Fishing is one of the most relaxing outdoor sports. The fresh air, sunshine, and thrill of the hunt fulfill all the requirements of a doctor’s orders for stress relief and longer life. Choosing the correct equipment can make or break a fisherman’s ability to catch their prey, including which reel with which bait to utilize to do the job right.
Can you use a Baitcaster with live bait? Using live bait with a Baitcaster is possible if you have the ability to use it. If you do have the capability and experience, then using a Baitcaster is an ideal way to use live bait to catch fish.
This article will examine using a Baitcaster reel with live bait to fish plus the advantages and disadvantages of doing so.
Using a Baitcaster Reel with Live Bait
Baitcaster reels are ideal for many kinds of fishing and come in a variety of types and options. You can use a Baitcaster to fish for:
- Bass
- Ice fishing
- Musky
- Pike
Also, when it comes to fishing with heavy lures, a Baitcaster is a perfect choice. In fact, using a Baitcaster with live bait is preferred for most types of fishing.
The Advantages of Using a Baitcaster Reel with Live Bait
Fishing with a Baitcaster reel has several advantages including but not limited to, the following:
- Can Handle Heavier Bait
- Better Controlled and Accurate Casting
- Lack of Pendulum Effect on Sinker
- The Ability to Skip
Examining these advantages closer will help readers to understand the pros of using a Baitmaster reel when using live bait.
Baitcasters Can Handle Heavier Bait Better
While Baitcaster is certainly effective in using heavy lures to fish, they are no good for lighter lures. However, using live bait is ideal for this type of reel, especially if the bait is heavy. As one can imagine, this factor is a great advantage for Baitcaster reels over ordinary reels.
Better Controlled and Accurate Casting
Another advantage of using a baitcasting reel is control and accuracy. Anglers using a Baitcasting reel can utilize stronger, heavier lines that are necessary when you wish to catch monstrous fish.
Baitcaster reels can also be used in both freshwater and saltwater fishing.
The bait will be less likely to be lost during casting because it isn’t jerked as much due to the gliding motion of the line through the reel. This increases the chances that the fish will feed on the bait as it will appear undisturbed and reach the fish whole.
Lack of Pendulum Effect on the Sinker and Bait
An ordinary reel will cause a pendulum effect to occur upon casting a line with a sinker and live bait on the line into the water. This back and forth effect does not look natural to fish, and they will avoid the hook.
To defeat this action, a Baitmaster reel can cast straight out without the high arc that ordinary reels make when casting, allowing the sinker and live bait to drop straight down without any pendulum effect.
The Ability to Skip When Casting
Some Anglers love to fish in the harder to reach spaces, such as under a bridge, where large fish love to live and eat. When using live bait, this is important because the fisherman wants to get their live bait to any hungry fish that may be lurking in these tight and hard to reach spots.
A Baitmaster reel allows an angler to cast with precision and get their live bait to potential prey living under a bridge, inside a brush surrounded area, or anywhere that large fish might be feeding.
The Disadvantages of Using a Baitmaster Reel with Live Bait
There are several disadvantages to using a Baitmaster reel with live bait, including:
- Difficulties in Maintenance
- Backlash
- Cost
We shall examine each to see how they impact using a Baitmaster reel with live bait.
Difficulties in Maintenance
Baitmaster reels require a lot of maintenance. It is highly recommended that Baitmaster reels get rinsed out and allowed to air dry after a day of fishing. After rinsing, it is a great idea to lubricate all the moving parts, and this requires disassembling the reel and reassembling it afterward. Rinsing and lubricating a Baitmaster reel becomes even more vital to the health of the equipment if one has been fishing in saltwater. It is also recommended that the reel not be used again until it is exceptionally clean of grit, sand, and dirt to avoid damaging it.
Cleaning and maintenance are vital when using live bait because of the blood and other bodily fluids that can get entangled in the line and enter the reel.
A Baitmaster reel requires lubrication to run smoothly and should be done regularly; however, too much lubricant can cause the baitcaster reel problems and will not be helpful at all. Lubrication might get caught on bearings causing them to clog and slow down the function of the reel. If this occurs, it will become more challenging to turn the reel as it requires a lot of pressure to turn the handle. Then, because it is more difficult to use, expensive live bait might be wasted as one attempts to real in and cast out.
If one does over lubricate their reel they need only use warm water to get the bearings cleaned up using a brush to remove the dirt. It is highly recommended that one always use the manufacturer’s directions for lubricating and cleaning a baitcaster reel.
Backlash
Another problem that amateur fishermen learning to use a Baitmaster reel will encounter is a backlash. Backlash involves creating a tangle in the line on the reel that can be a monster to rectify. Obviously, if your line is tangled, you will not cast the live bait accurately or well and waste it.
Cost
Perhaps the biggest disadvantage to using a Baitmaster reel to fish is the cost of buying one. Baitmaster reels can cost from twenty dollars to hundreds of dollars, making them prohibitive to many would-be anglers. Obviously, if one cannot afford the equipment, this makes fishing with any type of bait unreasonable, especially live bait, which will cost more to use than lures in the long run.
Learning to Use a Baitmaster with Live Bait
One of the greatest disadvantages of using a Baitmaster reel is that it is not an easy reel to learn how to use, and amateur fishermen should stick to an easier reel. An amateur must learn how to use a Baitmaster reel well before they will be capable of keeping the bait on the line.
Learning to fish with a Baitmaster reel is more than just getting an understanding of the reel, one must also understand the bait that should be used under the circumstances where they are fishing. For instance, live bait is only as useful as the clarify and temperature of the water it is being used in. If the water is very turbid and cloudy, then fish will have a harder time finding live bait unless that bait is wriggling and making noise the fish can hear.
One must also learn what live bait is preferred by the diverse types of fish being sought and in what area. If saltwater fishing for marlin, one might want to use blackfin tuna, bonito, or skipjack used on a moving boat on the ocean. Fishing for bass requires earthworms, crickets, or minnows fished from a bank or a boat on a freshwater lake, river, or stream.
