Penn 712 and 710 gear swap, how much does ratio matter?

[slugmeister]

@Gfish, to me 50' is getting pretty deep. To the open ocean fisherman, 100' is probably shallow. Generally all you need to do to keep fish healthy if you are pulling them up from 40' to maybe 70' is the deepest I've caught fish, is to just reel in slowly. I don't have an exact number, but I would guess it takes a few minutes to reel up a fish, once they tire I kind of just let them come up on their own. Some fish are more tolerant than others. It seems to me things like perch don't handle it very well. Pike usually do pretty good. I've never been much for lake trout, but they are almost exclusively fished deep, like 100' deep. I've never heard of much issue with barotrauma with them.

Generally you hear about the fish bulging from the swim bladder. That's only part of the issue as you noted. Fish can get the bends just like we can. I've seen fish bleeding from the gills before, that's actually probably the most common thing I've seen. When a fish comes up with its eyes bulging out and guts in its mouth, I just don't see how it has a good chance of survival at that point. Maybe I'm completely wrong there.

@nels, that's a matter of opinion. The Penn 712 with the 3.64:1 gear set is still faster than most baitcasting reels in the past, and is on par with many today. It's faster than an Abu Garcia Ambassadeur 5500C3 with 5:1 gears.

[slugmeister]

As an update, I got my 710z all cleaned up and left the original gears in it. I did confirm they are the original 3.64:1 gear set. I fished with both my 710 with 4.1:1 and 710z with 3.64:1 gears on sunday and yesterday. I honestly can not tell the difference. I was mostly throwing swim baits where speed is not critical. I picked through the best parts and put it in my 712. The 712z works perfectly, but I'm probably going to sell it as I have no use for it.

Here's how I feel right now for anyone looking at buying a 712 or 710. I think the 710 bail is a better design than the 712 in multiple ways. I am quite impressed with the plastic spool on the 710, I'm not worried about that breaking at all anymore. I also do not think buying a 712 to swap gears is worth it, I can not tell the difference. The 712 rotor and spool are both smaller and thinner, which makes it lighter. The 710 spool is beefy, both bigger and thicker, that is a solid plastic spool, and the aluminum one is a tank. Personally I like the 710 better, but the 712 is lighter and smaller and matches a lighter rod better. I have not tried a 714 yet. Hopefully this helps someone.

[nelz]

Love my 712, caught my first big fish on one.    It's long been retired though; it's just too heavy for its size, auto-only bail, roller as designed binds, no skirted spool, line spooling is not so good. But it is a tank!

[slugmeister]

Love my 712, caught my first big fish on one.    It's long been retired though; it's just too heavy for its size, auto-only bail, roller as designed binds, no skirted spool, line spooling is not so good. But it is a tank!

Yes its a little heavy, but it's not that horrible. The difference between my 712z and my Penn Fierce 4000 is 2.5 ounces. The auto only bail is probably my least favorite thing about these, but what I've found is there are good ways around this, turning the handle isn't the only option. The Line rollers depend on model, but yes, the 712's is not great. It's just a metal roller on a metal shaft. Maybe when they were new and the plating was fresh they worked ok. Mine do not work well at all. Some other models used plastic bushings which actually work better than you would think.

I'll have to disagree on the skirted spool thing though, although it is personal preference. There's not a huge difference for me, I can use rotor style or skirted spool style reels, and both are fine with me. If anything I have a slight preference for the rotor cup because it gives a much better surface to palm my hand during a cast. A rotor cup and manual bail would be ideal for me.

The spooling can be helped, check my other thread on Penn spinfisher tuning. It's really easy to fix.

[nelz]

I have other reels that I prefer using in the field, my 712 sits as a trophy in memory of that first biggun'. It's fun to use vintage reels too, all depends on your preference. Tight lines!