Now I know having been to The Big O and Lake Kissimmee this season that you guys have a very sever lack of grass this year for multiple reasons but I still wanted to ask you guys who fish the toughest mat's on earth in your state ( Nothing else is nearly as tough as your mat's in my opinion) what the current trend is in punching reels ?
Several years ago the belief was that gear ratio's exceeding a 7 something were not powerful enough to use in thick mats. Some guys still used the real slow gear ratio's of 6.2 or less but I think the rod handles most of the power when a fish is hooked. Nobody gets a big fish in a thick mat and just using the reel like a winch pulls them through.
So over the past few years, the trend to use ultra high speed reels to increase efficiency ( number of pitches in a set time, IE more drops) has come into vogue. I understand and can see also that ultra fast gear ratio's take the bait out of the mat faster with less hit's on top of the mat on the way back on another pitch and that I can see can give more stealth. But recently, I'm hearing from several top guys who went to the ultra high speed reels that they are now going back to something in the 7's for a gear ratio.
I'm friends with three guys who all fish the Costa series or the FLW Tour and are considered hammers and have won at the highest levels and they for the most part are all using the ultra high speed stuff but several of their peers are back to the 7 something reels. I spoke to a guy in the Cal Delta area on Friday and he insisted the high speed reels were a mistake in mat punching. As I said, you Florida guys have the toughest mat's on earth so what works in your stuff is the standard to look to in my opinion.
With that said, I personally believe that mat rods should be powerful but parabolic, not extra fast tipped pool cues and flipping hooks should be strong but not as thick as a rail road spike, not more than 1.62 mm to 1.74 mm max for wire diameter.
So what's you guys thoughts here?
Thanks