Just got my Bass Pro catalog and saw that they are now offering a reel with an 8.1 to 1 ratio. I am very tempted to get one for buzz bait and similar applications. Good or bad idea?

IMO a good buzz bait doesn't require anything faster than a 7 to 1 ratio or something close to that. It should do most of the work for you

I actually wondered at what point the reel becomes geared so high that you start actually loosing the power to reel in the fish. I got a 9-1 ratio Revo Rocket and honestly it feels great for throwing buzzbaits or burning traps all day and reels in the fish just fine. The only thing I would caution is using a "high speed reel" on a technique that requires a slow presentation: you will really need to work on slowing down especially with the faster reels. Reeling SLOW takes concentration and does not come natural...at least to me.

If you have a Revo Rocket, it's actually 9:1.

I may be the opposite of everyone else but I like a fast reel for soft plastic fishing especially if I am fishing a weightless presentation like a fluke or Senko. Many times by the time you (or at least me) realize I've had a bite the fish has swam towards me. I like a fast reel for any type of fishing where you are going to have a slack or semi-slack line.

If I am cranking a bait in I will use whatever reel I feel is geared for what I need for that bait. I have several 6.4 reels and they seem to be a very good all-around gear ratio for a lot of applications.

But I still like a 7:1 or faster for soft baits. Have not tried the 9:1 Rocket but I may pick one up just to try it. The thing a lot of folks fail to realize is that keeping your reel full of line also greatly impacts the inches of line retrieved per handle crank. Keep that in mind as well.

I wish they made a reel that you could make your retrieve at around 80 mph ... that way I really could catch fish doing 80

I'm slowly but surely weeding out all of my lower speed reels and moving to the high 6.x:1 range. Even for my finesse setups.

I will keep my low 5.0 and 5.4:1 reels for my deep diving crankbaits, but that's about it. I'm have a few of the new BB1 Pro's with the 8.0:1 and I love them.

8:1 might be too fast for some lures, but it's not too fast for bass. Bass will bite a trolled lure at 3+ miles per hour and 8:1 isn't even getting close to that speed.

I use high speeds for flipping, topwater and weightless. I went to a 5:4:1 for cranking and spinnerbaits.

I tried the Revo 9-1 rocket and did not like it. For me it just seemed to lack too much power and rightly so since it is designed for speed, not power. I do like my 7-1 reels and I use them for traps, buzz baits and soft plastics or any bait that I work with the rod.

I like the 7-1 for a buzz bait only to get it started quickly but I slow way down on the retrieve. I like to reel it slow enough for the blade to just make a plop, plop, plop noise most of the time and that is with a single blade Lunker Lure. I will buzz a 3 blade prop faster with the 7-1 reel.

Well an 8 to 1 picks up 8 revolutions of the spool per one turn of the handle.

If the spool has a diameter of 1" on average over the entirety of the act of reeling in a cast, then multiplying times pi means you are picking up about 3.14" eight times per one revolution of the reel handle, so 180,854 inches per hour if you reel at 2 revolutions per second, a modest speed.

180,854 inches per hour equals 2.85 miles per hour, at 3 revolutions per second, still no considerable effort, it equals 4.28 mph.

The average person walks about 3.1 mph.

We can reel that fast, most of us, even reeling in on lesser reel ratios.

Brad

Well I suppose I had that one coming for guessing instead of actually running the math. I agree with your numbers. An 8:1 could easily approach or exceed typical trolling speed. Still not too fast for bass.

This is called way over-complicating things. Its just fishing. Try a slower retrieve reel and a faster retrieve reel for each presentation. Settle on the one that feels best to you. There is no wrong or right answer. Its all personal preference in most cases.

Agreed, Jpurdue, not too fast for bass!

What made me take a few minutes to do the math is my own retrieval when I am, say, fishing a T-Rig and at some point I reel in very fast to re-cast. I suspected that even with my spinning reel with a 5.8 to 1 ratio that I was approaching walking speed.

But, you are right: these new faster reels are not too fast for bass. The pros are moving to them for more fishing techniques all the time. Aaron Martens recently said he is using these high ratio reels almost exclusively now.

You can always slow down, but you can only turn a reel handle so fast.

With a bit of practice, these will provide more speed range.

There will always be a market for slower reels I imagine.

Brad

Since I can't keep up with the all high speed variations I decided to get one of these. However, I need a few more batteries a full day on the lake.