How I Set-Up My Conventional Reel In A Minute For Casting!

Casting a conventional reel takes hours of practice. I like to practice at a local soccer field during a weekday when nobody is around. I bring an assortment of casting leads & a spray bottle full of water. Recently someone asked me what he needs to do to switch from casting a spinning rig to a conventional rig. So i put this together from stored pics & vids of the previous year. I actually will take a few practice swings on site as the settings do change if the reel is stored long enough.

I like the Tesoro12's. Much smoother then my Torium 30's. Also the California jigging fleet uses this reel for tuna jigging. Currently i think i'm the ONLY shore caster in Hawaii using Tesoro's from shore. I love how smooth these reels are & the incredible distance i'm getting. In a YouTube video the inventor John Bretza was filmed bringing in a billfish on the smallest model, the 5. There's also a 10.

For short cast i just use a spray bottle to wet the line so my thumbs don't get friction burns. For bombing casts i thumb the side of the spool instead of thumbing the wetted line. I also tilt the reel on a 90° angle to the left (i'm right handed) during the cast. I do this to reduce line sagging induced by gravity. In this area there's a reef finger across from me so placing my casts was more important then distance casting.

Chris: watched some of your stuff on YT and I can see you have an edge on conventional. I think we're of the same rough vintage. If you get the time, please watch and tie up one of these rigs:
Daytona Rig (Any Depth Snag Free) (you may want to use a Palomar knot & use the appropriate weight needed to cast) and see how far you can cast that rig with your conventional. From your casts I saw, I'm betting you're going to really get some distance. Do let me know what your estimated distance is. Thanks.

With these rigs with a 4oz i'm between 90-110yd. There was a ledge system across from me so i reduced my lead to 3oz which required me to re-adjust my settings to "place" my banks rather then cast for distance.

Excellent - so you could do the same with that Daytona I'm sure. Just a matter of whatever weight you hang on it to do the job. Good vid btw.

Thanks.

Good stuff!