I made the mistake of using one of those , when shark fishing . I had been getting my thumb burned from applying extra drag when the fish took off on a run . The only problem was that it caused my line to overheat , and actually melt , loosing the fish . Went back to happily getting my thumb burned .

I used to have an Abu C7000.

It took me a while to adjust the spool tension to whwere I was confident throwing 4 oz up to 8 oz & bait.

It was a lot easier to cast than jigmaster.

I still have my jigmaster but it's boat rig for me.

My only advice would be to practice your casting with a uniform set-up every time, and practice often.

Work with the most common sinker weight you believe you will be using.

without bait or hooks, just cast the lead and start with short lobs.

Get a feel of the rod loading for the cast.

You may want to modify your set-up for your application. Some rods are rated for conventional casting, but the design might be flawed.

Look at the long-cast competitors. The reel is seated very close to the end of the rod as opposed to a bait fishing set-up where you have upwards of two feet of rod handle befoe the reel.

Eventually - you'll start pendulum casting.

watch this guy almost unload his spool in one chuck!



http://youtu.be/0wGQls_8zsw

Take a bottle of water with you and pour some on the spool before your first cast, cast your line out without bait and dont over do it. now your ready to add bait and rocket it out, no need to over thumb it. The key is to stop your spool when your weight hits the water