Will Spinning Rods Dominate the Bass Fishing World of the Future?

What is driving this move away from Baitcasters? I can answer this question in three words "Finesse Fishing Techniques".

I know, you're probably thinking that this must surely be an overstatement of facts, after all, how can spinning rods be used for the same techniques that baitcasters are used for and do them as well or better?  Let me explain. In the past, it was widely understood that spinning reels were only practical when fishing  line weights up to about 8 or 10lbs max. After that, you needed to switch to baitcasting equipment because Monofilament or Fluorocarbon line became too stiff and line would just shoot off your reel in coils tangling into a knotted mess rendering your spinning rod and reel useless until you cut the line and restrung your reel.  Well that used to be the case, but not anymore; not since the introduction of "Braid" to the fishing world.  Braid has characteristics that update and bring spinning reels into the 21st Century and make them now competitive alternative to baitcasters, with less headaches and more upside benefits.  Using braid on your spinning reels will totally eliminates line coiling and memory issues for good.  Braid stays limp and will absorb all line twist, leaving your line completely soft and castable, cast after cast, without those dreaded wind knots. But what about fish being able to see the line if you're using braid?  The Pro's have solved that by tying on a Fluorocarbon leader from 5 to 15 feet in length, so fish never see the braid or come in contact with it.

I recently came across some fishing articles by Gary Yamamoto suggesting that he and his Pro team are exploring the conversion to spinning equipment and away from baitcasters as they explore taking finesse fishing to the next level and beyond. It is Gary Yamamoto's theory, that because of the advancements in fishing line technology with the advent of Braid and Fluorocarbon lines, graphite and carbon-fiber rods, and state-of-the-art spinning equipment with drags of up to 15lbs, spinning equipment may be the answer to Bass fishing now and into the future.  It is his belief that it is the braid which becomes the overall power and strength of the system and not the rod which has been the case in the past. 10 or 15lb braid is much stronger than the equivalent line of Monofilament or Fluorocarbon. Because Braid and Fluorocarbon doesn't stretch, the bite is transmitted directly through line into the sensitive graphite and carbon-fiber rod blanks and then directly into the fingers of your hand. You no longer need to hold the line between your finger tips to feel a soft or subtle bite.  Your hand feels as though it's directly connected to the the bait at the end of the line with any of these setup configurations.

Gary's team uses 3 different spinning rod weights; a Medium Light, a Medium and Medium Heavy setup covers all their various fishing styles . In all three of these spinning setups the team uses Power-Pro Braids in either 10lb or 15lb White or High-Vis Yellow.  They selected White and Yellow Braid lines because they were having too hard a time seeing the Green Braid on the water. Understand that 10lb PowerPro Braid is only 2lb diameter monofilament, thus the need to find something brighter to see the line. Gary Yamamoto mentioned that they were not the only Pro's on the circuit switching to White and High-Vis Yellow Braid. Since they use 5 to 15 feet of Fluorocarbon leader, the fish never see the braid, but they can now see the line jump on previously unseen and undetected bites when they use the higher visibility lines.

Their Medium-light Spinning Rod set ups incorporate 10lb PowerPro Braid as the main line.  They then tie a leader of fluorocarbon line in either 5,6,8 or 10lb test depending upon the application and the underwater terrain their fishing. Gary believes that thicker fluorocarbon lines help with abrasions in different fishing environments.  Gary uses the Medium-light Spinning setup for most of his lighter finesse fishing techniques and likes using this weight of rod for light crank baits.

They use a Medium Spinning Rod with 10lb PowerPro Braid as well.  To this rig they typically use either 10lb or even a 12lb Fluorocarbon leader in abrasive cover. This rig is used for Shakey Heads, Grubs, Kut Tails, Swim Senko's and Pro Senkos.  This setup can also be used with Jigs up to 3/4 ounce.

For their heaviest rig they use a Medium Heavy Spinning Rod spooled with 15lb PowerPro and use a 14lb Fluorocarbon leader. They use this setup for tossing heavy Texas rigged worms or flipping jigs into gnarly cover.

If you want try these setups for yourself, here's how to do it.  Because the Braid is ultra-slippery and won't hold without slipping on your spool, you need to use monofilament line as the backing for your spinning reel spool.  You should spool on at least 60% of spool with this backing material.  As to what pound test to use; you can use 10lb mono or what ever spare monofilament you have laying around.  It's not that important because you're never going to get down to the mono anyway if you spool on at least 50 yards of Braid to your Monofilament.  To tie the braid initially to your monofilament backing use a uni-to-uni knot for your splice.  Here's a diagram of how to tie it.

Once you have the Braid spliced to the Monofilament backing, spool on your braid and fill the rest of your spool up to about 1/8th of an inch from the top of your spool.  To tie on your Fluorocarbon leader onto your Braid; the best knot I've found that will not fail is an Albright Knot.  See below:

Now after you've tied the Albright Knot and cinched it down, make sure you trim the ends of the Braid and Fluorocarbon as close as you can to the knot without clipping the knot. That's a bad thing obviously.

Once you've done this you are ready to spool on whatever length leader you want.  Honestly, you could tie on as little as 3 feet.  I usually tie on around 15ft when I do it; that allows me to re-tie several times before having to add new leader. Also, only having to tie on this short length of Fluorocarbon makes the spool you buy last a long, long, time before you have to buy another and makes Fluorocarbon a fairly inexpensive investment for those of you on a tight budget. Please note that whenever I've used the Albright Knot for  splicing my lines together, I've never had the knot fail or slip.  If you tie it right, it won't slip and at the end of the day, you'll start having comfort knowing that you've got line that isn't going to break on a Bass.

The last thing I always do before I take my newly spooled reels out on the lake, is to spray Kevin Van Dams Lure & Line Conditioner onto the line.  This stuff really works.  It softens new line making it much easier to cast, but doesn't affect the strength.  I don't know what's in this stuff, but I'm a believer after using it.  

Tight Lines until next time.