looking for advice on useing a baitcaster. Hoping someone lives nearby and can show me in person. But any advice will be apericiated

STICK WITH LINE THAT IS THICKER THAN YOU USE FOR SPINNING TACKLE.Start with abu garcia or plueger reels.STICK YOUR ROD OUT STRAIT, PUSH THE FEE SPOOL BUTTON.if your line curls up on the spool or has a rats nest, your tension knob should be adjusted accordingly.use heavier lures and rigs to cast with also.always remember to use your thumb to genly guide the line on the spool at the end of your cast.
Try it all!

Best bet is to practice in your yard or pond till you get the feel.  They key is setting the brakes.  Start at like a 7 or 8 as a beginner.  Once you have a practice lure than hold rod out straight with knob tightened all the way.  Slowly release tention on knob till lure falls to ground/water.  The surface ground or water should be enough to stop the lure.  Once you have it set properly its easy as cake.  Remember to adjust knob for each different lure.  Back magnetic breaks off as you get more experienced for longer casts.  Never cast a baitcaster over the shoulder or try and whip it out as far as possible, let the reel do the work, make nice smooth sidearm casts.  It took me years to learn how to use a baitcaster because I never wanted to put the time into learning how to do it properly.  Now I wish I would have done it sooner and I wont use any othere type of reel.  Goodluck!  JB

Start with a lure that weighs 1/2 oz. or so...its easier to cast a heavier bait 'til you get the hang of it.

As grottenbill said, thicker line is the key to baitcasters. I would start with mono between 10-20lb. Also, one thing that I have learned over the years is to -not- spool your reel completely full as if it were an open faced reel. Make sure you can see around 1/4-1/3 of the outside edge of the reel. It needs that little extra room to help it maintain spinning as the line is released off of it. GL!

Also check out YouTube, lots of good pointers on there. Heres one by Mark Menendez http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWKPyEIbGZg. Another quick tip, spin the handle of your reel about 1/2 or 3/4 turns so that the (for lack of the actual term) "doohicky" that feeds your line onto the reel is in the center of the reel. Hope that's decipherable lol