I'm looking for a reel and gear ratio for the 8' H skeet reese tessara rod

I would look for a 300 size real with close to a 6:1 gear ratio. I have thrown my A-Rigs on CU 300's and CT 400's and prefer the CU 300's at a 6.2:1 gear ratio with plenty of line capacity to thrown the big stuff.

For me it depends on what swimbaits you are throwing.

 

For glide baits and hard swimbaits, I like a 6:1. ratio. For hudds I prefer 5:1 ratio. The reason being I want the Hudds to crawl slowly on the bottom so the slower ratio does that for me. I tend to reel a 6:1 too fast for Hudds.

 

For A rigs I like the 5:1 also because of the torque when reeling them in.

Have you checked out the Revo "Beast"?

Another Curado 300 fan here. It's been fantastic IMHO for these type duties, plenty of power, drag, & line capacity. I've also used an Ambassadeur 6601 and it gets the job done as well but it's no where near the refinement level of the Curado.

I had a Curado 300E and while it is an awesome reel, it was just way too big for my hands. I throw mine on a Curado G7 and Curado E7 and they do the job just as well as the Curado 300E.

Like said before usually people use a 5 something for slow baits like hudds and a faster reel for hardbaits. A lot of guys like a 7 ratio for things like glides where there is slack in your line at times. It also helps to wake baits or burn stuff right under the surface. I am partial to using a Daiwa Luna but use a few different reels. Like mentiond a 300 size reel is usually standard fare for bigger stuff.

Swimbaits and arigs I want to fish slower I fish something with a 24" IPT.  Normally this is a reel in the 5.1 area.  Then have a couple that are 26-32" IPT and normally are in the 6.1 area or a bit higher.  The 300 size reels in a 7.1 pick up almost 36-39" per turn.  So don't use them as the bigger baits are going to wear you out with that retrieve.  But have converted all my swimbait/ a-rig equipment to EXO 200's and 300's in both the 6:6.1 and 5:4.1.