers a buy/sell page. You can get used equipment at very good prices. I have bought several rods & reels and have not been disappointed. Good luck.

The reel arrived yesterday and I have it mounted on the rod and the braid on it. Things seem very well balanced. From reeling the line on I can tell its an incredibly smooth reel. I’ve read thru the instructions and think I have the brake set properly as well as the spool tension while allowing the lure to free fall. I’m walking it down to the stream this afternoon and plan on practice casting using what I’ll most likely be using about 90% of the time while actually fishing.

One last [hopefully] question: The braid seems like it may need some tension on it when reeling it in. Do I just allow the natural tension from the weight of the bait and water resistance create the needed tension or should I be retrieving while running the line between the thumb and fore finger of the rod holding hand to get the tension I think it needs?

Jimmy…….you moving on and up from them crappies??/

Jimmy Jones wrote:

The reel arrived yesterday and I have it mounted on the rod and the braid on it. Things seem very well balanced. From reeling the line on I can tell its an incredibly smooth reel. I’ve read thru the instructions and think I have the brake set properly as well as the spool tension while allowing the lure to free fall. I’m walking it down to the stream this afternoon and plan on practice casting using what I’ll most likely be using about 90% of the time while actually fishing.

One last [hopefully] question: The braid seems like it may need some tension on it when reeling it in. Do I just allow the natural tension from the weight of the bait and water resistance create the needed tension or should I be retrieving while running the line between the thumb and fore finger of the rod holding hand to get the tension I think it needs?

Did you use mono as backing? The braid may be spinning on the spool.

I put the mono directly to the arbor and it was not spinning. Then I put the braid on. My question is whether I need to worry about having any more tension on the braid that a lure offers while reeling it in or if I need to reel in with the line between the thumb and finger of the rod holding hand. Putting the braid on the reel I use plenty of tension, more than what a lure being retrieved will offer.

A follow up on the Tatula and I….

On the water at 6 AM with a bass in the boat shortly thereafter. The Tatula is a nice reel to use. I 4 hours I had one small blurb occur and it was not the fault of the reel. The braid untangled quite easy. Honestly I got more distance than I thought I would get and am very happy with everything. I’m actually thinking now of building another rod and putting another Tatula 150 on it.

Thanks for all the help and advice guys. You helped me make a good decision on a wonderful reel.

You know your getting good when you can take a big spinner bait and cast it into the wind with out back lashing.

I guess its good that I don’t use spinner baits much then, eh?

Tatula SV TW. BBC buy/sell section often has good ones for sale in your price range. You really need to watch the YouTube videos to get the most out of the anti-backlash technology. Good luck.

Larger, heavier lures are actually less likely to backlash, especially in wind because they have enough weight to cut through it. Lighter lures are the ones you need to be careful with because they have less momentum and the spool can more easily outrun the outward going line.

Glad to hear you are having success with the new reel!