I am looking to upgrade my rods and reels they are 17 years old, I love my old shimano reels and plan to buy more,  but was wondering about the gear ratios. Does it really matter what the ratio is??? I'm looking at a Curado with 7.2.1 or a 6.3.1. also

Which one is better???

 

 

Faster the reel faster you can pick up slack line or get a fish away from cover. That's the idea. The inches per turn of the handle is what you can go by to determine what's right for you. One companies 7:1 might be another's 8:1 in the IPT department. It's personal preference, there's no right or wrong ratio.

 

The lower gear ratio is a better all around gear ratio but the popular view nowadays is the higher gear ratio is better for bottom contact. Personally, if I were going to buy one reel and I knew that I would be throwing baits with resistance, like Spinnerbaits, I would get the lower gear ratio because the 6.3:1 is fine for bottom contact as well as spinnerbaits.

One all around reel, I'd have to agree with the 6.3:1 as well.  

In general my method on gear ratio is, for any bait which is moved by the rod go high gear ratio. For baits moved by the reel go lower

Perfect answer, perfect explanation of the answer.

Hootie

On 11/12/2015 at 2:36 AM, BrianinMD said:

In general my method on gear ratio is, for any bait which is moved by the rod go high gear ratio. For baits moved by the reel go lower

That may be the most straightforward rule-of-thumb about gear ratio I have ever heard. Thanks.

I buck the trend a little bit here. I pretty much use a 7.1:1 for everything. I only have a few reels slower than that, and those are my older ones (exception of 1 that did not come in a faster retrieve). I feel that I don't have problems slowing down my retrieve, but you can only reel so fast with a slower retrieve. Get whatever you think will work for you.

It depends how you like to fish. I absolutely love throwing a frog or some other topwater bait. Other than that, I'm primarily pitching and flipping a jig or T-rig. For these techniques, I have a high speed (7.1:1, 8.1:1) reel in my hand more than any other. I find 6.4:1 to 6.8:1 are my best ratios for moving baits (spinnerbaits, chatterbaits, squarebills, swim jigs). The lower gear ratio (5.4:1) are reserved primarily for deep diving crankbaits. Which I don't have the option of doing too often and probably only picked up that rod twice all summer. Actually considering the last couple of days, getting rid of it and upgrading my flipping/frogging set up. You may be different, I'm simply relating my own experience.

Hope this helps.

JC

In general my method on gear ratio is, for any bait which is moved by the rod go high gear ratio. For baits moved by the reel go lower

+1