Gear Ratio For Top Water

[trupp30]

      I am looking to buy a new reel for top water fishing and I'm unsure what gear ratio is best for this technique. I do not plan on using frogs with this set-up, only poppers and spooks. Any help with the best gear ratio for this set-up will be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

[PondBoss]

Personally I like to use 7.0 and faster reels for topwater, but maybe that's just me.  I know working those baits you mentioned produces slack to make the bait work right.  I wanna take that slack up as fast as I can.

[rockchalk06]

I'd get as fast as you can. Like pond boss said, top water is more reeling in slack line. Your rod does most of the work with top water.

Get as fast as you can, and you can use the same reel for other techniques or if you decide to sell it, the faster the gears, the better it sells.

[Maico1]

Switched from a 6.2 to 7.0 back a few years ago and have not looked back.....

[lmbfisherman]

For those topwater baits I would definitely use a high speed ratio.  For buzzbaits I use a 6 ratio.

[skeletor6]

6.x:1 should work just fine

[CountBassula]

I would say 7+:1. I've been doing A LOT of top water fishing lately: hollow body frogs and flapping plastic frogs, and my 6.5:1 reel just isn't cutting it when I need to work the bait faster...

[MrSwimJig]

I prefer 7.0:1 ratios. Just easier to reel in slack line

[J Francho]

I use everything from my slower Alphas to a high speed Zillion for topwaters, and I honestly don't notice any difference.  I'm sure I'm making an adjustment, but I just let my eyes decide how fast to reel in.  Obviously, for something like a toad type bait, a faster reel is preferable.  But for poppers, walkiers, hollow frogs, and buzzbaits it doesn't make much difference.