for me its not just cranking slower with heavier/heavy resistance baits to overcome the high gear ratio issue. some of my older 7:x reels just do not feel right when retrieving these baits. my newer 7.x reel is much better at this - this is a more versatile reel IMO.

 

 

How does a plastic crankbait know what gear ratio your using?

That's like a transmission in a car, knowing what motor its behind.

50 minutes ago, Jaheff said:

How does a plastic crankbait know what gear ratio your using?

That's like a transmission in a car, knowing what motor its behind.

The transmission doesn't know the engine in front of it...but the engine certainly knows what gears are behind it...and will reflect that in it's ability (or not) to move the mass of the car in an expected fashion...

I think a fair example might be a 10-speed (or any multi-speed) bicycle.  Place the bike in it's highest gear. Then leave it there and ride around. Include some hills to make it interesting.  Going uphill in 10th gear? No problem - all you have to do is crank slower...

7 minutes ago, Goose52 said:

The transmission doesn't know the engine in front of it...but the engine certainly knows what gears are behind it...and will reflect that in it's ability (or not) to move the mass of the car in an expected fashion...

I think a fair example might be a 10-speed (or any multi-speed) bicycle.  Place the bike in it's highest gear. Then leave it there and ride around. Include some hills to make it interesting.  Going uphill in 10th gear? No problem - all you have to do is crank slower...

I know Goose, Maybe i'm doing it all wrong but i found all the reels i use now are 30-32 IPT. When using square bills,spinnerbaits, lipless, chatterbaits..I can feel the lure's speed by the rod tip. I'm the motor!!

1 hour ago, Jaheff said:

I know Goose, Maybe i'm doing it all wrong but i found all the reels i use now are 30-32 IPT. When using square bills,spinnerbaits, lipless, chatterbaits..I can feel the lure's speed by the rod tip. I'm the motor!!

No, No, No - you're NOT doing anything wrong!  This is all about personal preference, what works best for YOU, and what is fun for you.  Keep on cranking - slowly if necessary...

For me?  Big deep-divers, heavy spinnerbaits, and slow-rolling or cold weather cranking, are gonna be on low-IPT reels.

 

I've just always liked high speed reels. I've always been more comfortable with a high speed reel than I have with a lower gear ratio. That being said I've only owned 7:x:1 ratio reels. To me they've just seemed to be a little more versatile. I always seem to be swapping different reels on different rods for different techniques so the 7:x:1 has been perfect. However the past few weeks I've seen a lot of hype on 8:x:1 reels I think I may have to try one out. Knowing how much I've already fallen in love with my new Metanium HG I think and XG may come soon lol.

Easy to adjust speed depending on your crank, some true st Hugh speeds some lay over. AM knows every baits he uses like the back of his hand, I'm sure he likes the high speed because he knows the lure and can adjust the speed of retrieve easily based on each lure with a high speed reel.

It's all about covering water... Ive noticed this for awhile as well. Timmy Horton deep cranks with a 6.4:1 lews on his shows often and he's tossing Azuma 20'+ divers without issues.