Gear ratio for crankin'

[Northern Strain]

what is the best gear ratio for a crankin' setup?

[I Love BassResource]

Personal preference. 

  Some people like to use a faster reel and slow themselves down as needed.  I prefer to use a slower reel and speed my retrieve up when needed.

[Jake.]

5:8:1 seems to be perfect for me. A slower ratio provides more torque.

[Triton20XSD]

I use a 5.4:1 Revo Winch for deeper cranks (10+ feet) and a 6.4:1 Revo Premier and a 7:1 Curado for shallower cranks and lipless cranks

[midnighthrasher]

Dont look at gear ratio look at IPT ( inches per turn ). IPT gives you the real story on a given reel.

[Northern Strain]

this is a bit off the topic, but what rod length, actions do you like for throwing crankbaits?

[roadwarrior]

Shallow and/ or medium size lures:

AVC70MM/ Chronarch (7.0:1)

Deep divers:

Lamiglas SR705R/ CTE200GT (5.0:1)

8-)

[Teal101]

I use a Curado201DPV in 5.0:1 for all my cranking.  Last year was the year of the crank for me as well as TT and I fished 90% shallow cranks (dt-4's)  Landed hundreds of bass with it.  Low fatigue, and I was able to slow my speeds way down or speed em up.

[fishfordollars]

Depends on the lure. I prefer 7.1.1 for traps and either a 3.8.1 or a 5.0.1 for DD22s and the like.

[Northern Strain]

I never fish or throw a deep diver on the local river, the deepest wholes I fish are probably 10 ft. no body that fishes around me throw anything deeper than a bandit 200, so it sounds like I will be able to get away with a 7.0:1 or so highspeed reel. thanks.

  Jack

[retiredbosn]

My set up is a 7foot BPS crankin stick, one MH and one M.  The MH has a reel with 20 IPT reel and the M is set with a reel that has 28 IPT, soon to be switched out for one with  26 IPT, has more to do with combo's I"m setting up for the river than not liking the IPT.  Lipless are more effective on faster reels, I have one shallow diver whose action goes to pieces on anything faster than 20 IPT or so, so it depends on the crank more than generalities.  Good luck.

[NewKidInTown]

what is the best gear ratio for a crankin' setup?

I use a Zillion in 4.9:1,you will appreciate this low ratio,especially when throwning deep divers.

[BassThumb]

Personal preference.

Some people like to use a faster reel and slow themselves down as needed. I prefer to use a slower reel and speed my retrieve up when needed.

Agreed.  It all comes down to personal preference and the anglers ability to adjust.

I use 6.4:1 on my cranking sticks, and 7:1 on every other baitcasting setup.  It's not that I don't like slower reels, but I feel there is value in having a pretty consistent reel speed across the board.  Thats my personal preference.

[BobP]

If you fish for smallies on large flats and open water, a long 7 1/2' rod pays dividends because it casts farther so your crankbaits can run at their max depth longer.  It's more efficient.  A long rod also casts better in wind.  I like a medium action medium power graphite rod because it's lighter and easier to cast than a fiberglass rod. I think reel ratio is mostly about comfort.  Used to be high ratio (6.2:1) reels didn't have the gear strength to pull deep divers without almost binding up.  But the last generation of reels from the major brands have larger diameter gears that can horse hard pulling cranks without much strain.  I use standard 6.2:1 reels for shallow and medium cranks because sometimes I want to burn them back for reaction bites.  For big deep divers that run >15 ft, a lower geared 5:1 reel is still more comfortable.

[Dockhead]

Shallow and/ or medium size lures:

AVC70MM/ Chronarch (7.0:1)

Why the speedy retrieve for shallow divers??

[BluegrassBoy]

I use mainly 6.2:1 reels...  Out of necessity.  I have a limited amount of space and money for Rods and Reels, and need good all around setups that can do duty with crankbaits, worms, or spinners and buzzers.  I just learn to vary my retrieve in different scenarios and with different baits.  I have discovered latelyt that I like Medium Heavy rods better for crankin...actually for everything it seems...

[kikstand454]

hahhaha again....?

ok... so when you see somone say that they use slow ratios for cranking.... MOST of the time they are talking about deep cranking. this has little to nothing to do with the actual SPEED of the lure or "inches per turn" and a whole lot more to do with the resistance a 2oz. lure being pulled 18ft down from a 100ft away puts on your reel.

a lower gear helps with this load... so you dont wear yourself out reeling that amount of resistance all day.

just like your car shifts down to go up a hill. exact same priciple. there are other benifits to deep cranking with slower reels in that it gives the bait more "vertical" time and less "horizontal" time resulting in it getting down to maximum depth faster. but then... for that instance.. you could always just reel a fast reel slower.

its about torque.