BigLake411.com

What's the consensus? I've always used Spinning Reels (currently fond of my pair of Shimano Symetre 3000's) but what are the advantages of baitcasters? Is it simply gear ratio or is it lure presentation or topwater control? I always understood Spinning's advantage was casting in windy or surf conditions. Since I'm mostly on Big Lake, I've always leaned to spinning. Looking to learn everyone's views as I'm adding a new rod/reel to my Christmas list....

Personally I prefer baitcasters. I can cast a baitcaster much further than a spinning reel. I have a dozen baitcasters & only 2 spinning reels. I keep the 2 spinning reels in the boat for my wife to use or friends who can't throw a baitcaster.

Curado?

I am a Shimano fanatic! I have one Curado, one Calcutta 400 TE & seven Corsair 300's. I picked up the corsairs on Ebay really cheap. The Calcutta 400 TE is my favorite though. My next reel will probably be a Curado 200E7. You can cast those Curados a mile.

Each has a place, personally I like baitcasters best. I used to be a Shimano fan, I have 4 Curados but they are about 10 years old and the replacements are a little steep $ for me. Lately, I been using $30 Pinnacles and H2O Express Mettles. I've used one for 4 years in saltwater and it's still working fine. Control and castability are better for me with casting reels. I sometimes use a spinning reel for popping corks on windy days. Some of the bassmaster guys occasionally use spinning for finesse drop shoting with light line in clear water. Chester Moore, the Port Arthur sportsman, uses a spinning reel with braided line and a big stiff rod for flounder. He claims that he seldom misses one.

I've read his book and use the same rig and haven't missed too many reds that way.

That's another good question, though, since I'm not a baitcaster; can you use braided line on a baitcaster?

With my experience, each of these have their place. I almost always use a spin caster while I am at tournaments for reds, because we are usually in less than a foot of water and you have to be SUPER still. But that being said, when we are in thick grass I alwasy use a Baitcaster with 65 lb spiderwire on it. We want to horse the fish out of the grass and not wear her down to much where she is stressed and dies.
So that leads me into the next answer, YES you can use braided line with baitcasters. Just always run about 20 to 50 feet of mono under it to not hurt your spool then tie a uni-knot and connect the lines together and put on the power line. On the power line (because it is expensive) you DO NOT need to fill your spool. Only put on about 50 yds or so because not many people can cast 50 yds. Then when the line starts changing colors or after about 5 to 10 times fishing spool it out, cut the line walk to the other side RE-TIE the end that was on the end (where the lures were tied) to the mono and spool it back up that way you will be using the line that has been on the spool and seen no action. So you can get double your use out of the line.
I hope that this helped you out as this is what we do on a regular basis for tournaments.

Thanks Skip. Great tip on reversing the line.

And thanks to everyone's advice, I just got a Curado 201E7 at Christmas (left handed model) and can't wait to try it out. Got 30# Powerpro on it and just got a new American Rodsmith's rod at the Houston show.

Was watching the IFA Redfishing Tourney on TV and saw someone was reeling in backwards with his Curado upside down. Think he was doing that because his rod eyes would be on botttom (Billy Stix Spiral rod needed here) or because he was switching back and forth with his spinning rod he was using earlier in the show??? don't matter. the 201 feels natural to me in the back yard.

US Reels has a rubber insert to protect the spools in stead of using mono first. Saw that at the fishing show last week in Houston.