Gosh, It's tough being an old geezer and a Dumb***, but in the older days nobody matched gear ratios to styles of fishing unless it was a spincast and then you only had two, slow and fast... OK, I've decided to take up Bass fishing again and was guided by the good people here to the Shimano Curado... Fine , but their are three different gear ratio 38.1 (15"), 5.1 (21"), and the 62.1 (25')... I suppose, the lower the gear ratio the more reel power in landing fish, but you give up retrival speed when working fast lures... I guess the lure of choice for me most of the time would be a ratt-trap or like type lures, so what would be the best ratio? I'm sorry to ask such questions, but I live way out in the country and the nearest store where I would get such information is about 50 miles away....... thankyou

I don't use 3.8.1 I had one and got rid of it pretty quickly, too slow for me.

I use 6.1's on everything except for my medium and deep cranks, on those I use the 5.1.

That's for me personally...some folks use 6.1 on everthing. You should get quite a bit of input on this topic.

Cya,

Mike

I do the same as Mike but I also use a 5.1-1 for spinner baits beacuse I have a hard time slowing down with a high speed reel and have blades breaking the surface of the water if I use a 6-1. I also use a 4.4-1 for DD22's

Both Mike P and ezbassin are right on the money. I currently use a 6.3:1 gear ratio for my spinnerbaits, but I do have to concentrate on slowing down some, 5.3:1 would be fine as well. Everything is 6.3:1 (especially Rattle Traps) except my two crankbait outfits, med and hvy.

Thankyou, this is very helpful...

I agree w/ the above posts- - 6.1 is my "mainstay". I have a 5.1 which I use for deep diving crankbaits(like the Manns 20 plus).

I own a 3.8/1, but seldom use it. It makes the really big crankbaits- -ie Manns 30 plus- -a little easier to handle and it takes the pressure off (getting it in!) a little when trolling a big plug like the hellbender- -int eh hell/pet combo.

Wayne