Slowest Retrieve That's Still Fishable

[Rivverrat]

I fish some of my star drag reels in their upper range. The obvious problem when doing this ( Except with Penn Torque Star Drag) is at some point the handle gets hard to turn & your left pumping & reeling down on the fish. Such as using 60 & above on a
Baja / US113. Even my often considered lethargic catfish can put slack in whats considered to be a faster rate of retrieve.


Has any fished with a slower retrieve rate of say less than 22" using a single speed or star drag reel ?  I guess what I'm attempting to find out is what some of you think might be the slowest but yet still fishable rate of retrieve for a star drag reel... Jeff

[oc1]

It's always going to be a trade-off between hard-to-crank and fast.  I figure I will spend about 99% of the time just retrieving line under little load and about 1% of time with the reel hard to crank.  Give me the comfort and performance of a fast retrieve 99% of the time and I'll put up with the other 1%.  I like small baitcasters because they are easy to palm, but the smallest have only 12 IPT owing to the spool diameter.  12 IPT is really annoying. Most vintage baitcasters are about 18 IPT.  I can tolerate 18 IPT but still yearn for the 28 IPT of some modern baitcasters.
-steve

[Rivverrat]

Steve, great explanation.

What I've found, coming from mostly fresh water fishing & the fish I'm after most a 22" - 25" retrieve works great most of the time. It is lacking in some cases where one wants  their rig back & the bottom of the river is full of snags... Jeff

[Ron Jones]

I don't think Surfmasters do much more than 19-20 inches, and I fish them a lot. I seem to either like really slow or screaming fast, the middle clearly works but I rarely want it. For instance, I really don't use a 4:1 Jigmaster much, a slower 250 or a 5:1 Jigmaster is almost always preferred. I do use the rod to bring in most any fish, however.
Ron Jones

[Swami805]

I don't know the ipt of a squidder but it seems painfully slow. Still like fishing it though

[Rivverrat]

I fish mostly bait. On reels using anything below 40 I dont care as much about ratio. Though I like it faster in this case than my other reels with heavier line. I was thinking most salt water guys would want a faster reel for most fishing ?

[Ron Jones]

Honestly, most saltwater guys like two speeds in order to have an easy time fighting a fish with the slow Senator and jig the fish with the fast Senator.

I'm a wimp who likes star drags. So I use a slow star for bait, a fast star for surface iron and a two speed after the first few fish!

The Man

[Brewcrafter]

Steve summed it up with the "hard to crank vs. fast".  But gear ratio and "inches per rotation" are not 100% of the story.  The handle plays into it as well; that reel that is a tough bear with a big load on it becomes a lot easier to crank with a longer arm - but you are not retrieving any faster (in a line/rotation sense) it just becomes easier to crank.

[oc1]

My next handle is going to be a double handle with a long blade on one side and a short blade on the other.  It also needs the weight balanced from one side to the other.  When you're just taking up slack a short handle is quicker..... like those tiny little handles they used to put on tournament casting reels.
-steve

[Rivverrat]

My next handle is going to be a double handle with a long blade on one side and a short blade on the other. 
-steve

  Oh Wow! A true budget 2 speed.

  Seriously though I believe your idea has real merit... Jeff

[mo65]

My next handle is going to be a double handle with a long blade on one side and a short blade on the other. 

  Seriously though I believe your idea has real merit... Jeff

   Yep, an offset handle, one side long/one side short would be interesting.

[Donnyboat]

come on Mike, Mo, dont tell Steve & Mike Currie, MCH, that they wont sleep, till one of them achieve it, cheers Don.

[thorhammer]

My first build, I had no idea it was called hot rodding, was a full Accurate wide 4/0. I put SS 4:1 Accurate gears in it, and an Accurate handle in long power position, thinking this would give power in crank and still be faster than stock from the combo of higher ratio and wider spool maintaining diameter longer. This was pre-braid, mind you. The outfit worked great cranking grouper out of rocks, where maximum pressure and speed the first five seconds basically decides who wins.

I love Squidders, Surfmasters and Beachmasters, and own a bunch, but they are inherently bound to their 80 year old designs- small gears are slow, and they aren't robust enough to truly be on the power side of things (especially the brass mains) in the world of braid. That said, if memory serves, the WR drum was caught on a Squidder, around 93 pounds, and in reality 99% of anglers will never encounter a fish that large and strong. My 0.02.

[Captain64-200]

My next handle is going to be a double handle with a long blade on one side and a short blade on the other. 

  Seriously though I believe your idea has real merit... Jeff

   Yep, an offset handle, one side long/one side short would be interesting.

In the 90's  this interesting system was present  on the high-end DAM spinners (I bought one for light lures )  the handle was adjustable by pressing the light grey button ...very clever .

[Ron Jones]

As long as you could figure out how to not hit the other side, it would be great to put a little ball on the short side and a larger grip on the long arm. Might be a bit much when it comes to balance.
Ron Jones