grew up using penn and pfluger open faced for trolling and bottom fishing salt water, and spinners for surface, switched to fresh water fly fishing in the early 80's when the salt water declined, plus we had such good spring fed streams and giant trout that few people new about or ever told anyone. then whirling disease hit the streams hard just before we moved to fl and haven't fished since 2003. with my vertigo I get sea sick on the dock,but have been tempted to try the fly rod in these little ponds and roadside ditches, I could get that floating line right up to the edge of the banks easy enough but my fly rod is only 5-6 wt and usualy only used 2-3lb tippets.biggest trout I ever netted were many in the 5-6lb class and hooked maybe 6-7 8-10 lb, but could never get them to the net.my older bro on the obx of N.C. still uses the old penn open faced ( like a baitcaster ) but can cast them as far as a spinner, all I get is a big birdsnest
I can zing a 4/0 open faced reel a long ways but I suck at the "baitcasters." I got used to throwing the Penn Senators, Daiwa's and other large, durable reels cause we used them for shark fishing. I never had any real experience with baitcasters though, as I've never been an avid bass fisherman. It's wayyyy too hard to drink beer while casting artificials. My freshwater fishing consists of me sitting on top of a full cooler looking at a bobber....as the day goes on, the beer starts to smell and taste fishy cause when I catch a fish...I stand up and toss it in the cooler. I have a little Zebco bullet reel combo that I paid $12.99 for at WalMart.....don't need anything more for panfish/catfish unless you're catching big blues or channel cats somewhere. I need to buy me a couple cane-poles as they suit my needs rather well in most situations.
i spent one day using a baitcaster, it was a shimano cardiff. i got it figured out after about a dozen casts, and could cast that thing just as well as i could anything else. unfortunately i never caught anything with it. use to be able to cast the senator 4/0 pretty good, but havent done that in a while. i prefer the spinning reels but could adjust to baitcasters if needed.
i'll use my bass pro over my spinning rod anyday. but i still always have both
