Quantum’s Smoke PT Speed Freak -Hi-Speed Casting reel
Carolina Rigs, Jerkbaits, Jigs, Spoons, Frogs,.. What do all of these baits have in common?
They are lures you primarily work with your rod rather than your reel.
Imagine you are out on your favorite lake in a cove full of standing timber… You flip into a tree full of branches just waiting to snap your line. You lift your rod and let your jig fall a second time. Suddenly your line swims to the side so you set the hook only to feel nothing but air. One of two things likely happened.
It is possible that the bass picked up your favorite jig knocked slack into your line and looped around a branch. Goodbye lure. Goodbye fish. You set the hook but under water what you didn’t see was that either you were to slow and the bass spit the jig or you had to much line out and couldn’t reel in the slack fast enough to get a positive hook set so when you set the hook the jig hardly moved and the bass again spit your jig.
It’s commonly believed that a 7:1ish ratio reel is great for any technique where you are working your lure with the rod. In my experience this is true in comparison to a slower retrieve ratio. Still however, as far as removing slack goes there is a better, more efficient tool most of the time.
High speed reels such as Quantum’s Smoke PT Speed Freak are gaining in popularity for good reason. If you want to increase your landing percentage and stop repeating bad patterns of habit you must choose to upgrade or add to your arsenal.
I recently began using the Quantum Smoke PT Speed Freak with one of my favorite techniques, a double Keitech Shad Impact. I catch bass year around on this rig. Thing is, I could have caught more. Every time you jerk the rig with your rod to impart action you put slack in your line. Slack that can mean a missed hook-set. With the Quantum Speed Freak a turn or two is generally enough to pick up your slack due to the 35” per turn taken up. This means you will remain in contact with your bait more often and miss less bites due to increased sensitivity from having less line out and as well due to your ability to obtain a positive hook-set since you no longer will have excess slack in your line.
I hope my little spiel and run on sentences have made you think twice about matching your reel to the technique you are using.
High speed reels have many other uses as well. I won’t labor on for much longer. I’ll get straight to the point. No other reel is better for frog fishing. When the bite comes, pause…, take up slack and Set the hook reeling like crazy to get that bass on top of the slop and into the boat rather than buried and ultimately lost.
It all makes sense to me and I hope it does to you as well. Use your imagination and come up with more ways to use these new hi-speed reels. Think about any situation you have had where you had to much slack and lost the fish. Would a higher gear ration have helped you? I think so.
Go check out the Quantum’s Smoke PT Speed Freak. With an 8.1:1 ratio pulling in 35” of line per turn of the handle, dare I say, you may hardly miss another fish or well at least not because of too much line slack. At a mere 6.4oz and with 11 bearings you’ll be sure to smoke ’em on your next outing.
Zeth Kinnett – Fish On & Keep Dreaming!
BHQ Angler website: www.zethkinnettfishing.com
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