What does all of this mean?

[RO_Watkins]

Going to buy new equipment and tackle for me is like a small child in a toy or candy store. I want just about everything there regardless of if I need it or not. However when it comes to buying rods and sometimes reals I feel a little bit in he dark. I'm sure I'm not the only one out there, who isn't the most experienced bass fisherman and doesn't have all of this figured out yet. So I'll go ahead and ask, what does all of this mean? 

 

When it it comes to rods there is the action, and the power, both of which use a lot of the same terminology. What's the difference and what do they mean? And once I know all of that how do I apply it to what I need? 

 

As for reels there is gear ratio's and bearings and drags and all of these different settings and such. What do all of these numbers mean? Once all of those make sense, why do they matter?

 

I'm not completely lost on all of this but I feel like there may be someone out there who is, so if you all don't care to help with that I'm sure it would be greatly appreciated by all of the rookies out there.

[WRB]

12 minutes ago, RO_Watkins said:

Going to buy new equipment and tackle for me is like a small child in a toy or candy store. I want just about everything there regardless of if I need it or not. However when it comes to buying rods and sometimes reals I feel a little bit in he dark. I'm sure I'm not the only one out there, who isn't the most experienced bass fisherman and doesn't have all of this figured out yet. So I'll go ahead and ask, what does all of this mean? 

 

When it it comes to rods there is the action, and the power, both of which use a lot of the same terminology. What's the difference and what do they mean? And once I know all of that how do I apply it to what I need? 

 

As for reels there is gear ratio's and bearings and drags and all of these different settings and such. What do all of these numbers mean? Once all of those make sense, why do they matter?

 

I'm not completely lost on all of this but I feel like there may be someone out there who is, so if you all don't care to help with that I'm sure it would be greatly appreciated by all of the rookies out there.

Rod power is it's basic lifting strength before the rod bottoms out and lift any more weight.

This sounds like it could be a standard; unfortunately no standard exist!

power in number verses power by letter designator.

1 = light or L

2 = medium light or M!

3 = medium or M

4 = medium heavy or MH

5 = heavy or H

6 = extra heavy XH

7 = extra heavy XXH

The numbers represent the dead weight a rod can lift before being fully bent.

 

Action is how the rod bends under light loads pulling down the rod tip with light load.

Paraboliic the rod bends from tip to 1st guide near the reel evenly.

Moderate the rod bends from the tip down about 1/2 the rod length.

fast the rod bends from the tip down about 1/4 the rod length.

extra fast the rod bends from the tip down about 1/8 the rod length.

 

The more a rod bends the slow the power is applied and easier it is to cast lures.

The faster a rod bends the power loads faster, better feel of what a lure is doing underwater and more difficult to cast.

Crank baits or deep diving lures are easier to cast using moderate action rods.

Jigs, worms that you need to feel and get solid hook sets with fast action rods.

Hope this helps.

Tom

 

 

[12poundbass]

As far as reels go, these ratio is is how many times the spool turns compared to turns of the handle. Example 5.3 to 1 the spool rotates 5.3 times for every turn of the handle. The lower the ratio the more torque. Another number to look at is how much line is retrieved per turn of the handle. 

Bearings: the more bearings the smoother the reel. Example *** bearings 12 bearings + 1 roller bearing the roller bearing I believe is the bearing used to prevent the reel handle from turning backwards. 

Seriously? *** is blocked when referring to bearings? I'm not referring to the brand of reel! Never used them not trying to plug them! 

[WRB]

Bass anglers today use 2 types of reels; conventional casting called bait casting and open face spinning called spinning reels. Closed faced spinning reels called spin casting reels are usually used by novice or beginner anglers.

Reel sizes for bass fishing are usually size 100, 200, 300 and 400 for baitcasting reels and 1000, 1500, 2000, 2500 and 3000 for spinning reels. The larger the number the bigger the reel is. Higher the gear ratio the faster the reel handle spins the reel spool for bait casting and bail for spinning reels. Most bass anglers use gear ratios between 5:1 to 8:1, average is 6.3:1.

Tom

[rippin-lips]

34 minutes ago, 12poundbass said:

As far as reels go, these ratio is is how many times the spool turns compared to turns of the handle. Example 5.3 to 1 the spool rotates 5.3 times for every turn of the handle. The lower the ratio the more torque. Another number to look at is how much line is retrieved per turn of the handle. 

Bearings: the more bearings the smoother the reel. Example *** bearings 12 bearings + 1 roller bearing the roller bearing I believe is the bearing used to prevent the reel handle from turning backwards. 

Seriously? *** is blocked when referring to bearings? I'm not referring to the brand of reel! Never used them not trying to plug them! 

More does not equal smoother. Quality bearings in the right place equals smoother. Shimano for example uses less bearings than a lot of other companies and their reels can/will feel smoother when compared to other with say 10. The number that is blocked is in the settings of the forum. It doesn't matter if you're referring to said company or the amount of fish you caught today. It's simply just blocked either way. 

[iabass8]

49 minutes ago, 12poundbass said:

 

Bearings: the more bearings the smoother the reel.

no

[12poundbass]

I understand why they blocked it, just wish there was a way to filter out certain uses of the number and let others go like my situation. I apologize for the bad info regarding the bearings. I was misinformed. Thinking about it some of my Abu's have 6 bearings and are smoother than some others I've used with more.  

3 minutes ago, iabass8 said:

no

My bad, I was misinformed.

[fishnkamp]

WRB excellent job explaining about rods. The power tells you about the amount of backbone and helps in understanding the rod and its lure rating. The action tells you how easy or how far the rod will bend. Certain techniques work best with certain power and action combinations.  Now please understand I have fished since I was a young boy and most of all of the first 10 years I used 1 or two rods.  Many people have one rod and are thrilled with that method. If I were to go that way again it would be a medium action spinning rod probably 7 foot long.

Now I own 1 or 2 rods that best allow me to fish each specific lure type. So I have jig & plastics rods, crankbait rods, a frog rods etc.  This makes me more efficient, but causes me to have an overstuffed rod locker. LOL 

Let's look at 2 of the most common baitcasters. The first is a 7 foot medium power moderate action and the second one is a 7 foot medium power fast action rod. Both usually cast 1/4 to 3/4 ounce lures. The medium-moderate rod will usually bend all the way down from the tip guide all the way down to the 4th or 5th guide. This means it will load well and cast maybe bulkier baits,  but more importantly it will "give" and absorb a fish's runs better, so lures with treble hooks like crankbaits and rattle traps will stay buttoned up. Many of the fish we loose with treble hook baits are lost because we use faster action rods that react quicker so sometimes the bass gets a little slack and poof your fish is gone. The moderate action rod bends further down the blank and reacts slower.   Now the medium power fast action rod will usually bend only down say to the 2nd or 3rd guide. If you are fishing bottom bouncing baits where you hop a bait or slowly swim a bait then the faster action rod helps deliver the power quicker and offers more sensitivity.  Lures such as rattle traps, crankbaits, topwaters, jerkbaits, and both spinnerbaits and chatterbaits all work best on slower action rods. We usually use fast or extra fast action rods for jigs, texas rigged plastics, carolina rigs, and even frogs. Rod powers are often chosen to allow us to throw lures by the lures resistance in the water and their weight. For example the rod I throw my 1/4 to 3/8 spinnerbaits is a 6'6" medium power moderate action baitcasting rod.  If I want to throw a big 3/4 to 1 ounce spinnerbait I would use my 7 foot medium heavy moderate action rod.  They have the same action or taper (just another name to confuse you but means the same as action for our purpose)but have different powers thus the lure weights they cover are different. I hope that helps.

Now if we look at the three spinning rods I carry here is a good example. I carry two identical G Loomis 6 foot IMX rods. The first is a 6 foot light power rod that handles baits that weigh 1/16 to 5/16. My other 6 foot is a medium power rod that handles baits that weigh 1/8 to 3/8. They may seem to cover many of the same lures but the rods act very differently. I can easily throw Ned rigs ( a 1/10 ounce jig with a special 3 inch piece of worm) grubs and small baits like mepps spinners on the light power rod. The medium rod has enough backbone to hook a fish using larger plastics, and heavier baits.  My third rod is a 7 foot medium that has a faster tip and more backbone. It can toss lighter baits further distance due to its longer length,  It also has more backbone so I can hook a fish further out or in deeper water. 

 

Here is a quick guide to reel ratio uses.  For baits like frogs, or techniques like pitching a jig in heavy vegetation I use a higher speed reel, usually 8-1.  For baits like spinnerbaits and buzzbaits if I want to burn it up near the surface I like a 7-1.  For regular spinnerbait fishing, small crankbaits, squarebills, jigs, texas rigs, carolina rigs, rattle traps, hollow bodied swimbaits etc. I like a 6.3-1 reel.  And for deep diving cranks like DD22s or other crankbaits that dig their way down to 15 foot or deeper than a 5.3-1 or so is best. 

[IndianaFinesse]

Power is basically a rating of how stiff the rod is, unfortuanately there is no manufacturer standard for this so it will vary somewhat from the specified rating.  Action is a rating of how the rod bends.  A good way to think of it is that it's a rating of how fast it is for it to return to the straight position when bent/shook, the more time it takes the slower the action.  A fast or extra fast action rod will have most of the bend in the tip, with a solid backbone.  While a moderate action rod will bend farther down the rod, with less backbone.  Fast action rods are the most versatile, but for crankbaits a moderate action helps to keep the treble hooks pinned inside their mouth.

More barings does not neccasarily mean a better reel, that is mostly a marketing ploy.  Gear ratios are the ratio between the amount of times the spool turns per turn of the handle.  A better thing to look at is the IPT, or inches per turn of the reel.  Faster reels are not always better.  Drag is how much force it takes to turn the reel when it is engaged, you won't usually have it locked down unless frog fishing or punching with 65+pound braid.

 

@fishnkamp explained the specifics better than I could, so i'm going to ditto him and save me the twenty minutes he spent typing his very helpful reply.

[Delaware Valley Tackle]

Recovery speed and action are both described as fast, moderate etc but are not the same thing. The most succinct and accurate explanation of rod power , action and application is Eddie Taylor's article on this site. Check that out. 

[fishnkamp]

Thanks IndianaFinesse my poor fingers are worn out 

[TheRodFather]

As far as what type of lures you put on what rod, well, research and personal preference.

The other thing I wanted to say is something that another fisherman told me that makes a lot of sense after I tried it for myself.  People get hung up on the fact that this reel or that reel has a few pounds more drag than another, but the reality is that you are never going to need 15 pounds of drag, or even 10 pounds in my opinion.

 

Tie a 15 lb weight to the end of your line and I dare you to try pick it up with the rod.  If you value your rod, you will stop before you even come close to 15 pounds.

[roadwarrior]

[CTBassin860]

On 01/04/2017 at 7:26 PM, 12poundbass said:

As far as reels go, these ratio is is how many times the spool turns compared to turns of the handle. Example 5.3 to 1 the spool rotates 5.3 times for every turn of the handle. The lower the ratio the more torque. Another number to look at is how much line is retrieved per turn of the handle. 

Bearings: the more bearings the smoother the reel. Example *** bearings 12 bearings + 1 roller bearing the roller bearing I believe is the bearing used to prevent the reel handle from turning backwards. 

Seriously? *** is blocked when referring to bearings? I'm not referring to the brand of reel! Never used them not trying to plug them! 

IPT is more important than ratio.my 7.2:1 Curado is slower than my BPS PQ. 7.1:1.