BFS system for Crappie

[Alphahawk]

I tried BFS and thought about going down that road. To get good BFS gear one is going to spend a lot of money...that was not the issue for me. The issue is you can no way cast a 1/16 as far with a BFS setup that you can with a good spinning setup. You run up on post all over social media talking about casting 1/16....1/32....evn 1/64. The truth of the matter is it can't be done on a regular basis. You make 10 cast with same line...same rod...and do the average and spinning gear will always win with the light jigs. You can cast the weights I mentioned...but just not that far. Plus as has been said you will in all likelihood give up quite a bit of sensitivity with BFS. The spinning rod will win out in the sensitivity department. I fish all UL JDM gear. If I'm comparing apples to apples there is not a JDM BFS rod made as sensitive as the JDM spinning rods I own. Now...I am not anti BFS fishing....it is just not as practical with those light jigs as spinning gear. I recently moved to Arkansas and will be fishing much more for trout now than in years past. So I am finalizing my selection for a BFS setup for casting cranks...spoons.....and spinners. It will be ideal for those baits in the 3-7 gram range....give me better accuracy. But when crappie fishing I will stick with the spinning setups.


Regards

[Brag]

I tried BFS and thought about going down that road. To get good BFS gear one is going to spend a lot of money...that was not the issue for me. The issue is you can no way cast a 1/16 as far with a BFS setup that you can with a good spinning setup. You run up on post all over social media talking about casting 1/16....1/32....evn 1/64. The truth of the matter is it can't be done on a regular basis. You make 10 cast with same line...same rod...and do the average and spinning gear will always win with the light jigs. You can cast the weights I mentioned...but just not that far. Plus as has been said you will in all likelihood give up quite a bit of sensitivity with BFS. The spinning rod will win out in the sensitivity department. I fish all UL JDM gear. If I'm comparing apples to apples there is not a JDM BFS rod made as sensitive as the JDM spinning rods I own. Now...I am not anti BFS fishing....it is just not as practical with those light jigs as spinning gear. I recently moved to Arkansas and will be fishing much more for trout now than in years past. So I am finalizing my selection for a BFS setup for casting cranks...spoons.....and spinners. It will be ideal for those baits in the 3-7 gram range....give me better accuracy. But when crappie fishing I will stick with the spinning setups.


Regards

Your suggestion about sensitivity may be accurate. I just haven't fished this rod enough to say whether it is or is not, but my gut tells me that a couple of my UL spinning rods are going to end up being more sensitive. As far as casting distance, I was out with this BFS rod last week and cast it along with 3 or 4 different spinning rods and it wasn't even close, the BFS rod was casting MUCH further, although with this caveat....I was fishing 6 pound braid on the BFS rod and 4 pound mono on the spinning rods, so not an apples to apples comparison I'll admit. I do have one 6.5' spinning rod in the boat that has the exact same braid on it though and I'll try to remember to cast them side by side the next time I'm out to make a fair comparison.

[Just_Bass]

I believe our member "Just_Bass", out in California, uses a baitcast setup for casting for Crappie. He's posted pics & videos about his equipment. But, I think he uses high end Japanese stuff & the reel is "modified" with a special spool arbor thingy and such.

Video of him casting tube jig ... https://www.crappie.com/crappie/main...5457-am-sorry/

Also found this about his equipment .... One of his baitcast reels is a Shimano Aldebaran Mg7 with a Shimano Yumeya shallow spool add-on.

Thanks for recognition, no I don’t use high end gears just some good budget stuffs that can’t compare with newer more expensive ones. Anyway for OP or brag, you might already know me as bass_fishing_socal and yes I used to be diehard baitcaster for everything. Casting 1/16oz roadrunner is pretty easy and can cast pretty far with baitcaster. The total weight of jig head plus plastic push over 1/8oz. Once you start using plain 1/16oz or 1/24oz jig head, you will start seeing the difference as alphahawk mentioned. The rod Sensilite is usually for bass setup not very suitable for super light lure. My setup (Ajing) can handle down to 1/24oz but only 50-60’ and still feel too much power when fighting 10-12” crappie.

[gabowman]

Used to use baitcasters all the time when I was much younger and I trashed fished/errr...bass fished but only use spinning gear on the crappies now.

[Brag]

Yes, I got the Sensilite L action rod as a bass rod primarily and I was/am anxious to see if it will be any good for Crappie as well, but they make LOTS of truly UL options with BFS and not all of them cost a million bucks. I agree that the 1/16 ounce Road Runner plus tail isn't really that big of a deal and it's not surprising that I can cast it well/far on the outfit, but I more typically use a 1/24 ounce head, plus 1.5-2" tail, so we'll see how it goes with that. If the weather cooperates, I'm supposed to go Crappie fishing tomorrow with a buddy and I'll give it a workout, although I'll probably tie on a 1/24 ounce jig today and cast it in the yard to get the brakes properly set.

[Brag]

By way of an update, I did just go out and clip the 1/16 ounce Rooster Tail off the BFS rod and tied a 1/24 ounce Crappie jig on. I cast it in the yard and it still casts fine, albeit at less distance than I had been casting with the 1/16 ounce jig (although I didn't adjust the brakes at all). I didn't yet go out and cast the spinning rod with the same braided line right next to it or immediately after it (I'll do so tomorrow if I remember), but I'm still quite pleased with how well this baitcasting setup casts light or very light lures. My suspicion is that I'll use it a lot to fish Ned rigs and such for bass and that I'll likely fish it rarely for Crappie (other than possibly deeper fish in open water), but for those who simply prefer or at least enjoy baitcasting rigs for their own specific benefits, it's probably worth experimenting on your own. I can't imagine that I'll EVER go out and purchase one of these $600-1000 BFS outfits, but for the $120 or so that I have invested, I'm quite happy that I purchased it.

[Just_Bass]

But if you never invest in good equipment, you would never known the true potential of BFS and why there are a lot prefer BFS over spinning. Another good use of bait caster is vertical jigging around dock or brush pile. It is easier to fish lower/higher with just a matter of thumb and you can get an instant hookset as well. Sensitivity between spinning and baitcaster is very subjective. I can feel/detect the bite as well as my UL solid tip JDM spinning (not as expensive as alphahawk). I also like using my baitcasters when on tube or kayak. It is a lot easier to cast and land the fish compare to spinning outfit.

[Brag]

But if you never invest in good equipment, you would never known the true potential of BFS and why there are a lot prefer BFS over spinning. Another good use of bait caster is vertical jigging around dock or brush pile. It is easier to fish lower/higher with just a matter of thumb and you can get a distant hookset as well. Sensitivity between spinning and baitcaster is very subjective. I can feel/detect the bite as well as my UL solid tip JDM spinning (not as expensive as alphahawk). I also like using my baitcasters when on tube or kayak. It is a lot easier to cast and land the fish compare to spinning outfit.

Who knows, anything is possible. I'm retired now and enjoy what I enjoy, so I suppose it's hypothetically possible that I'd spring for some really good gear one of these days. I know that guys who fish for stream trout just rave about BFS stuff and fishing for trout in a stream with a baitcaster is something that I never really even considered (admittedly, while I use to spin fish for trout a lot, I now fly fish 100% of the time that I'm pursuing stream trout). Thanks for your experience and insight.

[EWcrappie]

Who knows, anything is possible. I'm retired now and enjoy what I enjoy, so I suppose it's hypothetically possible that I'd spring for some really good gear one of these days. I know that guys who fish for stream trout just rave about BFS stuff and fishing for trout in a stream with a baitcaster is something that I never really even considered (admittedly, while I use to spin fish for trout a lot, I now fly fish 100% of the time that I'm pursuing stream trout). Thanks for your experience and insight.

Great reel. Can launch 1/16 jigs. Got 2 on sale for $50 a piece. Can't beat them.

[KRW]

But I bet when you try to get that xtra 10’ throwing that 1/16oz against the wind and Backlash that 6lb braid, thats when the candy store closes for a while. Don’t see where these would be for me. In a specialty settup sure