>>1028212Skirted with a weed guard, like a flipping or football head jig? The abu combo I mentioned above I use 14lb fluorocarbon on and I won't throw into extremely nasty stuff. A downed tree is fine if it's lost all its little branches and I'm just throwing into the big Y's of the main branches. The trick is not setting the hook into anything that isn't a fish. The weed guard will help prevent that. If the lure ever does stop letting it go slack again and bouncing it a little will usually free it. Only tug on a hard stop as a last resort. If the jig still drops/ takes slack there's a chance of getting it back. Hard stops that don't drop when you give them slack usually mean you've gotten the jig wedged. Sometimes they'll pop free but more often they're lost unless you're fishing from a boat. Then you can usually get behind the snag or snap a heavy weight around the line and drop it down to dislodge it.
If I plan on fishing bushes or nasty stuff along a shoreline I'll only thow to the edges instead of trying to get into it. Or I'll run a strong braid instead of fluoro. Braid removes a lot of fear.
>>1028220Depends on technique. For basics:
- line it with the type of line you've decided to use
- dial the brakes all the way down
- tie on a casting plug, weedless frog, jig or something that won't snag while you practice casting and is similar is weight to what you plan to use in the rod
- click the spool release and allow the lure/plug to drop but don't let it hit the ground
- if it doesn't drop the spool tension needs to be loosened, if it drops free-fall it's too loose and needs to be tightened. aim for a descent a bit slower than free-fall
- turn the brake back up to near max for now, you can tweak it later
