Inches Per Turn Debate

[Big Rick]

11 hours ago, Cody28 said:

Long story short. I’m in an ongoing debate with a buddy and would love some back up or explanation if I’m wrong. At the end of a long cast, you get decreased IPT due to the diameter of the spool + line decreasing and therefore bringing in less line per turn of the handle. This is obvious and we agree. Where we do not is how this effects very shallow spools (Daiwa Tatula Elite P/F or Lew’s Pro SP). He says he won’t use them because he gets such low IPT at the end of a cast if he needs anything longer than a pitch. I argue that you may not have much line left on, but you still have relatively equal IPT as other reels because the diameter that would be filled in with line is simply filled in by the wider diameter spool. Isn’t this obvious? Or am I the crazy one? 

I have 2 of the Lew's Pro SP. The only real factor I have seen that matters is line diameter. On a shallow spool there's a lot of difference in the capacities of 30lb braid and 65lb braid. I fish 30lb Power Pro, if it matters....

 

1 hour ago, LrgmouthShad said:

What the heck is effective spool width

The wider the spool the more line it takes. Thus you can cast farther without reducing your spool diameter is fast as a narrow spool.... I guess. 

[FryDog62]

I have fishing buddies - some are engineers, and PhD’s, that read pages of specs and argue over the finer details - I dunno, I just go out and catch more fish than they do..
 

 

[A-Jay]

Welcome to January in July . . . .

A-Jay

[garroyo130]

This question comes up quite often and I knot folks like the theoretical and math stuffs but I wonder what actual field tested difference is after a long cast. For that matter, at what "fullness" of the spool is IPT measured by manufacturers? 

[Tennessee Boy]

It happens every day.  Someone starts a thread asking a simple question.  The first person to respond answers the question.  Then everyone else does their part to drag the thread into the weeds.  It’s why I love this site. ?

[Team9nine]

12 minutes ago, garroyo130 said:

This question comes up quite often and I knot folks like the theoretical and math stuffs but I wonder what actual field tested difference is after a long cast. For that matter, at what "fullness" of the spool is IPT measured by manufacturers? 

 

From a post I made 6+ years ago where I tested some of this one winter…

 

I had some time to kill last night, so I grabbed a reel and started measuring. I had a Shimano Castaic CA200 sitting around that I won't be using any more before things freeze up over here. Capacity is listed at 125 yds of 14# test. I had a nearly full spool of 16# fluorocarbon on it. It has a 6.2:1 gear ratio, and the tested IPT was around 24.5"

The initial starting diameter of the line filled spool was 1.233" (radius = ~0.616"). After stripping off about 40 yds of line (loosely measured with a yardstick), the effective gear ratio only dropped to just above 5:1. That would be about as long a cast as I'd normally ever make with that outfit. I kept stripping line off, passing the 82 yd mark that is factory placed on the line and continuing until I had nearly 100 yds stripped off. At this point the filled diameter was just 3/4 of an inch, with a spool radius of 0.385". I was well into my backing and likely only had another 20 or so yds of line left as I could see my arbor knot starting to appear. The calculated "effective gear ratio" at that point was 3.9:1 which was an IPT of 15", a 37% decrease from initial starting capacity.

Your mileage will certainly vary, as every reel is different, and a lot of variables affect the overall outcome. In general though, I'd say a typical long cast will likely decrease your overall effective gear ratio by at least 1+ spool revolutions per handle turn (a 7.x:1 becomes a 6:1, etc.). This would only happen during the initial part of your retrieve. As the line gets built back on the spool, the effective gear ratio continues to climb back to "normal." Wider spool reels would probably show less of an effect because they hold more of the line on the "outside" of the spool, while heavier lines, because they are thicker diameter, would likely exaggerate this effect.

I also carried out the "shoe test" at all stages (as suggested in another post). At full spool and attached to a 6' musky rod, it was a big struggle to lift and wind a 10.4 oz. shoe off the ground using only the reel handle and the drag clamped down. After stripping off the 100 yds of line and retesting, even though the gear ratio is still technically 6.2:1, since your IPT has decreased so much, the effective gear ratio of 3.9:1 made the task a pretty simple affair. A very noticeable difference and considerably easier to accomplish with much less effort in winding.

[LrgmouthShad]

28 minutes ago, A-Jay said:

Welcome to January in July . . . .

A-Jay

I don’t know about you but January sounds kinda nice….. wait actually I might know about you ?

[Chris Catignani]

Results from my field test...

[Cody28]

12 hours ago, jbsoonerfan said:

Here we go again. I bet Jacob Wheeler, Jordan Lee, Edwin Evers, KVD, and any other professional angler have NEVER argued over something so trivial. But they are in the business of catching fish, not arguing over semantics. Some people should take note.

 

Cliffs notes version: it doesn't matter.

Do they truly care about the math jumbo jumbo? Of course not haha. It’s just time passing conversation. But I’m willing to bet money the pros care very much if they can’t catch up to a fish they hooked at the end of a long cast. 

[Deleted account]

1 hour ago, Chris Catignani said:

Results from my field test...actually in a field too.

Was it a field of poppies?...

3 hours ago, FryDog62 said:

I dunno, I just go out and catch more fish than they do..

And that really is the pudding tasting after all. 

[RDB]

3 hours ago, Team9nine said:

I had a nearly full spool of 16# fluorocarbon on it.

You lost me at fluorocarbon.  Would you mind removing the sentence and reposting.  I am interested in hearing the outcome of your test.

[WRB]

Not difficult to measure IPT with full spool of line and after making a long cast or measured distance.

Use a Sharpie pen and mark the line at your rod tip. Turn the reel handle 1 full turn and mark the line again at the rod tip.

Measure the distance between the 2 marks = your IPT. 

Tom

[Delaware Valley Tackle]

5 hours ago, A-Jay said:

Welcome to January in July . . . .

A-Jay

Really I just checked my calendar to see if I’ve been in a coma.

[Boomstick]

Assuming that the shallow spool is wider, you are 100% correct here. It will have less decreased IPT at the end of casts, since the line is spread out over a longer width of the spool and thus has less to take off the top. A narrow spool will take line off the bottom and thus affect IPT more.

[Deleted account]

On 7/5/2022 at 9:36 AM, Boomstick said:

Assuming that the shallow spool is wider, you are 100% correct here. It will have less decreased IPT at the end of casts, since the line is spread out over a longer width of the spool and thus has less to take off the top. A narrow spool will take line off the bottom and thus affect IPT more.

Daiwa TriForce comes to mind.

[5/0]

Now I know why I took Latin instead of Math in college! Unfortunately the only Latin I know now is Veni, Vidi, Vici.

[FishTank]

On 7/4/2022 at 11:08 AM, A-Jay said:

Welcome to January in July . . . .

A-Jay

 

And the record goes round and round. 

[Fishlegs]

On 7/3/2022 at 11:48 PM, jbsoonerfan said:

Cliffs notes version: it doesn't matter.

I prefer to avoid doing any maths that do not include dollar signs so I'm inclined to agree with this answer.

[Bankbeater]

I'm going back over to the tackle threads.