Prompted by a friend's recent questions about how to understand what the gear ratio in a reel means, I've decided to provide a short write-up on gear ratios to hopefully clear the air about this often-neglected area when choosing a reel.
Here's a simple example: You have a reel with a 3:1 ratio. That simply means that when you turn the reel handle once, the spool turns 3 times.
Some reels are very fast with a high gear ratio like, for instance, 6:1. However, it is also important to note that the measure of the speed of a fishing reel is determined not by how fast the spool is turning, but by how fast it can pull line through the water, which is known technically as the line retrieval rate.
The retrieval rate depends on your spool speed and spool diameter. A reel with a high gear ratio but with a small spool diameter will not necessarily retrieve line as fast as a reel with a slower gear ratio and a larger spool diameter. Always check these 2 factors before determining which reel is right for you.
The other thing which my friend mentioned was that there are certain reels on the market with 3 figure gear ratios, such as a reel which variates between 3:1 and 1:2:1. These are twin gear reels or more commonly known as 2-speed reels, meaning that they have a higher gear (3:1) and a lower gear (1:2:1) in the reel. The higher gear understandably provides more speed in line retrieval while the lower gear provides the extra torque needed for the really big ones.
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