All my cranking and slow retrieve baits are on 6 ratio. Almost everything else is is 8 ratio.

Deep cranking, 6. Almost everything else 7. Punching/frogging 8. I hate winding anything with an 8, I feel like I have to slow down too much. 5 is just too slow for me.

If I had to choose just 1 ratio, 7 FTW.

Any good mechanic. carpenter, plumber etc. will tell you to use the right tool for the job. You will get a much more harmonious outcome.

I have an old Lew's Speed Spool 19GS reel that is 4.3:1 that I use for real large deep crankbaits.

I like the following:

3.75:1 for big deep cranks
4.7:1 for med size deep cranks
5.2:1 for big square bills
5.8:1 for med square bills
6.2:1 for small square bills
7:1 for lipless rattling baits
7.5:1 for buzz baits
8:1 for pitching jigs
9:1 for T-rigging
10:1 for C-rigging

Damn Ken....10:1 for Crigs????? Thats one crank of the handle and your lizards back in your lap.

You sir have spent way way too much time thinking about this

I can confirm this after years and years of real time experience...

Oddly enough this theory can be expanded to include rods, presentations and lure selection.

Yes sir, that is correct. A few of us have it down to a perfected science now.

LOL

And I'm sure his wrist is calibrated to crank them all at the same rate

I've got them all the way from 3.8:1 to 7:1, all of my newer reels are 7:1. Back when I was watching Randy B on you tube one of the videos he did was about reel speed. He was saying you should have all your reels the same gear ratio so you'll have a grasp of how to adjust your reel retrieve for different lure speed. When I'm fishing I think about that and it has made at least a little bit of sense. I've found myself using mainly the 7:1 reels. About the only other ratio I use these days is my C-Rig chunker. It's got an Abu Garcia 5000C withe 5.3:1. It does seem like it takes forever to reel it in when compared to the 7:1 but it gives the power needed to horse in a big one.

My OCD wouldn’t allow all those different makes/models of reels. I’m out.

Ditto for me with a spinnerbait, I like to slow roll it and that ration is a perfect rhythm for me. Trying to do it with a fast ratio is painful.

Can't remember the exact year but back in the eighties the Quantum EX-500 came out.. 6.2 retrieve. Flipping switch that actually worked.. Big as a pineapple and weighed about the same.. But bulletproof.. Had about twenty.. Still got four or five on some old sticks..

First reel you could actually fish a buzzbait with.. Was a very good product..