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| I have a Toro HS reel and have been using it for just about everything this year. I've been reading through this board and seen lots of comments about the winch for pulling in big bucktails etc, calcutta for certain applications, and the regular 5:4:1 for certain applications.
I'm looking at expanding the reel collection
So what what gear ratio do you like to use for each application? Do they all pickup the same amount of line if they have the same gear ratio? haven't quite got the concept of this just yet and was curious what reel/ratio typically works best for the most common baits.
thank you! | |
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Posts: 3480
Location: Elk River, Minnesota | hiya,
I'll do my best to keep this short.
In a nutshell, the higher the gear ratio, the faster the spool turns, thus picking up more line. The difference in gear ratios can be maybe better understood if you consider a 10 speed bicycle. The first gear is very very slow, but you can crank the pedals easier; The 10th gear is very hard to get moving, but you can pedal slower but travel faster.
The trade off in general is the higher the gear ratio, the harder it is to pull a bait in. So...in choosing their reels will sometimes use a reel with a higher gear ratio for jerk baits, where pulling in the excess line is quicker between each twitch of the rod. The mid-range speed reels shine with medium sized bucktails and crankbaits. The low speed gears (like the revo Winch) are good at pulling in the big stuff.
In today's market, though, many people have opted to go to a saltwater style reel (the trinidad series) that have high speed gear ratios, and still have the ability to turn the reel handle with relative ease. These reels are usually a bit larger, and can be a bit more cumbersome to use due to weight as well.
I have changed some equipment over the past year to the following:
2 garcia revo toro 50's both with 5.4:1 ratios. One of these will be going to my wife and I will probably be getting a high speed for a jerkbait rod. One rod is 8 feet long for crankbaits, smaller bucktails and topwater. The other rod is 6' - 9" for jerkbaits and side to side topwater baits.
1 Shimano Trinidad 14: This reel and rod combo is specifically designed for the big bucktails. This year it will be getting a new rod to ride on that will be 8'-6" or maybe 9'. This reel took a bit getting used to since it does not have a levelwind feature on it.
Not sure if this is totally what you are looking for, but hopefully it is a start. | |
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| Generally speaking, a lower gear ratio will be able to retrieve a hard-pulling lure better than a higher gear ratio reel. However, most lower gear ratio reels are slower than higher gear ratio reels.
The Toro HS (6.4:1) that you have been using all season will bring in 30" to 31" for every rotation of the handle. This is great for smaller crankbaits, tail baits, smaller bucktails. However, it doesn't have the power to throw anything larger than 8s or 9s.
The regular Toro (5.4:1, no longer being made) brings in 26". This reel is a decent compromise of power and speed.
The Toro Winch (4.6:1) will only bring in 22", but it has the power to bring in harder-pulling baits, namely 10s.
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For the most part this holds true with other reels. Reels that I would classify as "Saltwater Reels", such as the Shimano Trinidad don't follow these rules. The main exception to the rule as of late is the Shimano Tranx. There has been, and will continue to be, plenty of discussion about these reels, but here's a simplified overview:
The PG version (4.6:1) will bring in 30" (similar to your Toro HS), but still has a ton of power.
The HG version (6.6:1) will bring in 43", but does not have as much power as the PG version. However, it is still incredibly powerful. | |
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| The main exception to the rule as of late is the Shimano Tranx. There has been, and will continue to be, plenty of discussion about these reels, but here's a simplified overview:
The PG version (4.6:1) will bring in 30" (similar to your Toro HS), but still has a ton of power.
The HG version (6.6:1) will bring in 43", but does not have as much power as the PG version. However, it is still incredibly powerful.
I think this is where I was getting confused. I thought line pickup was the same to a given gear ratio.
Do I have this right then:
* a lower gear ratio gives you more power to reel
* high gear ratio gives you more speed
* the trick is finding a reel that will give you the power you need for your size of bait, but also try to find one that picks up line fast enough to your needs.
* Just because it has a higher gear ratio, doesn't mean it picks up that much more line
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Posts: 531
| If you want a very long read
http://muskie.outdoorsfirst.com/board/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=65...
I will summ it up. Line retrieve per hanlde turn is the number you want to look at. The more line that is pulled in per turn of the handle the more work you (as a person) is doing. Gear ratio printed on the box, is just filler of box space as it means not a whole lot with out know the other parts of the system.
A reel with lower line retrieve per crank will make reeling feel much easier because you are doing less work, but you will be doing more cranks per cast
I have a feeling this thread may get ugly I hope not.
It is my opinion that a reel with 22-25 inch per turn is a good allaround. As most of my reels are about that and i have never had an issue with any bait.
Also by not filling your spool all the way you can change how much line is retrieved per crank, thus making a reel more powerful but you will have to crank more per cast. | |
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| Very good topic, but there's even more to it!
when mfgrs list gear ratio they are talking about pinion to main gear.
There are three other very important factors, two of which (spool diameter and crank handle length) are related to mechanical ratios and are every bit as significant as gear ratio. The third factor is efficiency loss due to friction from gear lash or frame distortion under load.
The X-Ship feature in shimanos adds a bearing in order to support both sides of the pinion which greatly improves gear efficiency.
I'll let a physics professor explain the rest!
L dahlberg | |
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Reel gear ratio & applications - need an explaination