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can you use a spinning reel on a bait casting rod?

I am not fond of baitcasting reels but I love my 9 foot rod.

Public Comments

1. You can use it, but the guides are too small to make it work as well as it would with a proper spinning rod.
2. Ah', not advisable. Might be able ta' go with say a Spincast, however a 9' rod be quite a bit ;)... < ' (( ( > < Zebco Omega Spincast Reel: http://www.basspro.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Product_10151_-1_10001_44496_100001003_100000000_100001000_100-1-3 Set up of a spincast on a castin' rod (scroll down thru page for pics): http://www.tackletour.com/reviewzebcoomega.html
3. the eyes on a bait casting rod are too small for the line to come off the reel easily while casting, therefore you will lose distance on your casts
4. No you can't because the eyes on a baitcasting rod are on the topside of the rod and with spinning reels, the line comes off on the bottom side of the rod and the eyes are on the bottom. Also, the eyes for a spinning reel are a lot bigger near the real and progessively get smaller because of the way the line comes off the real. Most rods come in both spinning and baitcasting. Why not get a comparable spinning rod?
5. yes spin cast not open face
6. You CAN make this work- but not without a decrease in casting performance. You can simply flip the rod upside down, but as others pointed out, the guides aren't made for this sort of casting. My recommendation is save up for a comparable spinning rod. If you like the action of your current rod, take it with you, and compare the action to the spinning rods at the store until you find one that matches the attributes you like in your current rod. There are some pretty fine rods out there for a lot less than you might imagine. Lots of good brands, I would recomment you take a look at Okuma rods- I have a few ultralight spinning rods of theirs, that their action was exactly right. Also, Shimano makes some fine rods. Good Luck!
7. Yeah an no all at the same time. The grip on the back of a baitcasting rod will keep getting in your way or poke your hand. The eyes are alot more smaller so you wont get the casting distance as you could have with a spinning rod. You can put any reel on any rod, it might just look very funny and feel very weird until you get use to it.
8. you can but you will have alot of line twist and wrapped up knots on your guides. Your best bet would to be to buy a similar rod but made for spinning reels. If you want to go to extremes, take the rod to a bait shop that is capable of repairing rods and have them switch out the guides and possibly the butt of the rod...because alot of bait casters have a wedge to place your pointer finger. It won't cost much, about 5-6 bucks a guide, not sure about the rod butt though.