2 Gear Ratios On A Baitcaster

[LxVE Bassin]

I have heard people say that their baitcsting reel has 2 gear ratios. How is that possible? I thought reels can only 1 gear ratio. How can you tell if you have 2 gear ratios?

[Bass Turd]

Gear ratio's are expressed in how many turns of the spool for every full turn of the handle. 6.3 to 1 would be 6.3 turns of the spool for each turn of the handle. Manufacturers can change this by changing the number of teeth and or size of the different gears in a reel. Each reel is set for a specific gear ratio. The only way to change it is to open it up and actually swap one gear for another. In bait casting reels there are currently gear ratio's in 5, 6, 7, 8 and even 9 depending on the manufacturer. Think of gears in terms of a bicycle. If you are going up a hill you want a smaller gear ratio because it will make the effort easier. But the trade off is speed. You will go slower but it will feel easier. Five speed reels are for deep cranking where it takes greater effort to get the crank bait down. When flipping and pitching you can use the highest ratio because the retrieves are very very short and you want the bait back to the reel as fast as possible so you can pitch again. The middle ratio's are for a variety of techniques. 

[Goose52]

There are quite a few conventional / trolling reels primarily intended for salt-water use that are two-speed (switchable with a lever on the reel).

I am not aware of any low-profile baitcasting reels having two-speeds. If these folks WERE talking about baitcasting reels, perhaps they were saying that their BC reel is AVAILABLE in two (or more) gear ratios.

[LxVE Bassin]

1 hour ago, Bass Turd said:

Gear ratio's are expressed in how many turns of the spool for every full turn of the handle. 6.3 to 1 would be 6.3 turns of the spool for each turn of the handle. Manufacturers can change this by changing the number of teeth and or size of the different gears in a reel. Each reel is set for a specific gear ratio. The only way to change it is to open it up and actually swap one gear for another. In bait casting reels there are currently gear ratio's in 5, 6, 7, 8 and even 9 depending on the manufacturer. Think of gears in terms of a bicycle. If you are going up a hill you want a smaller gear ratio because it will make the effort easier. But the trade off is speed. You will go slower but it will feel easier. Five speed reels are for deep cranking where it takes greater effort to get the crank bait down. When flipping and pitching you can use the highest ratio because the retrieves are very very short and you want the bait back to the reel as fast as possible so you can pitch again. The middle ratio's are for a variety of techniques. 

Great explanation 

19 minutes ago, Goose52 said:

There are quite a few conventional / trolling reels primarily intended for salt-water use that are two-speed (switchable with a lever on the reel).

I am not aware of any low-profile baitcasting reels having two-speeds. If these folks WERE talking about baitcasting reels, perhaps they were saying that their BC reel is AVAILABLE in two (or more) gear ratios.

I may have miss heard them but I'm almost positively sure they were referring to low profile reels 

[Raul]

There used to be a 2 speed ( 2 gear ratios ) in 1 reel, it was during the XLT Plus series by Abu Garcia.

[WRB]

There are at least 2 west coast reel mfr's Avet and Accurate make round small size inshore casting reels with 2 speed options and  Penn, Shinamo and Daiwa make off shore conventional reels with speed options, Most of these reels switch gears using a button located on the center of the crank shaft handle.

Tom

[Goose52]

1 hour ago, Raul said:

There used to be a 2 speed ( 2 gear ratios ) in 1 reel, it was during the XLT Plus series by Abu Garcia.

I certainly didn't remember that series !  I just Googled it and came across two smaller Ambassadeur round reels that were two-speed as well (smaller meaning 5500 and 6500 series).

[Raul]

49 minutes ago, Goose52 said:

I certainly didn't remember that series !  I just Googled it and came across two smaller Ambassadeur round reels that were two-speed as well (smaller meaning 5500 and 6500 series).

That's the one, it had a 6.3:1 that shifted to 3.8:1.The XLT Plus is one of my favorite series of BCs, I caught my first 10+ lber with my XLT Plus, my PB with my 521 XLT Plus and many big mommas in between. Pretty much built to last a lifetime, they came with interchangeable spool system and of course, Flippin switch. I still have both reels and my Cardinal Ultracast 62 spinning reel...... geez, I'm starting to sound like my Granpaw.

[WRB]

Don't recall the above reel.....good idea that didn't go over to good at that particular time period.

Thanks for sharing.

Tom

[Bass Turd]

14 hours ago, WRB said:

Don't recall the above reel.....good idea that didn't go over to good at that particular time period.

Thanks for sharing.

Tom

It's only a matter of time before someone "invents" it again...

[d-camarena]

Carrotstix started selling a spinning reel with two speed recently

[Mumbly]

My old Shimano Bantam BeastMaster 2-speed from the late 80's.

 

[JustJames]

I think I also have one huge low profile reel from Abu garcia pro max 2 concept 2000, which supposedly has 2 gear ratios. Mine doesnt say anything about gear ration but has word winch in it. I think it is 6.1 and 3.8 or something like that. I got this reel from a friend of mine long time ago.

[Goose52]

Wow - two-speed reels from the 80s (or so) coming out of the woodwork !  I guess I have to revise my statement from post # 3 to read:

"I am not aware of any current production low-profile baitcasting reels having two-speeds."