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Posts: 572
Location: Maplewood, MN | As I am about to purchase another reel, I having been going back and forth between which gear ratio I want. From my understanding, gears from 4.6:1 to 6.4:1 generally are used from high resistance baits to less resistance baits. What are the benefits to having a lower gear ratio vs. a higher gear ratio? Are there negatives to using a 4.6:1 in a low resistance situation and the same for 6.4:1 for a high resistance? I'm basically looking for someone to break down which styles of fishing each ratio is best suited for. |
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Posts: 2894
Location: Yahara River Chain | High Ratio - takes up more line per crank of the handle. Will bring in baits faster, but if they are hard pulling baits, they will wear on you - wrist and other body parts. Like high gear on a bicycle, hard to pedal when trying to go up an incline, but can really fly going down.
Low ratio - bring in baits slower, but crank hard pulling baits with with ease. Kind of like 1st gear on your bicycle, ease in going up a hill, but when you want to go faster you are pumping your legs and not getting any more speed when you need it.
You can use a low gear reel, but if you want to run a low resistance bait over the weeds you may not have enough speed to keep it above them.
Opposite is true for high speed gears. If you are pulling a high resistance bait, you may only do it for a shorter amount of time before it wears you out (or if the reel gives out). The teeth on a high speed reel are smaller and the damage from a hard pulling bait can wear/break them quicker.
So pick your poison. Its best to know what you mainly will use it for and make it for that use. |
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Posts: 2687
Location: Hayward, WI | All else being equal Gerard's reply above is right on.
However, lots of guys are using the big saltwater reels with high gear ratios that pick up a lot of line and are using them for high resistance baits like Cowgirls. I think the key to these reels is a high gear ratio for speed but a long handle for power which makes it feel a little easier to crank baits back.
In general I'd say a standard reel with a lower 4.6:1 ratio would be for slowly working slow topwaters like creepers or hawg wobblers, or for slow rolling a double 10 at night.
6.4:1 is nice for jerk bait style lures where you are always picking up slack line, or for burning in lower resistance baits like bucktails with #8 or smaller blades. Big saltwater reels with this gear ratio range are also being used to burn big double bladed baits or toss Pounders and pick up slack quickly too. This is kind of a different class of reel.
Then you have 5.1:1 range. Middle ground and does most everything "ok." Has enough power to handle 10's without too much trouble, and can burn baits in to some degree, but you're cranking like crazy to try to develop crazy speed and it can become tiring. Every year I think I should get a big high speed reel for burning 10's but haven't yet. Everyone claims it's a great tactic.
Tucker |
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Posts: 1901
Location: MN | Agree with the middle ground analogy but with a bit more distinction. Take the 400TE and the 400B. Both are 5.1 ratio and should perform and feel the same if you had the same length handle, right? Nope. Gear size comes into play here, and is much bigger on the TE, which is part of why that reel retreives higher resistance baits easier than the B. Also spool diameter (amount of line) etc, etc. But overall both the above posts are sound. |
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Posts: 531
| Be careful with using gear ratio as your selling point.
An example
revo winch and tranx pg have the same ratio 4.6:1 but the revo pulls in 22inch of line per turn, the tranx pulls in 30inch. The tranx even though it has same ratio its 35% faster retrieve. So it will take 1/3 less turns to retrieve each cast with the tranx.
Many people put way to much emphasis on gear ratio, it doesnt really tell you anything useable.
Look for a reel that pulls in 24-28inch per turn for a good "do all" musky reel. |
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Posts: 432
Location: Eagan, MN | anzomcik - 2/8/2013 12:01 PM
Many people put way to much emphasis on gear ratio, it doesnt really tell you anything useable.
Look for a reel that pulls in 24-28inch per turn for a good "do all" musky reel.
Exactly this. Gear ratio alone doesn't tell you anything, you need to factor in the loaded spool diameter too. In other words, inches of retrieve. I don't even pay attention to gear ratios anymore. |
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Posts: 572
Location: Maplewood, MN | That helps quite a bit as far as how much line is being picked up. |
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Posts: 2894
Location: Yahara River Chain | MuskieFever - 2/8/2013 5:17 PM
That helps quite a bit as far as how much line is being picked up.
Yes, but a small reel that picks up the same amount of line that a big reel does, but it will hurt trying to reel DC10s with the smaller one as the reel torque will end up being transferred to your hands, wrists, etc. |
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Posts: 572
Location: Maplewood, MN | Would a gear ratio of 6.4:1 and a pick up of 30.9 be a fine reel for throwing rubber of all sizes such as tubes, dawgs, and dussas? |
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Posts: 531
| If your buying a good quality reel then i see no reason why it wouldnt be just fine for rubber. Rubber baits IMO have little resistance when retrieving them, so retrieve rate is less of an issue.
Where you run in to trouble with rubber is if you engauge the reel mid cast. A cheaper reel compontents are less likey to handle the sudden stop of 8oz traveling 25mph. Dont get me wrong you can ruin expensive reels like this to, but you will have a tendency to hurt the cheaper ones quicker. |
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