81. Gear Ratios

[Jeffrey Walker]

 

Do you think 8.1 is too high for top-water retrieving techniques like buzz bait, whopper ploppers?

 

Do you think they are versatile or do you prefer slower reels?

 

 

[MN Fisher]

Buzzbaits should be fine - but IMO definitely too fast for a Plopper...I do Ploppers/Choppos on a 6.3 actually.

[WRB]

No, a 100 size casting reel the IPT drops about 30%  after making a 35 yard cast. 8:1 makes it a lot easier to start a buzzer on the surface. Easy enough to slow down if needed.

Tom

[Deleted account]

1 hour ago, MN Fisher said:

Buzzbaits should be fine - but IMO definitely too fast for a Plopper...I do Ploppers/Choppos on a 6.3 actually.

I too like a slower reel for ploppers, specially larger ones.

[GreenPig]

8.1 for buzzbaits 

7.1 for each WP size

Multiple rigs are clearly needed.?

[Bankc]

Great for buzzbaits where a fast start is advantageous.  As for whopper ploppers and other topwaters, it just depends on your ability to slow your retrieve.  Personally, I have no issues slowing down or speeding up with just about any reel ratio to match the retrieve speed I need.  I feel like the whole matching a reel ratio to a bait presentation is nothing more than creative marketing to sell more reels than you need.  But lots of other people complain that it's uncomfortable for them to reel too fast or too slow.  So clearly, not everyone is of the same opinion.  Then again, I am a musician, so I am well trained in switching and keeping steady tempos.  So I might have an advantage there over your average angler.  

 

So you just have to know yourself and what your tendencies are.  

[KP Duty]

You can reel that 8.1 as fast or as slow as you need.  I watched an episode of 'The Bass Pros' a few years ago, and Timmy Horton said he uses 8.1's for 'everything but large deep divers'.  That sounded crazy to me at the time, but I'm using fast reels for most presentations now.

[Jig Man]

I use 7 and 8 ratio reels for everything except A rigs.  For them I use 5.

[Jeffrey Walker]

Interesting hearing the varying opinions.

 

Initially i felt, it’s probably easier to slow down reeling than speeding up.  Slowing down is a calmer and more relaxed motion than cranking fast but i heard a lot of people prefer to speed up than slow down.

 

for those that prefer the latter, i’d love to understand why. Prefer slower reels to speed up. 

 

[Standard]

I use an 8:1 for ploppers and wake baits, I like it.  I also mostly fish on a river so it helps if I'm pulling a lure downstream.

[Bluebasser86]

8.1 is what I use for buzzbaits and I'd have no issues using it for ploppers, but I like to use braid for plopper and mono for buzzbaits so I don't fish them on the same rod. 

[FishTank]

I like it for buzzbaits and jigs. Most prop baits I like to fish with a slower reel and fluorocarbon.  I know FC sinks but with a prop bait I'm just reeling it in.

[RB 77]

Honestly, for buzzbaits, the faster the reel the better. Ploppers, it doesn't matter.

[Jeffrey Walker]

so 8s for bottom techniques, buzzbaits, anything else?

 

how about jerkbaits?

 

someone said faster speeds for life’s yiu work with the rod, and slower reels for lures you work with the reel 

 

 

 

[rangerjockey]

19 hours ago, Jeffrey Walker said:

Interesting hearing the varying opinions.

 

Initially i felt, it’s probably easier to slow down reeling than speeding up.  Slowing down is a calmer and more relaxed motion than cranking fast but i heard a lot of people prefer to speed up than slow down.

 

for those that prefer the latter, i’d love to understand why. Prefer slower reels to speed up. 

 

The best thing you can do is fish the baits and form your own opinion. 

[Catt]

So if my reel's spool turn 8 times to every 1 time I turn the handle how does the change by speeding up or slowing down?

 

I throw buzzbaits on my Calcutta which is 5.8:1, 23" per turn. On startup as the buzzbait touches the water's surface raise your rod tip, this will propel the bait forward.

 

I want the slowest buzzbait on the water!

[Deleted account]

17 minutes ago, Catt said:

So if my reel's spool turn 8 times to every 1 time I turn the handle how does the change by speeding up or slowing down?

The ratio is fixed by the gearing, so it won't change, duh! What will change when you slow down the handle is the time it it takes for that handle to make a revolution (again, duh!) and thus the time it takes for the spool to make a revolution (duh! x 3), which will be the same time as the handle, (almost duh!), and thus the amount of line retrieved, rotation requires a unit of time, in IPT, we've selected T to be a variable substituting it situationally, (not quite duh!)...

1 hour ago, rangerjockey said:

The best thing you can do is fish the baits and form your own opinion. 

It's this kind of radical thinking that is ruining this country...  

[NYWayfarer]

I fish Ploppers with an 8:1 reel. I can slow down my cranking speed if needed for a slower retrieve. What I like about the high speed reel is the ability to get the bait back fast to make another cast.

[Catt]

5 hours ago, Deleted account said:

What will change when you slow down the handle is the time it it takes for that handle to make a revolution

 

What you can't do is slow down to 5.8:1 on a medium retrieve. At night with a buzzbait I'll drop down to 5.0:1.