Article by Capt. Mark Sampson
Last week we hooked a pretty big fish on conventional tackle with 30-pound line. It took the somewhat inexperienced angler about 20-minutes to bring the fish to the boat. Much of that time I stood alongside coaching him how to most efficiently work the tackle to land the fish without killing himself in the process. "Slowly lift the rod and crank it back down," I told him, "And keep your eye on the spool, if the line is going out - don't crank, because you'll only be wasting your own energy if you're turning the handle when the fish is making a run."
I sometimes think that when some people have a fish on the line their ears just stop working, because no matter how many times I told him not to crank when the fish was taking line he never quit doing it. Finally I just gave up and just let him do it his way which meant that about 10-minutes into the fight on a hot August morning he was exhausted, the fish was still frisky, and the rod was being handed off to another angler.
Later that morning we had another decent size fish hooked up but this time on spinning tackle. Same angler, same situation, the fish would run and he would crank. Only this time I didn't just tell him to stop cranking, I literally put my hand on the reel and stopped him from doing it. I then took the rod from him and demonstrated how he needed to work the rod and reel to land the fish. That time he seemed to absorb what I was saying and brought it in without further assistance. Afterwards I explained the differences between cranking while the line is going out from a conventional reel and doing the same with a spinning reel. "With the conventional reel you were only hurting yourself, with the spinner you were hurting yourself and "my" tackle - that's why I stopped you." That's also why; if we're going to be dealing with novice anglers and big fish I always prefer to use conventional tackle rather than spinners. Then again, there are other situations when I'd very much prefer to have spinning rods in the hands of my clients; it all depends upon what's going on at the time.
Spinning or conventional, what do you like? A lot of anglers are happy to go either way, but interestingly enough there are many fishermen out there who have a strong preference for one type of reel or the other. That might be OK for someone who’s fishing exploits have them confined to very limited types of fishing such as flounder fishing in the bay or wreck fishing offshore. But if you’re like so many anglers who participate in many different type of fishing then you’d better add a little diversity to your tackle and employ the use of both sinning and conventional equipment to your arsenal if you wish to properly stay in the game.
Here on the coast, conventional reels are usually the best bet for bottom fishing from boats, particularly over deep water or when there’s a need to use heavy weights and higher line test. Having the reel on the top of the rod is an advantage to anglers fishing over the high railings often found on head boats. Large line capacity, smooth drags, and ruggedness have also kept conventional reels the number-one choice for anglers who do a lot of trolling, particularly those who fish offshore for large game fish. To date I don’t think anyone has even tried to build a spinning reel capable of handling the 80-130 (or more) pound line so often used for really big game and offshore trolling, for that type of fishing conventional tackle has always ruled as the best tool for the job.
For beginning anglers, conventional reels tend to be one of the easiest to get started with because they are relatively simple – push the lever and the line goes out, turn the handle and the line comes in. As long as fishermen don’t try to cast and can remember to keep their left thumb on the spool as the line is going out so they don’t get a backlash (or “birds nest”), conventional reels are good starters.
Of course not being able to cast will limit conventional anglers to fishing from a pier, boat or bridge where the fish are pretty much straight down. If there is any distance at all between fish and fisherman and casting is required then a switch-over to a spinning tackle might be warranted. Don’t get me wrong, in the hands of the right person, conventional reels are “casting-machines” and often the number one choice for serious surf anglers, but using them to cast long distances definitely takes a lot of practice before you will be able to spend more time “fishing” than picking backlashes out of their line after each throw. Casting conventional reels is not for beginning anglers!
Spinning reels, on the other hand, are designed for easy casting – just hold the line with your index finger, flip the bail over, and let’er fly! But while they’re easy to cast, spinners can be a little daunting to beginners. Because spinning reels hang from the bottom of the rod rather than sit on top, inexperienced anglers can often be spotted fishing with them upside-down and cranking backwards. Spinners are usually held with the right hand and cranked with the left, which is also opposite from conventional and sometimes awkward for fishermen. Of course as most spinning reels can be easily converted to right-hand retrieve simply by removing a screw and switching the handle over to the other side (a feature not available on conventional reels) that’s one problem that has an easy fix.
Spinning reels are available to handle lines in ranges from 4-50 pound test. But their most practical application is when they’re used in the 6-20 pound range to target small to medium size fish. Though monster-size fish are regularly taken on spinning tackle, conventional tackle is usually a much better choice when tangling with critters over 100-pounds. One of the greatest drawbacks to spinning tackle is the tendency of inexperienced anglers to crank the handle of the reel while a large fish is pulling against the drag, which can cause the line to twist-up so badly that the reel can become unusable until the twists are taken out.
Spinning reels and conventional reels – both have their attributes as well as their drawbacks, and since neither one can ever be the best option for all fishing situations, anglers had better get used to the fact that if they are going to do more than one type of fishing, they’re going to need more than one type of reel available to get the job done. §
