TackleTour

Looking for opinions on what gear ratio everyone tends to prefer for bottom contact fishing. Casting,pitching,flipping,dragging, etc. I have mostly used 7 gear in the past and have recently purchased an 8 gear. My initial thoughts are that I like the speed of the 8 to take up line for the hook set, and getting the bait back quickly to make another cast. The 8 seems to be less powerful as the 7. Speed versus power is what I am seeing. What do you guys prefer? The reels I am currently comparing are the Shimano Metanium MGL’s.

For bottom contact baits I like to use a 6 gear speed ratio actually. I use to use a 7 speed but for some reason when I was using the 6 gear I was catching more fish. I think the slower gear ratio slowed me down a little and allowed me to get more bites. I've had several 8 speed reels and I only like them for topwater baits when I can see what the lure is doing.

Everyone fishes different and if it's one thing I've learned is everyone has their own preferences and their is no right or wrong answer. I've tried listening to others when I first started fishing, and sometimes I would force it and do things I didn't really like. Now I use what I'm comfortable with, not what everyone is saying to use.

I like the 8's mainly for jig/creature/punching rigs - I'm moving the bait with the rod only for the most part the reel is just pulling the bait in for another cast. I had stayed away from 8+ ratios in the past but picked up 2 JDM Steez A's in 8.1 and they work well. I then also upgraded my Zillion Type R with a 8.x gearset and high speed levelwind from TackleTrap, it's on my 916UBR which is my Punching and Heavy Frogging setup.

I stay with 7 ratio reels mainly. But have purchase a couple of 8 ratio reels lately. Mostly because of the longer handle that they have come with, and thinking I could just get another set of gears if I don't like there higher speed.

Blacktail 8541 wrote:I stay with 7 ratio reels mainly. But have purchase a couple of 8 ratio reels lately. Mostly because of the longer handle that they have come with, and thinking I could just get another set of gears if I don't like there higher speed.

That is a smart idea.

Thoughts on power between the two ratios? I have not had enough time on the 8 gear to really get a feel for the difference. I’m still thinking I may prefer the 7 gear for its versatility. For some situations I think I prefer the longer 96 handle. For others I may prefer a 90. That is kind of a hang up on the 7 gear Metanium with only a 84mm handle. Not a hard thing to fix but more $$.

I always say use whats more comfortable to you. As for ratio, IPT should be what you are looking at. One reels 6 speed may just be as fast as anothers 7 speed, and on and on. So, there are the people that prefer fast or slow reels for certain applications. If Im swimming baits, I prefer something along the lines of a 7 ratio reel (28-33 IPT). When Im fishing worms, or something that I want to be kinda slow, I prefer a 6 ratio reel (24-28 IPT). Lets take for example worms (good bottom contact example), I like a slower ratio because it helps me to be (painfully) slow. If Im pitching or working a bait in a small particular area, and then pulling it in to get to another small area, I prefer a faster ratio to help with moving from spot to spot. I personally dont like these extremely fast ratio reels. One of my main gripes is the way they "feel". I cant stand the amount of resistance there is, and not even with heavy lures. Maybe its just me. I tried the Tatula SV in the 8.1, but had to swap in a set of 7.3s.

LgMouthGambler wrote:I always say use whats more comfortable to you. As for ratio, IPT should be what you are looking at. One reels 6 speed may just be as fast as anothers 7 speed, and on and on. So, there are the people that prefer fast or slow reels for certain applications. If Im swimming baits, I prefer something along the lines of a 7 ratio reel (28-33 IPT). When Im fishing worms, or something that I want to be kinda slow, I prefer a 6 ratio reel (24-28 IPT). Lets take for example worms (good bottom contact example), I like a slower ratio because it helps me to be (painfully) slow. If Im pitching or working a bait in a small particular area, and then pulling it in to get to another small area, I prefer a faster ratio to help with moving from spot to spot. I personally dont like these extremely fast ratio reels. One of my main gripes is the way they "feel". I cant stand the amount of resistance there is, and not even with heavy lures. Maybe its just me. I tried the Tatula SV in the 8.1, but had to swap in a set of 7.3s.

That’s interesting that you say that about the tatula sv 8.1. I bought 2 8.1’s and a 6.3 and I never liked the 8.1’s so I got rid of them but kept the 6.3 cause it felt much better.

When I first started using my 13 Met XG I noticed it’s loss of torque relative to other 7.x reels I was using at the time. Increased resistance while retrieving baits, etc. I thought it would be OK until a battle with a 5lb Lanier spot showed me otherwise! Swapping out those 8.5:1 gears for 7.4:1 made a great improvement IMHO.

wilddog66 wrote:When I first started using my 13 Met XG I noticed it’s loss of torque relative to other 7.x reels I was using at the time. Increased resistance while retrieving baits, etc. I thought it would be OK until a battle with a 5lb Lanier spot showed me otherwise! Swapping out those 8.5:1 gears for 7.4:1 made a great improvement IMHO.

This is what I have been thinking so far on what little time I have used the 8 gear. Have not caught anything to give me much of a battle yet. I’m wanting to add a couple more Metanium mgl’s to the stable and mainly for bottom contact. I may stick with the 7 gear moving forward. My next decision will be to add brass gears or not. I did on the 8 gear.

Prefer 8+ to get that bait back quickly. Bottom contact is the only thing I use that ratio for though. Rod moves the lure with bottom contact, and rod fights the fish, so no issues with torque out of my Metanium XGs on big redfish.

For frogging and flipping i would go to no more than 8.1. For everything else, not a fan of going over 6.8.

6.1-6.4 being my fav ratios.