What Lures Do You Use With a Bait-caster?

What Lures Do You Use With a Bait-caster?

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Anglers who target large game fish species such as bass, muskies, northern pike and walleyes often use bait-casting reels. The lures can handle heavier line and are designed to be used with stout equipment. As a result, the best lures for fish with bait-casting reels are artificial and wight more than 1/4 ounce.

Bait-casting Reels

Bait-casting reels are those that sit atop the fishing rod. They can handle heavy fishing line--10-pound test and heavier--and are most often used by experienced fishermen. The reels are designed specifically to cast and retrieve, or troll, larger lures than spinning and spin-cast reels.

Diving Lures

Crank baits are the most common diving lures. They are generally shaped like a minnow or fish and have plastic bills on the front of them. When cast and retrieved, the bills dig against the water and cause the lure to dive. Crank baits are especially popular among bass and walleye fishermen, but they will elicit bites from a variety of fish species.

Top-water Lures

Bait-casting reels tend to reel in line quicker than do other types of reels, which is why many anglers rely on them when fishing top-water lures. That's especially true for top-water lures that do not float on their own. Buzz baits are perhaps the best example.

Weedless Lures

Weedless lures are particularly well suited for bait-casting reels. That's because anglers who fish weedless lures fish them in places where the cover is heavy. In heavy cover, it is imperative to use heavy bait-casting equipment that has the strength to get fish out of the cover and to the boat. Plastic frogs and Texas-rigged plastic worms are examples of weedless lures to fish with bait-caster reels.

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