By Pillian, eHow Member

Conventional reels offer more power, casting distance and line capacity compared to spinning reels. But casting a conventional reel requires a bit more technique. Here's how it's done.

Step 1:
The motion of casting a rod with a conventional reel is the same as with a spinning reel. You can throw the rod overhand or roundhouse, depending on your surroundings. You can either swing the leader like a pendulum and time your throw when the leader is extended, or you can lay your leader on the ground and throw. The line is released at approximately a 45 degree angle.

Step 2:
The difference in casting with a conventional reel is that the spool is spinning. This means that at the time of the cast, your reel is switched to free spool and your thumb holds the reel until the point of release. Your thumb also acts as a break to slow down or stop the spool from spinning.

Step 3:
For big game surf casting, you will be using a rig that includes a 13 foot heavy duty graphite, fiberglass, or bamboo/fiberglass composite rod. The reel will be in the 4/0 range, and line weight will be around 50 lbs and lead will weigh around 10 oz. Your target distance will be around 100 yards. With this type of rig and distance, thumbing the spool will generate a significant amount of friction. So you want to make sure your line is wet with water prior to your first cast. Subsequent casts will be wet from reeling in your line.

Step 4:
When casting for distance, you need to apply the right amount of pressure to the spool with your thumb while the line is in flight. Upon casting the line, you will soon hear a sound from the spool that sounds like the line is unraveling. It's a pretty nasty sound and you will know it when you hear it. Upon hearing this sound, start to gently thumb the spool until the sound is mostly reduced, then release the spool. If necessary, gently thumb the spool again if the sound returns. The cause for the unraveling of the line is due to the spool spinning faster than the line can fly through the air. If this continues, the line will backlash and "bird nest" your reel. If this happens, you will need to untangle the bird nest, which can take several minutes. Really bad bird nests may require cutting away the tangled line.

Step 5:
While thumbing the spool, you will notice the heat building up on your thumb. That's why you need to thoroughly soak the line with water prior to casting. More than once I've seen inexperienced fishermen burn their thumbs and release their spools, ending up with huge bird nests and blistered thumbs.

Step 6:
As the line hits the water, apply more pressure to the spool to stop the spinning, and then immediately release the spool to allow the line to sink to the bottom.