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Bait Casting Rods?

I want to purchase a baitcasting rod and reel. Abu Garcia Ambassadeur C4 Reel and Extreme XPS Rod probably. (unless other wise directed. Please give suggestions)

How To Choose The
Right Bass Reel

There’s no such thing as an all-purpose bass fishing reel, so selecting the right reel for the job is crucial.

Choosing the right bass reel? It can be done. But perhaps it should be stated in the plural: “Choosing the right bass reels.” Reels for bass fishing have come a long way in the past 20 years. But there is still no such thing as the single right bass reel. Not unless you are a one technique angler. When most of us think of a bass reel, we picture a medium sized, level-wind, baitcasting reel. It’s true that baitcasting reels are well suited to the most commonly employed bass fishing techniques. But when you’re fishing tiny, 1/16 ounce finesse lures on 6 or 8 pound test line, a spinning reel is a better choice. And if you’re skipping worms or jigs back beneath docks, boat-houses or overhanging tree branches, a spinning reel or even a heavy-duty spincast reel might be a superior tool. There is a fourth family of reels, a combination of spinning and spincast, which is also a very practical choice for many types of bass fishing. That is the trigger spin reel really a spincast reel mounted upside down on a spinning rod. And, of course, there are fly reels. Fly fishing is a rapidly growing segment of the sport. (It had nowhere to go but up.) Instead, we’ll focus on the more conventional types of bass reels. Let’s look first at baitcasters. Baitcasting reels are best suited for fishing lures ranging from about 1/4 ounce (total weight) upward. Structurally, they maybe the strongest of all fishing reel types. They are, in effect, winches mounted on fishing poles. Of course, where a winch is likely to have a negative gear ratio, say, 1:4 or lower, a fishing reel is usually geared with a positive ratio of 4:1 or higher. For every turn of the reel handle, the reel spool revolves four to seven times, depending on the gear ratio. A “typical” baitcaster is geared at about 4 or 4.5 to 1. High speed reels in the bass-fishing size class may be geared as high as 7.1 to 1. Low speed reels may be geared below 4 to l. Some reels even have two-speed gears, with automatic or manual shifters. What do all those gear ratios mean? The higher the gear ratio, the faster the line can be retrieved (given spools of equal diameter). The lower the ratio, the slower the retrieve. Lower-geared reels, though, have more apparent “power” than higher-geared models. That power factor doesn’t really mean much, since actual power is limited by the strength of the line, the tension of the drag setting and other factors. The speed of the retrieve is more important. A baitcaster with an ultrafast gear speed, say 6:1 or 7:1, might be great for keeping a buzzbait afloat and churning, but it might encourage the average user to fish a worm or jig much too rapidly. Keeping a bait in the strike zone for the longest period is often critical to fishing success. An angler who doesn’t realize how fast he is moving his bait with a highspeed reel may be cheating himself out of strikes. Of course, some anglers like to use high speed reels on every rod, but to make a conscious effort to vary their retrieve speed to suit the bait being used at the moment. Many anglers are in that category. They like a highspeed reel because it allows them to zip the lure back to the rod tip at the end of each cast after they have worked it through what they feel is the productive zone. Saving a second or two on each cast can allow you to make many additional casts in a day of fishing.
Size and weight are two factors that are often overemphasized in bass reels. Unless one’s hands are abnormally large or small, most bass-fishing baitcasters are comfortable to use. Small, ultralight baitcasters, built for fishing with 6 or 8 pound test line, are OK for special purposes, but are not the most versatile reels.
One feature anglers should consider before purchasing a reel is whether it has a thumb-bar or a conventional “button” release. Thumb-bar reels came into widespread popularity when the flippin technique spread in the late 1970s and early 80s. Some anglers prefer thumbbars on every reel, for all kinds of fishing. Others don’t like thumbbars at all, even for flippin or pitchin. It’s a matter of individual preference. Line capacity and line size? Again, most popular bass reels are versatile in this regard. Any reel that will hold more than 100 yards of line in the 10 to 17 pound test range is more than adequate for bass fishing. Anglers who fish for bass with 20, 25 or 30 pound test rarely need much line on their reels, since those line sizes are usually reserved for fishing jigs, worms or maybe spinnerbaits, usually at comparatively close ranges. How about spool controls? Magnetic spool controls are a wonderful addition to reels, but only if you need them. An angler with an “educated thumb” probably has little need for magnets in his reels. Centrifugal (mechanical) spool brakes eliminate most backlash problems for the angler who applies pressure correctly. If you are a relative newcomer to baitcasting reels, or if you are one of those fishermen who only gets out five or six times a year, then a reel with an adjustable, magnetic, anti-backlash device might be the best choice. But if you’re a veteran angler who has a good feel for his reels, mechanical-brake reels are enough. A reel’s drag system, which is important if properly used, but a waste of engineering and parts if not properly used, is another factor to consider. Baitcasters are often judged to have drags superior to those in spinning or spincast reels. It’s true that the alignment of the drag surfaces with the direction of the force (line) probably makes baitcaster drags slightly more dependable than those in reels where the drag surface is at right angles to the force. But drag systems in all types of reels (except cheap promotional models) are far superior to those of 20 years ago, and so drag reliability is probably not a crucial factor in choosing a reel. Many diehard baitcast reel users joined the spinning fraternity with the advent of finesse fishing. Finesse baits are usually small baits 3 or 4 inch grubs or worms fished weightless or with only a tiny split shot or two for weight. It is difficult to cast such baits with revolving-spool baitcasters, but a breeze with a spinning reel. When choosing a spinning reel, one must decide whether to buy a front-drag or rear-drag model. Front drags are usually superior, for there’s more room for large drag surfaces up front, beneath the spool. The disadvantage is, it’s more difficult to adjust a front drag while playing a fish. Many spinning reels today feature self-centering bails and triggers that open the bail and pins that pick up one’s line. Bail springs, bail screws and the wire bails themselves are the weakest points in a spinning reel. I’d recommend asking around before buying a spinning reel. Find other anglers who are using the model of reel you are considering and ask them how their reels are holding up. A reel with a lot of bail failures is a bad risk. Many bass anglers turn up their noses at the sight of a spincast reel. They consider them toys for kids, or, at best, lightweight reels for crappie fishermen. But there are tournament anglers, who won money regularly in tournaments using nothing but Zebco 888 spincasters. They fill them with 20 and 25 pound test line and screwed the star drags down as tight as they’d go. That isn’t exactly the way they were intended to be used, but it works for them. They can jerk an 6 pounder out of heavy cover just as readily as someone using a baitcasting reel. (Bowfishermen on Texas’ Trinity River land alligator gar weighing 150 to 200 pounds on Zebco 808s and 888s. Those giants pull much harder than even the biggest black bass.) Now, you can’t assume that spincast reels are superior to baitcasters. But for the angler who hasn’t mastered the baitcaster’s “educated thumb,” spincast reels are a viable alternative. Big, saltwater type spincasters are heavy enough to handle the biggest bass in most situations. And medium sized spincasters can be used to sling finesse baits a mile. You can use trigger-spin reels, those upside-down baitcasters, for a wide variety of fishing situations. A lot of smallmouth and spotted bass fishing in streams is done with a Zebco 44 Classic trigger-spin. You can spend all day fishing a stream and never spend a minute untangling snarled, twisted line, while your companions using spinning reels must stop periodically to cut away bird’s nests or straightening their lines. The drags are remarkably efficient and dependable, although not as good as those in revolving-spool reels.
How do you choose the right bass reel? Personal preference plays a big role. One angler might select reels in colors to match his boat, while another guy bases his choice on pure performance factors. But how the reel is to be used is the most important consideration. Now that you think about it, no matter what reel you buy, the important thing is to get out there and use it.

The link below is to a chart on what rod action and length are good for what applications.

http://home.comcast.net/~rkrz/infoarch/fyirod.htm

sports casting spool tune

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