# My first practice



## hellbent (Aug 24, 2007)

I just spent an hour or so casting for the first time (in my life) with conventional gear. I was using a 525 set to 8 with factory oil (replaced the "grease" that came in the bearings with the oil in the box) on an OM12 lite with Sufux 17 and BBG 50' shock, casting a 3oz pyramid inside a 2oz tennis ball for a total of 5oz. I had some blow-ups when I forgot about slowing the spool down, but nothing historical. I was trying to, basically, some version of a unitech cast and by the tenth, out of 15 or so, I was hitting 200 feet with about 15 degrees of center regularly. Noting to wrote home about for most of you guys but by the end I a bit euphoric and felt like writing the world's best support group ;-)

Bob

Also, I had thought about dialing the mag setting down a bit but decided to stick with one setting while I get used to the feel. But the question occured to me: Do people go to faster oil rather than dialing down the mags?


----------



## Team Buddhahead (Apr 3, 2007)

Back in the days thats all we had...oil that is. Now with mags you can adjust for your style of casting. 
One thing that I can tell you is keep working on your form and don't worry about distance. With good form the distance will come. 
A great way to start is OTG "Off the ground".


----------



## hellbent (Aug 24, 2007)

Team Buddhahead said:


> Back in the days thats all we had...oil that is. Now with mags you can adjust for your style of casting.
> One thing that I can tell you is keep working on your form and don't worry about distance. With good form the distance will come.
> A great way to start is OTG "Off the ground".


Thanks. I was doing some version of OTG/OTB. I wanted closer to an OTB to learn a safer style first. With the "beach" at 6 o'clock, I had about 10 feet of leader out with the ball resting at 1 (12 was just not comfortable). I would face 10 o'clock trying to have a 90 degree angle with the rod and line taut and step with my left foot to square before starting my arm/upper body movement.


----------



## Kwesi W. (Apr 14, 2006)

You will learn that the Penn 525 is a Race Horse... By that I mean it's fast out the box. Everyone has there own way's of taming it. With me, I like to use red rocket fuel. I normally put two drops on each bearing and let them sit, and soak for about 15 minutes. MY belief is that you should have your reel set so you don't have to touch it until hits the water. By that I mean NO thumbing. IT's no fun picking birds nest out of your reel when you should be fishing. If you find that you have to slow down during flight you may want to work on slowing it down. Once your skill get's better you can take your chances.


----------



## hellbent (Aug 24, 2007)

kmw21230 said:


> You will learn that the Penn 525 is a Race Horse... By that I mean it's fast out the box. Everyone has there own way's of taming it. With me, I like to use red rocket fuel. I normally put two drops on each bearing and let them sit, and soak for about 15 minutes. MY belief is that you should have your reel set so you don't have to touch it until hits the water. By that I mean NO thumbing. IT's no fun picking birds nest out of your reel when you should be fishing. If you find that you have to slow down during flight you may want to work on slowing it down. Once your skill get's better you can take your chances.


Not to disagree, but when watching casting videos I see the cast and then *what appears* to be manipulation of the spool with one hand as the cast is winding down. I realize this is the experienced doing their thing, but I assumed there is some finesse with the spool as the take on the line out slows down and the spool does not.


----------



## Kwesi W. (Apr 14, 2006)

I think what you're referring to is when distance guys are playing with there mags. I don't know anyone on this board that would do that for fishing. Normally for fishing you set your mag, and then you pretty much leave it alone. The guys on the field are pushing there reels to almost a blow up... You shouldn't be going that for most practical applications. IMHO sometime those video's can be a little misleading.. Alot of those guys (including Tommy F) make that sh$# look easy. But what you dont see on most of the videos is the 100's (1000"s) of hhours those boys spend out there perfecting their cast. Unless you're thinking about distance casting you shouldnt be ajusting you cast mid-flight.. Even if you were you shouldn't be doing that until you have a STRONG foundation.... Just my opinion..


----------



## eric (Oct 24, 2007)

i actually found the 525mag slow outta the box. lol

i found my daiwas fast outta the box,,, without brakes of course. lol guranteed blowup ever cast.




kmw21230 said:


> You will learn that the Penn 525 is a Race Horse... By that I mean it's fast out the box. Everyone has there own way's of taming it. With me, I like to use red rocket fuel. I normally put two drops on each bearing and let them sit, and soak for about 15 minutes. MY belief is that you should have your reel set so you don't have to touch it until hits the water. By that I mean NO thumbing. IT's no fun picking birds nest out of your reel when you should be fishing. If you find that you have to slow down during flight you may want to work on slowing it down. Once your skill get's better you can take your chances.


----------



## Tommy (Jan 24, 2001)

hellbent said:


> I just spent an hour or so casting for the first time (in my life) with conventional gear. I was using a 525 set to 8 with factory oil (replaced the "grease" that came in the bearings with the oil in the box) on an OM12 lite with Sufux 17 and BBG 50' shock, casting a 3oz pyramid inside a 2oz tennis ball for a total of 5oz. I had some blow-ups when I forgot about slowing the spool down, but nothing historical. I was trying to, basically, some version of a unitech cast and by the tenth, out of 15 or so, I was hitting 200 feet with about 15 degrees of center regularly. Noting to wrote home about for most of you guys but by the end I a bit euphoric and felt like writing the world's best support group ;-)
> 
> Bob
> 
> Also, I had thought about dialing the mag setting down a bit but decided to stick with one setting while I get used to the feel. But the question occured to me: Do people go to faster oil rather than dialing down the mags?



HB,

Congrats on a good day in the field. 

IMHO you should set the mags on full and work on technique. At this stage a fast reel is only going to cause frustration and time wasted picking out unnecessary blowups.

Practice a basic overhead cast until you get a good feel for the rod/reel and then move on to the groundcast. I would suggest casting the groundcast exclusively until you get the fundamentals down pat. A strong groundcast can take you as far as you want to go, fishing or tourney casting and it will give you the fundamentals needed for other casts such as the hatteras and the pendulum.

Back to mags, on average you get about 1 second of "air time" per 100' of distance. Right now that means you have 2-3 second of flight before the sinker lands. This is NOT enough time to even consider "tweaking" the mags. You'll be busy with the mags when the sinker hits the ground/water and you _will_ have a blow-up, every time. Somewhere in the 5-600 foot range you start having time to play with mags, until then just set them and cast. 

Once again, congrats. Remember to look high and try to keep you arms extended away from your body until the punch/pull.

Good luck,

Tommy


----------



## Kwesi W. (Apr 14, 2006)

I guess experiences will vary..




ooeric said:


> i actually found the 525mag slow outta the box. lol
> 
> i found my daiwas fast outta the box,,, without brakes of course. lol guranteed blowup ever cast.


----------



## Mark G (Nov 15, 2004)

hellbent said:


> I just spent an hour or so casting for the first time (in my life) with conventional gear. I was using a 525 set to 8 with factory oil (replaced the "grease" that came in the bearings with the oil in the box) on an OM12 lite with Sufux 17 and BBG 50' shock, casting a 3oz pyramid inside a 2oz tennis ball for a total of 5oz. I had some blow-ups when I forgot about slowing the spool down, but nothing historical. I was trying to, basically, some version of a unitech cast and by the tenth, out of 15 or so, I was hitting 200 feet with about 15 degrees of center regularly. Noting to wrote home about for most of you guys but by the end I a bit euphoric and felt like writing the world's best support group ;-)
> 
> Bob
> 
> Also, I had thought about dialing the mag setting down a bit but decided to stick with one setting while I get used to the feel. But the question occured to me: Do people go to faster oil rather than dialing down the mags?


A little confusion I think on some of the responses. There is a big difference between adjusting the mags (Taking off 8) before the cast, versus making an adjustment *During* the cast.

With a little practice you should find you can bring the mag setting off 8- right now you need to work on smooth casting, once you get confortable you can bring the mag setting down to the point where the reel starts to run a little faster, but your still not in danger of blowing up. Your distance will increas as the mag setting is lowered.

You should only consider a lighter oil once you can cast the reel with the mags nearly off, and then only if you consider the reel to be too slow.


----------



## Mark G (Nov 15, 2004)

mag 525 slidy- to add a point of clarification- the slidy mag control on the 525 should be set before the cast, it is a bit difficult to make any adjustments during the cast with this set up. ( It can be slid forward) however it is difficult to adjust on the fly with any precision- the center magged units tournament casters use allow for more precise movements of the mags, and with this type of control the mags can be backed off once the weight is safely on it's way, usually after it has reached the apex of the trajectory and is heading back down toward Earth.


----------



## hellbent (Aug 24, 2007)

Thanks for the great advice, all. So the idea is to not touch the spool while the weight is in flight, but to time a thumb stop with the landing of it? The physics are different than I thought, esp. after thinking that what I saw the pros doing was something to imitate. Different reels, different mag set-ups, different timing, different experience. I get it. 

Everyone's saying focus on style and as that improves greater distance will be one of the benefits. I take it that means that until I'm more experienced and comfortable don't be trying to beat my personal best on every cast. So the next question is, if you're focusing on style what are the measures of improvement?


----------



## stonemason (Aug 4, 2006)

i'm a newbie too, but i dont touch the spool until the sinker hits the water/grass. this is with a saltist 30h out of the box and a saltiga surf with both brakes in(i put both in after reading it was fast out of the box, havent tried with 1 or no sets..) never a blow up with the saltist and only one blow up with the saltiga, which happened b/c i accidentally bumped the spool mid flight with my thumb, and it was my first cast with it ever. on the grass was hitting 300 to 350 i think it was regularly, over water i have no idea..


----------



## Tommy (Jan 24, 2001)

hellbent said:


> Thanks for the great advice, all. So the idea is to not touch the spool while the weight is in flight, but to time a thumb stop with the landing of it? The physics are different than I thought, esp. after thinking that what I saw the pros doing was something to imitate. Different reels, different mag set-ups, different timing, different experience. I get it.
> 
> Everyone's saying focus on style and as that improves greater distance will be one of the benefits. I take it that means that until I'm more experienced and comfortable don't be trying to beat my personal best on every cast. So the next question is, if you're focusing on style what are the measures of improvement?


HB,

The reel should be set so that you do not have to "thumb" the spool during flight. Just to stop the spool upon touchdown. If the line is lifting or fluffing during flight then you need to increase the mags and or add thicker oil to brgs.

Start out slow. Work on technique. Spend some time with an experienced caster if at all possible. You will see distance start to improve, even if you are not trying to kill it on every cast. Just yesterday afternoon a student remarked to me that his cast now felt "effortless" even as his distance soared to a new PB of 519'.

The measure of improvement will be increased distance as your technique gets better. It may not be every cast, but the average will go up.

Hope this helps,

Tommy


----------



## kingfisherman23 (Dec 14, 2003)

Tommy,

Is the 1 sec to 100' a reasonably reliable method for figuring distance?

I ask because I have yet to find a quality castable field in Raleigh and so I do most of my casting over water.

Evan


----------



## eric (Oct 24, 2007)

1sec per 100 is a general estimate.

casting styles have different speeds.

compare overhead thump to a flat arc pendulum
your thump can have like 2-3 air time. but only go 100ft. lol


----------



## Mark G (Nov 15, 2004)

kingfisherman23 said:


> Tommy,
> 
> Is the 1 sec to 100' a reasonably reliable method for figuring distance?
> 
> ...


No, and I believe ooeric touched on why- the trajectory has a good bit to do with it- in casting we are concerned with overall horizontal distance, I could toss the weight almost straight up (like a pop fly ball) and it may stay in the air awhile, but won't travel very far horizontally.

Sometimes I'll hit what looks and feels like a really good cast (judging by the time in the air and amount of line left on the spool) only to find out the launch angle was too high.


Over water- unless you can see the sinker splash down, and even then- your guessing at distance. 

I cast in a lake and have verified distances to buoys in the water at 140 yds, 200 yds, etc. so I have an idea of whether or not I am within that range.


----------



## eric (Oct 24, 2007)

i usually just look at my spool. and guess. lol

i know im getting better if i see less and less line. LOL


----------



## Tommy (Jan 24, 2001)

Casting styles and elevation do play a role but on a cast that has a good trajectory the 1 second per 100' will get you in the ballpark. 

A 5 second hand time on a cast that is somewhat close to 45 degrees will put you in the 450-550 range. Not perfect but close enough to gauge improvement.

Tommy


----------



## Tommy (Jan 24, 2001)

To me hang time is more accurate than the amount of line left on the spool. A crosswind can put a huge bag in the line and make you think the cast is longer than it actually is. Even a good stiff tailwind can bag the line out past your sinker giving the false indication of a much longer cast.

JMHO,

Tommy


----------



## eric (Oct 24, 2007)

hehe tommy, but i know if a cast is good if i empty a spool of 300y .31 xD XD
if i see the arbor knot or uni knot ,, A+ !


----------



## Mark G (Nov 15, 2004)

Tommy said:


> To me hang time is more accurate than the amount of line left on the spool. A crosswind can put a huge bag in the line and make you think the cast is longer than it actually is. Even a good stiff tailwind can bag the line out past your sinker giving the false indication of a much longer cast.
> 
> JMHO,
> 
> Tommy


Yep agreed- don't look at the line left until AFTER you have reeled up any slack- this will give you somewhat of an idea of the amount of line out, but still only a relative guess.

I'm too darn busy worrying about blowing up or birdsnesting, or backing the mags off, or not timing the thumb right on sinker touchdown to be counting off air time  LOL

I guess if ya have a buddy with a stop watch timing things that might be one way of doing it. I wouldn't trust myself to count out time any more accurately than some people "step" off their measurements. 

Tho rushing the count sounds like an easy way to add 100' to your cast.


----------



## eric (Oct 24, 2007)

lol surf cat. and most of the time.. 
we cant even see the sinker. well.. sometimes i cant myself. 

like when i first tried to do a xcast/pendulum.. boy oh boy. left or right, whered it go? nobody knows.
until i start reeling. lol


----------

