Reel gear ratio

The gear ratio tells you how many turns the rotor or spool makes for one turn of the handle. It is written as two numbers with a colon, and the first of them is the ratio.

The number counts turns, not metres

This is where the confusion starts. A turn of the rotor is not the same as a length of retrieved line: how much comes in during that turn depends on how thick the spool is and how much is already wound on it.

So two reels with the same gear ratio retrieve differently, and the same reel retrieves faster with a full spool than with a half-empty one. Makers quote line retrieved per handle turn on a separate line of the spec, and that figure is closer to the point than the ratio.

Fast and low-geared is a choice, not a grade

A high ratio buys speed, a low one buys pull. It is a lever: for one turn of the handle you get either plenty of line at a higher effort on the grip, or less line but more easily. There is no way around that trade, and «better» does not exist here apart from the way you fish.

That is why the entry on the fishing reel sets speed and pull side by side as two faces of one number, rather than as two separate specifications.

What a fast reel is taken for

Speed is wanted where line has to come in often and in quantity: picking up slack after the cast, catching up with a fish running towards you, getting the lure back quickly between casts. Jigging with long pauses also favours a fast reel — precisely because the slack has to be recovered between hops.

What a low-geared reel is taken for

Low gearing wins where resistance is constant and high: a deep retrieve, strong current, a bulky lure pushing against the water the whole way. Your hand tires less with low gearing, and over a long day that is no small thing.

On baitcasting reels the difference is more obvious than on spinning ones: the handle sits on the spool shaft, so the effort is felt directly, with nothing in between.

A centrepin has none

A centrepin reel has no gearing at all: the drum sits directly on the axle, and one turn of the handle is one turn of the drum. The ratio there is one to one, and there is nothing to multiply.

So the question moves to the diameter of the drum: the larger it is, the more line comes in for the same turn. That is the same point as above — metres come from geometry, not from gearing — only here you can see it in its pure form.

The retrieve speed is set by your hand

The gear ratio does not make a retrieve fast; it only sets how many handle turns that retrieve will take. A slow retrieve can be done with a fast reel — you simply wind more slowly.

The reverse is not true. A low-geared reel will not give you a fast retrieve — your hand runs out of pace. So when the choice is not obvious, lean towards the faster reel: it can do both, and the low-geared one can do only the one.