What advantage would a higher gear ratio have? For instance a Lew's Tournament MB TS1SHMB Speed Spool (Outfitter Warehouse $108.92) has 10 ball bearings with a 7.5:1 ratio whereas the TS1XHMB (Outfitter Warehouse $ 92.58) has 10 ball bearings with a 8.3:1 ratio. I understand that it reels the lure in faster but what would you need such a high ratio for? 

Jigs, Worms, Traps, Hollow Frogs and really anytime you are in a situation where you want to recover line quickly, cover a lot of water or catch up to a swiftly moving fish after the hookup. 

I can think of several points:

 

1. Being able to catch up with the fish if it darts towards you after hook set to minimize slack line time.

2. Being able to reel line in faster after your lure has left the strike zone, which effectively allows you to get the lure out there again in the strike zone faster.

3. For sight bank fishing, if you see a fish while your lure is in the water, faster GR allows you to quickly bring the lure in and present your lure to the target that you've just spotted. 

13 minutes ago, Dean_S said:

What advantage would a higher gear ratio have? For instance a Lew's Tournament MB TS1SHMB Speed Spool (Outfitter Warehouse $108.92) has 10 ball bearings with a 7.5:1 ratio whereas the TS1XHMB (Outfitter Warehouse $ 92.58) has 10 ball bearings with a 8.3:1 ratio. I understand that it reels the lure in faster but what would you need such a high ratio for? 

7.5:1 is a great all around ratio. The 8.3:1 is for getting fish out of cover fast. For $16.34 less I would go with the higher gear ratio. Odd that that reel would be cheaper as the higher ratio is usually more money. Could it be a left handed reel?

While I have no reel with a higher ratio than 7 +, ***3, I see no disadvantage to the higher ratios and see some advantages (as above post says).  I keep an old 5.4 for my spinnerbait rod when I want to slow roll.  That is difficult for me with the higher ratios.   The 5.4 is much better for that job.

I have a JDM Zillion I just picked up that is 40+ IPT.  I plan to put it on my spook/popper/jerkbait rod.  This can be a bit tiring, and although I've said it doesn't matter speed, technique wise, I do hope it makes it a little easier.

Best example of high gear ratio that applies to me is when trolling along a bank and pitching my lure in, out, in out, in, out, in, out, in out, in, out, in, out, in out, in, out, in, out, in out, in, out, etc...

 

Still Don't think 8+ is "necessary" but nice to have. 7.5 is still plenty fast. Only drawback might be weaker gears with the 8.3 unless they reinforced it.

Thanks guys. I appreciate your responses. I think I might jump on the 8.3:1. It's gonna go on my 6'6" Heavy UglyStik. Has anyone ever dealt with Outfitter Warehouse before?

7 minutes ago, Dean_S said:

Has anyone ever dealt with Outfitter Warehouse before?

I have.

 

I ordered a Lew's Mach 2 Ned Rig rod from there May 8th. Received it by UPS last Friday May 17th.

 

They say items usually ship the next day and a tracking number is provided in 2-3 The rod shipped 5 days later on May 13th and that's when I got my tracking number. All emails from this company went directly to my junk mail folder so be aware that is a complaint against them I read online.

 

The rod came in a long rectangular box. The rod itself was wrapped in bubble wrap and was loose inside the box. While it was undamaged, I was worried the box it shipped in was not sturdy like the hard cardboard tubes I have received when ordering rods from tackle warehouse and amazon.

 

It was a gamble I took to get this rod for close to half it's full retail price. Worth it, yes, would I do it again, no.

Wow! I entered the coupon code 13OFF and got another discount! Total $83.32 + shipping. Grand total $92.23

 

 

3 minutes ago, NYWayfarer said:

All emails from this company went directly to my junk mail folder so be aware that is a complaint against them I read online.

That has NOTHING to do with them and everything to do with the email provider/client/anti virus.

I placed the order and all of the emails so far have dropped into my INBOX so I think it must be a user/system error on your end.

I wouldn't call it user error, it's just that emails from certain domains with a word like "sales", "service", or "donotreply" in them get scrubbed assuming they're junk.  You have to add the domain to the safe senders list.

It looks like the only difference with reel the op referenced is the gear ratio.

Reviews complain about factory lubrication and suggest cleaning and lubing with Ardent reel butter or high quality synthetic reel lubricants.

The only down size to fast ratio/ high IPT bait casting reels cranking deep diving lures, everything else they work good.

Tom 

All around do everything reel... 7 speed

 

Trigs, jigs, frogs.... 8 speed