N D BE L L S & W HI STLES
Story & photos
BY JODY ONLY
with Ken Mah
people cannot afford a reel specific to every technique,” said Mah. “If that is the case, then they can decide on a reel or two that will work for a couple techniques. This will make them more versatile with the gear that they are able to purchase and maximize their budget.”
LINE PICK UP
Once an angler has determined the amount of money they are willing to spend on a reel and they know the technique(s) that they want to be able to use it for, the next step is to think about the line pick up. “A lot of people get hung up on gear ratios,” said
Mah. “But, gear ratios and line pick up are not always created equal. Basically, you want to pick a reel that will offer the kind of line pick up that you need to be most productive at the technique that you want to fish it.”
Line pick up can be translated into inches per turn (IPT) or the number of inches of line retrieved with one full revolution of a reel handle. Although two reels may be listed with a specific delineation of high speed at 7.1:1, it doesn’t mean they both will recover the same IPT.
The gear ratio of a reel is determined by a division of the number of teeth on the smaller gear into the number of teeth on its larger gear. Some common
SUMMER 2014
35