High gear ratio reel for small/large mouth bass

[clegg]

I just purchased the pflueger president 6735 xt. It's very smooth and built like a tank, but the gear ratio seems to be a little lower than I'd like. 5.2:1.

We're on the boat for hours on end and we mainly fish with spinners, buzzbaits, etc, trying to cover as much area on the lake as possible (Fishing in Quebec, near and around Montreal). Can someone recommend a decent light reel with a high gear ratio? Would definitely facilitate things.

I'm using it on a 7' medium/low action 2 piece shimano rod.

I was using a reer drag shimano 2500 RG and I was happy with it but I noticed that after only 1 year of use it didn't feel like it did when I first bought it, even after bringing it to a Shimano rep who oiled and greased it. Not smooth, at all. Especially at the end of a long fishing day. I do like the shorter double handle on this reel. I believe it has a 6.2:1 gear ratio. I also enjoyed the reer drag feature.

I'd appreciate your opinions. price range, I'm thinking less than 150, hopefully

[TomP.]

What your going to find out is almost any spinning reel will not stand up to long term hard pulling baits like buzz baits, big spinners and crank. For longevity and ease of use going to a bait caster is the real answer to your question. For running Buzz baits and spinners I like at least a 7-1 gear ratio dosen`t wear me out as much as using a 5 or 6-1 baitcaster. Using baitcasters in your situation will be much less fatiguing, easier on your hands and arms.

Takes some practice learning to use a baitcaster but once you do I doubt you will go back to spinning casting big hard pulling baits.

[Phil T]

Bass Pro (for one) lists the gear ratio of their bait casters in the product description.

[REW]

http://www.basspro.com/Bass-Pro-Shop...0205086/138155

I have several reels of various sizes in this series of reels.

One of the main reasons that I purchased my first reel of this series was the very high gear ratio and high retrieve rate.

I use these reels all of the time when working over a spot, then a quick retrieve back to the boat for another cast.

They also have a super bonus of a very very long cast due to their large spool design.

The reel also has a compact very light weight case which makes long term daily use less tiring.

REW

[Karas3434]

Go with a baitcast setup (MH rod), you can get reels with a 7.1:1 ratio but the majority are around 6.3:1 which is plenty. But you will prefer the higher ratio when using buzzbaits and spinnerbaits.

These are the reels i use...

http://www.basspro.com/Bass-Pro-Shop...0503541/491594

[ColumbiaR]

Originally Posted by REW

http://www.basspro.com/Bass-Pro-Shop...0205086/138155

I have several reels of various sizes in this series of reels.

One of the main reasons that I purchased my first reel of this series was the very high gear ratio and high retrieve rate.

I use these reels all of the time when working over a spot, then a quick retrieve back to the boat for another cast.

They also have a super bonus of a very very long cast due to their large spool design.

The reel also has a compact very light weight case which makes long term daily use less tiring.

REW

REW

Have you been happy with the quality of these reels? Very economical.

[REW]

Columbia,
With the large sized models - yes.
With the smallest model - no.
It just seemed that in the smallest model, the drag and gears were not up to the quality of the larger reels.

BPS has three series of these reels, a $50 a $75 and a $100 model.
The units that I had were the $50 model.

I would expect that the $70 or $100 model would be fine in the smallest model as well.

REW

[Canga~]

the supreme and supreme xt from Pflueger have 6.2:1 ratios and are as well or better built as the president xt, lighter as well. shimanos are almost all higher gear ratios, 6:1 i think, i dont have much experience with their line up. daiwa also has some 6.x:1 reels, the lexa (just released at icast 2012, not in stores yet) looks like a winner for $130. and abu garcia also is releasing a full line of revo spinning reels, i dont rell the gear ratio on them at the moment, but they are up on the abu website.

i have a couple reels from daiwa (1 exceler, and 2 fuegos) and a few pfluegers (1 patriarch, 2 supreme xts, 1 arbor, 1 president) and have yet to have a problem with any of them and would recommend either company. i havent heard many bad things about shimano either, though i dont prefer thier stuff, just havent used it, and when i go to buy a new reel its usually a daiwa or pflueger (perhaps an abu garcia)