Bought a few g.loomis cranking sticks, wana pair them up with some decent baitcasters....What speeds do you recommend? any favorite combos out there?

Love the old garcia 3.x and 4.x reels for cranks and spinners... Just my opinion tho... I tend to reel too fast so the slower reel slows my presentation down!

Good luck out there!!

I started doing a lot of cranking last year and have 3 speeds of reels. Sometimes really slow with a pause works for me other times I can't burn it back to the boat fast enough. Sorry that did't help any did it?

my favorite is the REVO WINCH.HAPPY FISING

YOU CANT BEAT THE CUSTOM BUILT TITAINIUM RODS BUILT BY FISHING TACKLE UNLIMITED,I HAVE BEEN FISHING FOR LIVING FOR 40 YEARS,I WILL PUT EM UP AGAINST ANYONE

Second the Revo Winch.. awesome cranking reels but I also still use my old school 70's Lews BB1-NGs.

I like the Shimano Curado 5.0.1. I am like Whatabas and tend to reel to fast and this helps me slow it down. I I just switched over to these 5.0.1 this years from using a faster ratio last year and it has really helped my crankbait bite. The one this I have noticed is, when I am using a trap and on the 5.0.1 and pull the bait up and then let it fall, I have a hard time catching back upto the trap before it hits the bottom. I will probably switch my trap setup to a 6.3.1 or 7.0.1. But for my crankbaits I like the Shimano Curado 5.0.1. Hope this helps and its just what I do.

I too use the Loomis crankin' sticks and love them. For deep and mid-depth cranking, I use Shimano's Calais in a 5 to 1 ratio. Any other cranks like square bills or traps I use a Calais in 6.3 to 1.

I second the curado E5. It's my go to crankbait reel now.

Revo Winch...

Thad really depends on what you are cranking.

If you going deep with Mann's 30+ or DD22 or something, I prefer a 4.7 to 5.0:1 ratio, to keep from wearing my shoulder out. You take up much less line per reel handle turn (recovery). If you are fishing trap style baits, I would go with a 7.0:1 or so for a much faster/higher rate of recovery. If you are fishing medium or shallow diving baits, I prefer a 5.0 or 5.2:1 ratio for medium divers, like DLN's, but if shallow divers, a 6.3:1 is pretty good. All around, I like the 5.0:1 for most (except for traps). BUT, there are applications for all reels. I prefer the old green Curado 200B5, but you cannot find many of those. I REALLY liked the old Lews BB1NG, too, but try to find those is even harder.

Hope this helps. Tight lines, keep safe and good luck.

Thad Rains

The E500 is a good choice, so is the Revo Winch for most options.

curado e5

I'm a shallow water power fisherman, so I just use my 6.3 reels. I prefer that my reels all be the same. If was crankin' a DD 22 all day,I would go to a 5.0 because of fatigue. I prefer to buy only 1 rod or reel at a time,don't want 2 that I don't like.

Beezy, sorry, I accidentally deleted your post about gear ratio and line per inch of reel handle revolution. Your statement that gear ratio has nothing to do with cranking, its all about inches of line taken up with each turn of the reel handle is not entirely correct.

Inches of line taken up with each full revolution of the reel handle is calculated using the spool diameter x 3.14 x gear ratio.

Two Curados with the same diameter spool but different gear ratios will take up differeing amounts of line per turn. Obviously, if the spool turns 6.3 or 7 times for each turn versus 5 times, you're going to be taking up more line per crank, assuming those spools were of the same diameter.

Hope that explains gear ratios and line per crank a little better.

I know that. That's what I meant. The curado E5 which was the one designed for crankbaits with a 5.0:1 gear ratio reels in roughly 20" of line per turn of the handle as opposed to a similar reel such as the daiwa crazy cranker with it's 4.9:1 gear ratio that can reel in only 22" of line which is 2" less than the curado.