| Shorty, you make a good point, but I have to disagree with you somewhat. Me personally I like to have a high gear ratio on all my reels, and here's why:
1. As a tourney fisherman (somewhat of one anyways) it is all about how many casts you can make in 8 hours. And sometimes that means quanity instead of quality. As I said before I fished with Edwin Evers and that guy probably made 5 to my 1 casts, and he caught 15 to my 1 fish also!!
2. If fish start schooling, and you just made a long cast you need to get the line as quick as you can, because they can be down before you know it. And it is against tournament rules to have more than one rod in the water at the same time.
3. In an 8 hour day you need to save as much energy as you can. So instead of taking those few extras cranks to get your bait in that last 10 feet or so with a slower reel, you can get your bait in faster with less cranks with a higher ratio. I know that doesn't sound like much but in an 8 hour tournament it definitely adds up!!!
4. Sometimes in this Oklahoma wind when your are fishing plastics you will get a big bow in your line. Then if you get a bite you need to be able to take that slack up quickly. The fish can spit it out just as quickly as it picked it up, and you might need that fraction of a second!!
5. I can always slow down on my reeling if I need to fish slower, but I can't speed the reel up if I need too.
Just my opinion, and I can see where you are coming from too. |