Need help with reel size and gear ratio.

[LooseLips]

Well I'm buying myself some new tackle. Getting a new carp rod and a lighter feeder rod and a new pair of reels to match the rods. Buying online and just trying to figure out how big or small the reels are. Does a 3500 and 4000 size reel mean anything to anyone? Also How do ya figure out what the gear ratio equates to I mean like whats a fast retrieve and a slow retrieve. By the way as I have been searching online there seems to be some awesome deals at the moment so have a look about.

[Salty]

You cant go wrong with Shimano baitrunners. I use an ST10000RA for salmon fishing. It holds 325yds of 14lb nylon and has a 4.6 to 1 retrieve ratio which is fast enough and it cost me I think £80. I also use an Abu blue max multiplier with 6.2 to 1 retrieve but thats no use for your kind of fishing. To be honest I think no matter what kind of fishing you do a smooth drag is the most important thing in a reel,especialy if your fishin for things that can pull a bit!

You can get the smaller sized shimanos quite cheap these days

Tight lines

Salty

[LooseLips]

Thanks mate.

hxxp://www.gofishing.co.uk/Angling-Times/Section/Tackle2/Coarse-and-Carp-Fishing-Tackle/Fishing-Reels/Free-spool-reels/Avanti-Carbon-FX-Match-Freespin-feeder-reel/

Thats the one I've been looking at for £20. Sounds cheap but if you look at the specs it seems an absolute bargain. I normally float fish with very light gear and recently been seeing people pull some nice barbel out of my local river so thats what I'd want that reel for. For a carp reel I think I'd need a bigger reel than that. I hear what ya saying about a smooth drag, try pulling a 5lb Tench out on 2.6lb line brilliant fun. I use a Mitchell for float fishing its about 12 years old but its an old faithfull and wont replace that til its broken.

[LooseLips]

My last carp gear was a rod and reel package from argos. Pants is all I can say. The reel was terrible.

[Salty]

Its mostly game fishing I do so its worlds apart in some ways. I used to do a lot of pike fishing and had them up to 25.5lb The closest I ever got to your style of fishing was float fishing for grayling with light tackle. Had an old 12ft diawa float rod and a small silver diawa fixed spool reel with 4lb mainline and trotted sweetcorn or maggots. Our club season ticket covers the grayling fishing from 15th Nov until 15th Jan and of course the salmon from 1st Feb to 31st Oct for £100 a year

Sorry for wafflin on a bit mate,wee bit stoned Oh and I still got two old mitchells,a 300 and a 440 match reel,must be 40yr old now

Tight lines

Salty

[LooseLips]

Those reels are older than me haha. I used to dream about Diawa rods and Shimano reels when I was a kid reading the John Wilson Go fishing mags, bought them every week. I've only just got back into fishing and I'm pretty much a noob when it comes to carp fishing so just a good cheapish middle of the range kit will do, its the reels I'm more fussed about, needs to be nice to use.

[Niknaks]

As said above the most important thing is a smooth clutch but i shall add that a balanced settup is what you'd be looking for. If you havn't tried much kit then the best option would be togo along to your local tackle shop and try out a couple of settups.

I tried to check your link but wouldn't work, it's prob's my crappy computer. £20 does seem very cheap for a real though. I would stick to well known/reliable manufacturer's ie- Shimano, Diawa and fox do some nice kit aswell.

As for reel sizes i'm not sure if theres a universal code but Shimano do a 3500 and 4000 these will be small and good for float fishing and small feeder rod's. If it's a carp reel you want then you'll need something like an 8000. I'd recomend getting double handle aswell, much more comfortable and balanced imo.

[Tresh3]

I use a pair of Fox Statos fs1000-e's, they have a freespooling lever and are one of the smoothest reels money can buy, its just a shame they're about £100 a pop, I got mine off a relative for half price. They're expensive but well worth the money! I think it has something rediculous like 20 coils of line on the spool per linear oscillation. Don't really do heavy end carp fishing any more, just silverfishing and the odd trip to the fisheries during the summer months for littler carp.

Tresh

[Biokid]

I fish for Salmon and when not able to use the fly rod, I worm or spin with the same Shimano 10000 Baitrunner as Salty has. I have lost a number of fish with inferior reels, the main problem being the drag. On the initial take from a Salmon, the drag should run smoothly to counteract the massive run the fish does when it realises it is hooked. The reel screams as the fish powers away. A jam on the drag at this crucial moment simply snaps the line and the fish gets away.

Shimano (IMO) makes the grade and they are available at a reasonable price. I think mine was in the £80 region.

Bio

[LooseLips]

So the advice is to get a known make. Right. I need to find some deals on Shimano cos 80 quid is a lot of money for me, more than I can afford to be honest. Hate being skint grrrr. Do Mitchell make carp reels? I love mine so be nice to get him a big brother. Thanks for all your input lads.

[Salty]

I know a guy who is always choppin n changin his kit and he gets some real good bargains on flea bay. Pair of shimanos for £50 etc May be worth a look? I always go for the best reel I can possibly afford,even if it means stretching the budget a bit. Might just get the big fly rod out today for a bit

Tight lines

Salty

[Niknaks]

Mitchell do make carp reels and could be a cheap alternative. I would possibly consider a fix spool mitchell but not a freespool/baitrunner,

You should be able to get some shimano baitrunners cheap on ebay or gumtree, a second hand shimano is worth 10x more than any of the cheap reels.

With winter coming soon there should be some good bargains around shortly.