For shallow-medium cranking (3-5’ rivers) do I want a 6 or a 7 speed reel?

[Ohioguy25]

Looking at the Curado 150, stuck between regular & HG (or XG.) Slow gear ratio makes sense for deep cranking, but a lot of times I need to burn it back to get through a riffle or recast before getting blown out of a spot. 
 

How exactly does it work, is it true that the faster you reel the harder you are working for the same retrieve speed? What speed would you go with? Is 8 overkill?

[AlabamaSpothunter]

I love my Curado 150MGL 8 speed for cranking......everything from squarebills to DT10s.

 

You can always slow down, but you can't speed up 5, 6 and 7 speed reels.    Some days speed is the deal when cranking too.    Some days you can't burn that thing fast enough.   

 

I remember 25 years ago everybody wanted 5 speed reels for cranking, now look at all the top level pros and they're using 8 speed reels for cranking.   Then again they use 8 speed reels for most everything these days.  

[PBBrandon]

I usually throw mine on a 6 speed because I rarely burn crankbaits. You can throw them on a 7 or 8 though and burn em shallow. You can throw a square bill on just about any speed

[Delaware Valley Tackle]

The difference between those two ratios isn’t significant imo. At least in this scenario. The mechanical advantage of a 5:1 is nice for deep diving, high resistance lures. 

[MediumMouthBass]

Im starting to really love using 7 speed reels for crankbaits. Aside from deep divers obviously, ill stick to a 6 for them.

 

You said its only a 3-5' deep river, i dont think a 7 will do anything a 6 wont in that environment (and vise versa). If you find its not working like you wanted it too, just slow yourself down on the retrieve. When its about to get blown out get that thing cranking! Pun intended

[Ohioguy25]

3 hours ago, MediumMouthBass said:

Im starting to really love using 7 speed reels for crankbaits. Aside from deep divers obviously, ill stick to a 6 for them.

 

You said its only a 3-5' deep river, i dont think a 7 will do anything a 6 wont in that environment (and vise versa). If you find its not working like you wanted it too, just slow yourself down on the retrieve. When its about to get blown out get that thing cranking! Pun intended

Will an 8 be overkill?

[OG Crankster]

Absolutely not.

[Ohioguy25]

1 hour ago, OG Crankster said:

Absolutely not.

?

[rangerjockey]

I use 6:1 this time of year for sure. The water is cold and the fish are slow. If you have the discipline to slow down a faster reel that's fine. I personally don't.

[Susky River Rat]

I run  all HG spinning reels and XG casting reels. I fish a lot of 1-8ft. I love cranking and they seem to get the job done. I choose to slow my retrieve down. Generally if you are using a deep diver with a XG vs a lower gear it’s more strain on you and the actual mph you bait will go is the same cranking as fast as you can.
 

There was a guy named gear man Steve who tested the tranx 500hg and the tranx 500pg. Made sure he had the line marked to time the same an amount of line out per cast. Same lure line etc. he found the actual MPH the baits were coming in at were extremely close. The HG was just more effort. Where HG XG gear ration shines is slack line pick up. So for jerk baits and anything you need to pick up the slack line quickly without the drag of the lure. 

[Catt]

11 hours ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

You can always slow down

 

How ya slow down 32" per turn?

[Tennessee Boy]

Back in the days of 4 speed reels,  I never felt like I needed a faster reel when fishing a crankbait.  Now fishing a Texas rig was painful when you missed a fish and wanted to reel it in fast to make another cast at the fish.  I'd go with the 6 but the difference between a 6 and a 7 will hardly be noticeable.

[T-Billy]

8 speed is my pick for this scenario. It's also my speed of choice for all bottom contact baits.

[bulldog1935]

6-gear is my go-to for still water, improves finesse feel.  

@AlabamaSpothunter is correct.  

When the water's moving or I'm moving (wind-drifting kayak), I always fish at least 7- or 8-gear.  

One way to effectively slow down a fast reel is a longer handle, since you're moving farther to make a turn (using more arm and less wrist).  Longer handle also increases torque.  

The main gear concern in rivers is a charging fish that can out-run your gearing and spit the hook.  Stripers are the only fish I know that run down first - most fish turn up river until they panic - then they race down current.  

[F14A-B]

Well in your case I’m picking speed over torque, but I river/creek fish with spinning so that’s me. But on Kentucky lake I’m using a Bantam 6.2:1 for all my crank baits. (Shallow)Pitch and flip baitcast reels are 8:1 Bantam I use 7 speed also. As soon as I find a mint 5.5 I’m buying it. (Shimano Bantam) 

[bulldog1935]

@F14A-B that's why IPT is a more useful measure than gear ratio.  

A b/c with 43-mm spool is a honking surf reel (that's 1000-size spinner). 

6.2-geared smll-frame spinner is equivalent pick-up to 8.5-geared b/c w/ 30-mm spool dia.  

[F14A-B]

3 minutes ago, bulldog1935 said:

@F14A-B that's why IPT is a more useful measure than gear ratio.  

A b/c with 41-mm spool is a honking surf reel (that's 1000-size spinner). 

6.2-geared smll-frame spinner is equivalent pick-up to 8.5-geared b/c w/ 30-mm spool dia.  

Totally gotcha, I wonder why we don’t just use IPT instead of gear ratios? 
 

IPT is definitely more accurate take a Lews 6.2 vs a Shimano 6.2 and IPT will not match. Oftentimes not even close! 
 

Your Daiwa reels are awesome.. race reels for sure. I keep thinking about giving a HD Zillion a try, I tried a Tat about a year ago, wasn’t to my liking but I don’t think that’s a fair assessment on Daiwa either. Especially considering I was a Daiwa guy for many years. Absolutely loved the OG Zillions 

[Ohioguy25]

2 hours ago, bulldog1935 said:

The main gear concern in rivers is a charging fish that can out-run your gearing and spit the hook.  Stripers are the only fish I know that run down first - most fish turn up river until they panic - then they race down current.  

Great advice 

1 hour ago, F14A-B said:

Well in your case I’m picking speed over torque, but I river/creek fish with spinning so that’s me. But on Kentucky lake I’m using a Bantam 6.2:1 for all my crank baits. (Shallow)Pitch and flip baitcast reels are 8:1 Bantam I use 7 speed also. As soon as I find a mint 5.5 I’m buying it. (Shimano Bantam) 

So you go 8 over 7?

1 hour ago, bulldog1935 said:

@F14A-B that's why IPT is a more useful measure than gear ratio.  

A b/c with 43-mm spool is a honking surf reel (that's 1000-size spinner). 

6.2-geared smll-frame spinner is equivalent pick-up to 8.5-geared b/c w/ 30-mm spool dia.  

Where do I find the comparative IPT for the different gear ratios of the Curado 150?

[bulldog1935]

6.4  L - IPT=24

7.4 HG - IPT=29

8.1 XG - IPE=32

[Ohioguy25]

12 minutes ago, bulldog1935 said:

6.4  L - IPT=24

7.4 HG - IPT=29

8.1 XG - IPE=32

Looks like a minimal difference between 7 & 8?

[bulldog1935]

I can give you an example - a friend on FFR reported on a long Gomexus handle he added to a low-geared Vanford 500.  He described losing several fish that charged him.  

I can think of a day on Kenai when >30" rainbow charged me, and I would have paid for an extra 3 IPT.  (fly reel).  

Yes, you'd probably be happy fishing the 7.4-geared HG - that's a good balance between speed and feel.  

[Ohioguy25]

1 hour ago, bulldog1935 said:

I can give you an example - a friend on FFR reported on a long Gomexus handle he added to a low-geared Vanford 500.  He described losing several fish that charged him.  

I can think of a day on Kenai when >30" rainbow charged me, and I would have paid for an extra 3 IPT.  (fly reel).  

Yes, you'd probably be happy fishing the 7.4-geared HG - that's a good balance between speed and feel.  

What about the 8?

[bulldog1935]

If I bought the 8, I'd put a 95- or 100-mm handle on it - that's me.  

I call it "resolution" but you gain back some feel, finesse and torque.  

[Ohioguy25]

5 minutes ago, bulldog1935 said:

If I bought the 8, I'd put a 95- or 100-mm handle on it - that's me.  

I call it "resolution" but you gain back some feel, finesse and torque.  

So 7 is the reel

[FrnkNsteen]

I don't fish a lot of casting reels on creeks,... Usually spinning rigs instead.

 

That being said, beyond trying to keep up with a fish running downstream as others mentioned, I would say to take your fishing style into consideration. If you mostly cast upstream and reel it back with the current, a faster reel would likely be advantageous as you have to overcome speed of the current to reach your desired lure speed.

 

If you cast more downstream, a slower reel may be desirable since you are going against the current and need less lure speed to get the desired action.

 

Think of a plane taking off into the wind vs with the wind. You need less ground speed against the wind to take off than you do if taking off with the wind.