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Posts: 15
| Hello all, I am looking to upgrade my reel. This is only my 2nd year musky fishing. Unsure of what I am getting yet. But been reading on gear ratio. Would someone give a brief explanation of why a lower gear ratio is better for pulling double bucktails? I would think the higher ratio would be better to pull them in faster? Or is it just much harder with the higher ratio if you are going to be throwing them all day?
What is a good gear ratio to look for throwing a variety of baits such as double bucktails, crankbaits, bulldawgs, glidebaits, etc?
Thanks much! |
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Posts: 815
Location: Waukee, IA | Gear ratio is only a portion in the grand scheme of reel speed. Line pickup (inches/turn) is a better metric for reels as it factors in gear ratio and spool radius. Reels with 30"+ line pickup per turn will allow high retrieve speed at the cost of more handle resistance (also depends on handle length). Personal preference is huge in this decision. I prefer cranking faster with less resistance, but some prefer the opposite. Also factor in main and pinion gear composition, high speed reels with brass gears will wear out sooner than low speed reels with brass or any reel with stainless Steel gears. |
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Posts: 1901
Location: MN | ^^ Of course he is correct but there are some generalities you can use. Throw out some of the reels with really high ratios and some of the lower ratios which are generally slow with the exception of Tranx 500 and a couple other, and I would suggest you look at ratios of 4.9 to 5.4 for best combination of speed and comfort. And most of those will have line pickup in the range of 27 to 32". You get a whole lot faster than that and to me it's more work (effort) than I care to expend. You can slow down (and make easier) a high speed reel by putting less line on the spool, and you can speed up a slower reel (and make it a little harder) by adding extra line to a spool. Stainless gears may last longer but they will be louder in my experience. |
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Posts: 1638
Location: Minnesota | I had it explained to me like this hop on a bike and go up hill in high gear then go up in low gear both will get you to the top . One will just get you there with less effort |
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Posts: 15
| Thanks for the help everyone! These are great explanations! |
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Posts: 529
| To make life easy, because this topic is involved if you truly want to understand it fully, look for a reel that retrieves 32-37 IPT. IMO that is a mid speed reel. |
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Posts: 157
Location: West Central WI | When I was younger, I bought reels without giving much thought to gear ratios, but that was before double 10's. Now I own a variety of reels with a range of gear ratios. You can pull double 10's with any gear ratio, but you'll end up switching baits (smaller blades) or setting your pole down because of fatigue if you try for any length of time with a high-speed reel. The input about the bike going uphill was a good one. There's only so much power you have so sometimes it's just better to shift down (lower gear ratio) before going uphill. If you fish with someone, I'd recommend asking if you can throw what they have to try other reels if they have what you're thinking about purchasing. Buying one just because you read about it or someone told you about it, may not make you happy with the purchase. We're all built different and have different tolerance for the effort it takes to pull baits for hours. |
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Posts: 983
| IF you plan on throwing double 10s for any period of time you better stick with 4.9 or 5.4 like stated above the Revo Toro S or Beast 60 are both great all purpose reels IMO...can tote double 10s all day without wearing you out but IPT is high enough on them both your not turning handle at warp speed to get them moving either |
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Posts: 529
| Like i stated before this subject is complicated.
Something with the mountain bike example that is not addressed is tire diameter. While yes down shifting to climb the hill would make it feel easier, if in the same example you changed rear tire diameter to smaller you may not need to down shift. because of IPT.
This applies to the many brands and models of reels, some reel models have different ratios (gear on mtn bike) but same spool dia (tire), that changes IPT. Some reels have same (or very near) ratio but different spool dia and have different IPT.
Also to add to this, what i have found is the major limiting factor is the human turning the handle. I have had reeling in races with my buddies. Same bait, roughly same cast length, I have a tranx hg buddy had a curado D. we say go and straight retreive to see who makes it in first. I won with both the tranx and curado. I was able to over come the the amount of extra force needed with the tranx to the easier turning curado to get the bait in sooner, when we switched reels i could crank the curado faster that what he could on my tranx. Its almost like a human reeling terminal velocity, I also won by roughly the same margin.
so what this means, there is no free lunch. Do you want to crank your brains out easily, or forcefully turn the handle slower. In the end your not really going faster because your power can only bring a bait in so fast reguardless of the reel in your hand. So thats not to say some reels are better in situations vs other reels |
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Posts: 15
| Yes, this subject is very complicated. One of those things actually the more to start to learn, the more complicated it becomes. I am most likely going to order the Shimano Tranx 400 very shortly and have been going back and forth on which gear ratio to go with as this will be my only higher end bait caster and I usually throw a wide variety of baits.
I wanted the ease of pulling in double 8s or 10s but also wanted the line pickup for jerk baits and potentially a top water. |
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Posts: 375
| Since you are looking at reels that do both ...pull double 8/10 with ease and line pick-up for jerk baits you are looking at a compromise. I would support the notion made earlier and look at choosing reels based on IPT of 32-37 instead of gear ratios. Shimano, Abu Garcia and Daiwa all have good options. Personally I am a Shimano fan but own all three and all are good. |
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Posts: 1638
Location: Minnesota | Thorn bros has there online sale going on right now good time to buy 20% off can't beat that |
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Posts: 626
Location: Madison, WI | Any 400 size reel with 5 gears will be a great all around reel. Don't overthink it |
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Posts: 229
| The Calcutta 400 TE is the best all around reel ever. |
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