Reels are a tool, like a rod and like line. We all know that. But just like the difference between fishing with an old-school fiberglass rod and a featherweight graphite one, reel quality can mean the difference between caught and missed or lost fish.
What's a Great Reel?
"What makes a great reel?" Kelly Jordon ponders the question. "Put it this way: When you get to a better grade of reel, it's that much more smooth. It fishes more easily. It's much less thinking about how to control it, so it's almost like an extension of yourself.
"That's what (all the manufacturers) are trying to do – (making) light rods and low-pro reels so they can be an extension of yourself. They become a breeze to use, a smooth extension of your body. That's what I look for in a first-class reel."
Scott Rook has a different take on it. A great reel "has to be tough," he said. "It has to hold up to strong hooksets and handle braided line. To me, that's the number one thing.
"Then it has to be smooth," to help feel fish. "When I'm throwing a crankbait or spinnerbait, I want to feel the bait, not the (reel) gears," he explained. "If a fish comes up and misses the spinnerbait, I want to feel that, not the gears grinding" (more on that below).
A great reel also has to have ball bearings, and the more the better for Rook. "I like a reel with a lot of ball bearings," he said. "Without getting too technical, that's for two reasons. One is that makes it extremely smooth, and the other is when you put those ball bearings in pressure points, they make the reel last a lot longer, as opposed to using graphite bushings."
If that sounds like a comment from a guy who did rod and reel repair in a tackle store for 15 years, that's because it is.
When You Need a Great Reel
So a great reel gives you this tough, sensitive extension of yourself. Is that just a nice thing or is it essential? When money's on the line, and fish are in the neighborhood, it's essential, say Jordon and Rook.
Jordon: "I think a great reel is real important for two techniques. One is pitching – when you're trying to be real precise and have great control. Your reel has to function as smooth as silk to lay the bait right in there. For me, that's the hardest test for reels to pass with flying colors.
"The other test is castability – how far it gets it out there. Whether you're cranking, Carolina-rigging or chasing schooling fish, or you're trying to cover a lot of water with a spinnerbait, you have to make long-range casts. The better the reel, the farther you can get (a bait) out there."
Scott Rook, shown here at another BASS event, says a 'grindy' reel actually cuts down on your ability to feel fish.
Jordon likes a smooth reel for those techniques. Rook does too, but has a different twist on one of them.
"When you're throwing a crankbait, a lot of times you have fish that come up and flash or swirl at your bait," Rook said. "If you have a smooth reel with good, sensitive line, you can feel that. You know you just got a 'bite,' and you can keep throwing at (that fish or that spot) and (eventually) catch them.
"That actually happened to me at Guntersville. I was fishing a lipless crankbait as slow as you could go, and I could feel fish miss it. So I'd throw there 15 or 20 times and (eventually) catch them.
"If you have a 'grindy' reel, you just won't feel that," he noted. "A lot of people probably don't even realize that."
Notable
> Both Jordon and Rook prefer the new Abu Garcia Revo reel, which isn't available yet in stores. (Editor's note: Abu is making a special offer to BassFans to reserve one now. Click here to learn about it – and about Jordon's reaction when Aaron Martens spied a Revo in Jordon's boat.)
> Jordon also likes the Revo because it's offered in 6.4:1 and a big 7:1 gear-ratio. "That higher speed is nice when you make that super-long cast because you have the (line-retrieve) speed to back it up," he said. "You have the speed to take up that much line at the end of a long cast, and you can reel up enough line to set the hook out there."
> Rook's preferred line for cranking and sensing fish is Berkley Vanish fluorocarbon, which he said has "a lot of pluses" (like lower stretch) beyond just increased sensitivity.
> Re: Rook's love for ball bearings, the top-end Revos have 11, which as far as we know is the most in the market (one or two non-Abu reels have 11 also).
> Sometimes "smoothness" can also equate to spool speed, and pros love a fast spool.
