[shortbus]

I was reading the "shaky heads" thread Corry Started and it made me think of this but I thought it was worthy of it's own thread.

Gear ratio is something a lot of people overlook when fishing. Most casual anglers especially are affected by this because they typically only have one or two reels and likely didn't consider it when purchasing.

It's important to have a reel with a low gear ratio when fishing slow. The gear ratio of an open faced reel is most always printed boldly and prominently on the reel and the packaging and as with most things, people tend to think THE BIGGER THE BETTER but that is not always the case.

If you're finesse fishing and the fish require an extremely slow bait presentation and you are cranking on that high gear ratio reel, it's gonna be very hard to keep it slow. Cutting your gear ratio in half will allow you to cut your retrieve speed in half when you're reeling at the same rate.

And sometimes it might be why one guy in the boat is catching fish while the other one isn't, even when you're using the same bait and both of you are "fishing really slow".

Just something to think about next time you're on the lake or looking to buy that next bait caster.