An explanation of retrieve ratios

Retrieve ratios are a common term used for Baitcasting Reels. Yet in some cases and it can hard or confusing to find out what this means and why it is relevant to your reel.

When you see a retrieve ratio mentioned, the number you are looking at refers to the gears on the reel - you will often see something like a 2:1, 6:1, 7:3 ratio quoted. The number on the left is referring to the number of times the spool wraps around the line and the number on the right is per revolution. A revolution is simply one full turn of the handle.

In the examples previously quoted, a 6:1 ratio would mean that the spool wraps around 6 times for one full turn of the handle. This indicates it is a fast reel. In a real world scenario it would mean that you could reel in a fish at the end of your line a lot quicker than some other reels - With just a single turn of the handle, you have already pulled in 6 spools worth of line.

The higher the number on the left compared to the right is usually indicative of a higher quality reel and also means the angler exerts a lot less effort since they simply need to turn the handle less to bring the line back in fully, regardless of wether there is a fish on the line or not. This is just a general rule of thumb because there are many other factors involved in assessing the quality of a reel, such as drag, levelwinds, smoothness and so on.

With that said, beginners often find a faster spool is also harder to control. If you are new to using baitcasting reels then it might be an idea to use one with a low ratio to start of with, so you can get the hang of it first. If you are not able to control the reel correctly, you are likely to end up with birds nests and the less time you spent fixing these problems, the more fishing time you will have.