baitcaster casting left?! human error?! 2025

flywall99 reply :

so i just bought my first baitcasting setup a few days ago. i got the Lews american hero combo from dicks since my friend works there and gets 25% discount. I tied on a 1/8 ounce weight and have practicing casting it but for some reason it always goes left lol. Ive been trying mostly side arms casts since thats how im use to doing it with a spinning setup. Is something wrong with the baitcasting setup or does it sound like human error? I had my dad try it over the weekend and it did the same thing for him but he hasnt used a bait casting reel in many years. Ive been watching basically every youtube video on how to cast it and i feel like i am doing what they say but it ALWAYS goes left lol. Thanks!

WRB reply :

If a human is casting the outfit, then it's human error.

Try practicing using a 5/8 oz casting plug.

Are you right or left eye dominate?

Tom

Tywithay reply :

Best guess is the spool tension is too tight, or you're not loading the rod.

tstraub reply :

You say your casting side arm (I assume you're casting right handed) and it goes to the left. A few things to look out for are rod not loading correctly, lure to light, tension too tight, and release point to late. Keep practicing you'll figure it out.

grub_man reply :

My advice is as noted above, start practicing with a bit more weight. You won't be throwing many lures that are truly 1/8 oz in weight. Rig up something like a 1/4oz. ball head jig and grub and cut off the hook at the bend, i.e. use something realistic to practice with. Or take the hooks off of a crank bait body and use it for practice.

I run my reels really free so I can get good casting distance with little effort.

Set the spool tension just tight enough that the spool stops when your lure hits the ground when the rod is held straight out in front of you at waist level. Crank your magnets up to about 3/4 of their max and go to work. With 3/8 - 5/8 oz of weight, you will be able to easily cast without backlashing, and most of the time, you can get by without thumbing the spool at all.

When you backlash with the reel set up this way, it is most likely that you are dropping the tip before the cast and releasing the spool too early.

Now it is time to start adjusting things to find what your limits are. Start by reducing the spool tension a bit. If you start getting overruns at the end of the cast, then tighten it up a bit. Next start backing of the magnets. If you start backlashing at the beginning of the cast, turn them back up a bit.

Then start going to lighter lures. You may find that you want to make small adjustments as the lure weight changes.

flywall99 reply :

On 6/1/2018 at 6:42 AM, tstraub said:

You say your casting side arm (I assume you're casting right handed) and it goes to the left. A few things to look out for are rod not loading correctly, lure to light, tension too tight, and release point to late. Keep practicing you'll figure it out.

yes im right handed and it goes left lol. What do you mean by rod not loading correctly? ill try to add on a heavier weight and see what happens. My release point is what i thought was the issue because im use to whipping my spinning rig. Ill keep trying tho!

flywall99 reply :

On 6/1/2018 at 6:50 AM, grub_man said:

My advice is as noted above, start practicing with a bit more weight. You won't be throwing many lures that are truly 1/8 oz in weight. Rig up something like a 1/4oz. ball head jig and grub and cut off the hook at the bend, i.e. use something realistic to practice with. Or take the hooks off of a crank bait body and use it for practice.

I run my reels really free so I can get good casting distance with little effort.

Set the spool tension just tight enough that the spool stops when your lure hits the ground when the rod is held straight out in front of you at waist level. Crank your magnets up to about 3/4 of their max and go to work. With 3/8 - 5/8 oz of weight, you will be able to easily cast without backlashing, and most of the time, you can get by without thumbing the spool at all.

When you backlash with the reel set up this way, it is most likely that you are dropping the tip before the cast and releasing the spool too early.

Now it is time to start adjusting things to find what your limits are. Start by reducing the spool tension a bit. If you start getting overruns at the end of the cast, then tighten it up a bit. Next start backing of the magnets. If you start backlashing at the beginning of the cast, turn them back up a bit.

Then start going to lighter lures. You may find that you want to make small adjustments as the lure weight changes.

thanks i just tied on a 1/8oz weight and the set brakes at 3/4 to the max. thanks for the advice!

MIbassyaker reply :

I had this problem too when I was first learning how to cast baitcasters, and the trick was to learn how to let the rod load properly. When you swing the rod back, the lure will follow, and you should feel the weight of the lure as it's momentum puts stress on the rod backward. That is the rod "loading". A "loaded" rod will propel the lure forward properly as you swing it forward. The leftward cast is partly caused by trying to fling the lure forward without the rod loaded. I'm guessing the cast is also pretty short, and your arm gets a little tired after a few swings. The trick is to swing back, and then forward in one motion, where the transition point is the moment the rod is fully loaded.

islandbass reply :

It's simple. You might not think so, but you're actually letting your thumb off of the spool too late. For anyone coming from a spinning background, this will be a small obstacle they have to overcome. I guarantee that you feel like you are not letting go too late (i.e., the thumb coming off of the spool), but indeed you are. The mechanics and physics of the casting equation tell the truth. You can't break the laws of physics, but you surely can confirm them, lol.

How do I know? Because I went through the same thing. Fortunately, I played a lot of baseball as a kid and I was a pretty darn good hitter. As a right handed batter, I could hit it to right field if I wanted to. This knowledge and experienced gained as a baseball player helped me to quickly conclude what the issue was. A later timed swing usually makes the ball go to right field and too early a swing pulls the ball to the left.

Relating this to casting, a sidearm cast flying to the left means the angler is letting go too late. In addition, this is even more so the lighter weight you try to throw. So it will show on someone attempting to toss 1/8 oz weight who has not yet gained enough experience. No worries. All in due time and even faster if you realize what the problem is.

All I can say is thank God you didn't try to overhand cast, because that same late release will translate into your lure slamming into the ground right in front of you, and thereby enabling the angler to make a glorious overrun if his or her thumb is quick enough, lol. Funny, but highly possible with a late thumb release.

The solution is to release your thumb earlier than what you are accustomed to. It was also be very helpful if you practice with a heavier weight like 1/2 oz at least until you have acclimated to the earlier release time. A bass casting weight is ideal for this.

If you cast overhand with 9 o'clock in front and 12 above you, the thumb release point is somewhere between 12 and 1:30pm. From this, you can take an educated guess where that release point for a sidearm cast is and fine tune it to yourself. I say this because sometimes, you will want to cast to the left of your position.

georgeyew reply :

You can also try casting with more line out when you are using lighter lures. It helps when I do that.

Delaware Valley Tackle reply :

You've got two things at play here. First an1/8 ounce is likely too light to properly load a casting rod so you're forcing it. Once the rod, line and weight are in sync casting is like throwing a ball in that it's all about the release point

new2BC4bass reply :

Like islandbass said...it is all in the timing. I learned the same way...side arm cast. Being right handed my lures were going way left. The release point for a baitcast reel is not the same as for a spinning reel.

Secondly you are trying to cast way too light a lure. A lure that light requires the proper rod and reel. And some skill. I've been at it 9 years and have a couple Pixies and it is hard for me to cast 1/8 oz. even on a rod designed for that weight. I doubt your combo is rated that low. Guys that learned back when reels had no brakes (in other words they are older than dirt ), or have been at it for 20 years can cast 1/8 oz. on a MH rod. 99% of the rest of us need the proper gear.

Loading the rod means the tip is bent from the weight of the lure. Look up how to roll cast. Baitcast reels require a smooth cast. A side arm cast (or overhead cast) requires the rod to be stopped and then rod direction reversed. The rod unloads at the stop. If you are good with a flyrod, then you should be able to get the timing down quicker. You need to wait long enough on the back cast for the lure to load the rod again before starting the forward motion. Roll casts keep the rod loaded throughout the cast. Roll casts will also help keep the lure going in the desired direction.

WRB reply :

Didn't respond to my eye dominate question, makes a difference.

Side casting motion is something to learn after you master the basic over head casting motion. Your upper arm shouldn't be envolved much, it's using your wrist and forearm.

You don't whip a baitcasting rod and reel, that causes backlashes. Heavier casting weight is easier to cast then a 1/8 oz weight, get a 5/8 oz plastic casting plug that is designed for practice. Slow the back swing down and learn to let the rod do the work.

If you are casting left handed and are right eye dominate to target is left of where you are looking, right if you are right eye dominate. If you don't know check it.

Tom

deep reply :

On 6/1/2018 at 11:00 AM, WRB said:

Didn't respond to my eye dominate question, makes a difference.

If you are casting left handed and are right eye dominate to target is left of where you are looking, right if you are right eye dominate. If you don't know check it.

Tom

Ha! So I didn't know until now that I'm cross dominant. Right hand and left eye! (I have known about the righthandedness part for a long time.) Interesting stuff; thank you!

I used to shoot airguns (rifles) back in the day, always from my right shoulder. Was pretty good though, or so I recall.

As far as fishing is concerned, I prefer to cast right, except when I need to cast from my left shoulder because I'm fishing from the banks and there's no casting room. I'm accurate enough either way to get close enough to where I intend/ hope the bait to land; I think my brain rewired itself!

WRB reply :

I didn’t until taking my kids to archery practice and the instructor checked everyone’s eye dominate, I was left eye dominate and right handed. Simple test by over lapping your hands making a 1”-2” opening at your thumbs, extend your arms and with both eyes look through the opening at a distant object, now close 1 eye the the other eye, the object disappears your other eye is dominate.

Being opposite hand eye dominate You think the object is in front of you and it’s actually to one side. You learn to compensate over the years but always guessing never accurate.

Tom

flywall99 reply :

thanks for everyone's replies! i switched to a heavier weight, and reset the spool tension knob and the brakes to 3/4 to max. I played around with my release point and was able to cast straight a few times towards a tree stump that was about 20 feet away. I found that when i release at an early "awkward feeling time" it was going straight to where i was aiming. When i release at a point where im use to for the spinning rig, it go way left lol. So thank you again to everyone who offered advice. Im gonna head to a park this weekend where i have more room to really cast it out.

On 6/2/2018 at 12:55 AM, WRB said:

I didn’t until taking my kids to archery practice and the instructor checked everyone’s eye dominate, I was left eye dominate and right handed. Simple test by over lapping your hands making a 1”-2” opening at your thumbs, extend your arms and with both eyes look through the opening at a distant object, now close 1 eye the the other eye, the object disappears your other eye is dominate.

Being opposite hand eye dominate You think the object is in front of you and it’s actually to one side. You learn to compensate over the years but always guessing never accurate.

Tom

Tom, that is intersting! im the same as you it seems. right hand/left eye dominant. thanks for your input!

Tyler. reply :

For me when my breaks are too much then I can’t cant straight. It always goes left.

BassWhole! reply :

As you found out. the release point for BC and spinning are different. After a while it becomes second nature. Also folks tend to swing the rod around their body as opposed to loading the rod by having the lure travel in a straighter plane which will cause the lure to land left or right of intended target. Think of it as aiming when you are shooting. If you miss the mark, it's either because you aren't aiming properly, or your sights are off, or a combination of both.

Bluebasser86 reply :

1/8oz is too light, especially for learning how to use a baitcaster. That's most likely the culprit.

burrows reply :

You can always get a robot to cast it for you and see wether it’s human error or the reel.????

fin reply :

Try casting overhead instead of sidearm and you'll see it's the release point. Just takes a while to get the hang of it.

Tyler. reply :

I watched this the other day. I thought it was pretty helpful.

https://youtu.be/-IX8zoSLrCE

LionHeart reply :

Light lure isn't properly loading the rod, and spool tension probably set too high. Fix those two things.

Tyler. reply :

Ya I had a 1/4 ounce jig head and small grub. I put a tube and 1/4 ounce tube jig and that made a complete difference. It's amazing how much those plastic lures weigh. I should have known since I can cast weightless flukes with a baitcaster with no issues. I was able to skip this lure off the pavement with no issues and casting had some significant distance without trying all that too hard.

J Francho reply :

1/8 oz. is way to light for learning. Start with 1/2 oz.

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baitcaster casting left?! human error?! 2025

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