So I’ve got it narrowed down to the Tatula 200 for my swimbait setup. What gear ratio do I want, 6 or 7?

[Ohioguy25]

5 hours ago, Hammer 4 said:

Bull Shads aren't the only swimbaits on the market. 

And like Jedi said, the Big girls got big by being Efficient, that doesn't include going full bore to chase bait in most cases, which imho is small.

I'll say this again, big bass are Ambush feeders, when there's a bunch of bait fish getting corralled generally the big ones hang on the bottom and make easy meals of injured or dying bait fish 99 % of the time. Being in very shallow water, say around 2 feet is the exception.   

Would this be why injured/dying baitfish presentations like spooks, glide baits and jerk baits are so effective?

[Hammer 4]

14 hours ago, Ohioguy25 said:

Would this be why injured/dying baitfish presentations like spooks, glide baits and jerk baits are so effective?

Most of time, yes..

[DEPS_250]

Depends on what kind of swimbaits you are planning/trying to fish with.

 

I currently use a Tatula 200 7.3 for glide baits and it works fine for 1-3 oz glide baits. I have tried a lot of glide baits on it and the 7.3 feels good for those smaller to medium glide baits in the 4-7.5"in/1-3oz range. Any glide bait larger than 7.5" or 3oz and the 7.3 feels too slow. For glide baits over 3oz/7.5", I would definitely suggest going with a faster gear ratio reel in the 8's, like a Tatula 300 in 8.1:1.

 

One caveat, I fish that Tatula 200 with 40lb Daiwa J Braid packed 'tightly' and to the 'brim' as close to the top of the spool as I possibly can. I then tie on a 6-10 foot leader of 15-20lb Copoly or Fluoro based on how fast I want the bait to sink, the cover/structure I am fishing, how much stretch I want and the size of fish I think I will encounter. 

 

Since the braid is so thin, it lets me 'pack on' as much braid as I can onto the reel and effectively gives me as much line as possible onto the spool after an average to long distance cast. This keeps my IPT as high as possible or in other words, as close as possible to the reels 'stated' IPT. This effectively 'widens/enlarges/maximizes' my glide baits effective working distance and therefore allows my glide bait to be worked efficiently throughout as much of my full cast as possible when reeling the bait back towards me and therefore gives me the longest working time along with a very large strike zone depending on water clarity and fish activity. 

 

BRAID TO LEADER FOR LIFE YO!

 

Only disadvantage is you gotta make sure you're very good/experienced with a bait caster and make sure you don't do 'whip' style casts that can lead to a backlash. You need to stick to 'lob' style casts from the hip/shoulder and make sure you have your brakes set accordingly/perfect. I have already lost 2 glide baits due to being a little too confident and/or having a little too much adrenaline/caffeine and getting a backlash. If you're still a beginner to bait casters and you are planning on using braid to a leader, then I would highly suggest you use a thicker braid to start with, like 50-65lb braid. This basically makes it harder to backlash since your line is so thick and less likely to dig in.

 

I go with the thinnest braid I can get away with because I am just crazy like that but do what you think is right for you. With that said, The 7 will be more versatile and will allow you to fish a wider variety of baits. Like they always say...you can always slow down a fast reel but you can never speed up a slow reel. On the other hand, the 6 is better for soft single/jig hook style paddle tail swimbaits that need to be creeped very slowly on the bottom. 

 

With all that said, you're going to need both gear ratios if you're planning on fishing both glide baits/hard baits and soft bait style paddle tail swimbaits. I honestly thought I could get away with just the 7.3 but I don't have the patience and discipline to slow down when fishing soft baits. I need the help of a slow reel to fish soft baits. My next reel purchase will be the Tatula 200 in 6.3 no doubt. 

[Ohioguy25]

4 hours ago, DEPS_250 said:

Depends on what kind of swimbaits you are planning/trying to fish with.

 

I currently use a Tatula 200 7.3 for glide baits and it works fine for 1-3 oz glide baits. I have tried a lot of glide baits on it and the 7.3 feels good for those smaller to medium glide baits in the 4-7.5"in/1-3oz range. Any glide bait larger than 7.5" or 3oz and the 7.3 feels too slow. For glide baits over 3oz/7.5", I would definitely suggest going with a faster gear ratio reel in the 8's, like a Tatula 300 in 8.1:1.

 

One caveat, I fish that Tatula 200 with 40lb Daiwa J Braid packed 'tightly' and to the 'brim' as close to the top of the spool as I possibly can. I then tie on a 6-10 foot leader of 15-20lb Copoly or Fluoro based on how fast I want the bait to sink, the cover/structure I am fishing, how much stretch I want and the size of fish I think I will encounter. 

 

Since the braid is so thin, it lets me 'pack on' as much braid as I can onto the reel and effectively gives me as much line as possible onto the spool after an average to long distance cast. This keeps my IPT as high as possible or in other words, as close as possible to the reels 'stated' IPT. This effectively 'widens/enlarges/maximizes' my glide baits effective working distance and therefore allows my glide bait to be worked efficiently throughout as much of my full cast as possible when reeling the bait back towards me and therefore gives me the longest working time along with a very large strike zone depending on water clarity and fish activity. 

 

BRAID TO LEADER FOR LIFE YO!

 

Only disadvantage is you gotta make sure you're very good/experienced with a bait caster and make sure you don't do 'whip' style casts that can lead to a backlash. You need to stick to 'lob' style casts from the hip/shoulder and make sure you have your brakes set accordingly/perfect. I have already lost 2 glide baits due to being a little too confident and/or having a little too much adrenaline/caffeine and getting a backlash. If you're still a beginner to bait casters and you are planning on using braid to a leader, then I would highly suggest you use a thicker braid to start with, like 50-65lb braid. This basically makes it harder to backlash since your line is so thick and less likely to dig in.

 

I go with the thinnest braid I can get away with because I am just crazy like that but do what you think is right for you. With that said, The 7 will be more versatile and will allow you to fish a wider variety of baits. Like they always say...you can always slow down a fast reel but you can never speed up a slow reel. On the other hand, the 6 is better for soft single/jig hook style paddle tail swimbaits that need to be creeped very slowly on the bottom. 

 

With all that said, you're going to need both gear ratios if you're planning on fishing both glide baits/hard baits and soft bait style paddle tail swimbaits. I honestly thought I could get away with just the 7.3 but I don't have the patience and discipline to slow down when fishing soft baits. I need the help of a slow reel to fish soft baits. My next reel purchase will be the Tatula 200 in 6.3 no doubt. 

Awesome, thanks for the detailed response! If I am using 19 lb Sunline Armilo Defier (.014 mm) or 20 lb Big Game (.019 mm) would my IPT be compromised to the point that I should bump it up to an 8 speed?

[Cbump]

Don’t over think It. Your line choices are fine. 

[Tatulatard]

You can just buy an 8:1 gear set for the tatula 200 if you want.  The fuego ct/tatula ct and original tatulas/tatula hd all share the same gears except the tatula 300.  

[Ohioguy25]

6 hours ago, Tatulatard said:

You can just buy an 8:1 gear set for the tatula 200 if you want.  The fuego ct/tatula ct and original tatulas/tatula hd all share the same gears except the tatula 300.  

Would it benefit me in any way to do that, and how much would that be? At that point would there be any advantage over my 8.3:1 Curado K?

[Tatulatard]

1 minute ago, Ohioguy25 said:

Would it benefit me in any way to do that, and how much would that be? At that point would there be any advantage over my 8.3:1 Curado K?

Not for you but the guy that was very concerned about IPT on his 7.3 tatula and overfilling with 40 lbs braid.  Just switch to 8:1 and stop being a schizo.  (By the way the ducks at the park are free and the government doesn't want you to know). 

[Ohioguy25]

22 minutes ago, Tatulatard said:

Not for you but the guy that was very concerned about IPT on his 7.3 tatula and overfilling with 40 lbs braid.  Just switch to 8:1 and stop being a schizo.  (By the way the ducks at the park are free and the government doesn't want you to know). 

What do you mean switch to 8:1? That’s what I’ve been using and figured I should slow it down. 

[Hammer 4]

Been throwing glides and big swimbaits for sometime now. Never used any reel over a 6 speed. my Tatula 300 6 speed works just fine.

I wonder if someone polled all the top swimbaiters like Butch Brown, ect. which speed reels they use, if any of the use 8 speed reels, be interesting I think.

[Ohioguy25]

7 hours ago, Hammer 4 said:

Been throwing glides and big swimbaits for sometime now. Never used any reel over a 6 speed. my Tatula 300 6 speed works just fine.

I wonder if someone polled all the top swimbaiters like Butch Brown, ect. which speed reels they use, if any of the use 8 speed reels, be interesting I think.

Extremely doubtful. Most probably use 6 based on what I’m reading here, with the odd 7 speed preference here and there.

[JediAmoeba]

12 hours ago, Hammer 4 said:

Been throwing glides and big swimbaits for sometime now. Never used any reel over a 6 speed. my Tatula 300 6 speed works just fine.

I wonder if someone polled all the top swimbaiters like Butch Brown, ect. which speed reels they use, if any of the use 8 speed reels, be interesting I think.

I have 5 swimbait setups - 3 are 6.x.x and 2 are 7.x.x. I usually use the 6.x.x

[ironbjorn]

On 5/26/2023 at 2:47 PM, Tatulatard said:

Not for you but the guy that was very concerned about IPT on his 7.3 tatula and overfilling with 40 lbs braid.  Just switch to 8:1 and stop being a schizo.  (By the way the ducks at the park are free and the government doesn't want you to know). 

Resident schizo. This is chronic OCD (I've said it before in his threads lol). 

 

But you're lying because....

 

 

 

[Ohioguy25]

1 hour ago, ironbjorn said:

Resident schizo. This is chronic OCD (I've said it before in his threads lol). 

 

But you're lying because....

 

 

 

Not really necessary