The Rod and Reel: which style for which style of fishing

By Roderick Walmsley

My focus immediately shifted to the fish that had appeared on the edge of my sounder screen. Its snake like swimming action and the bright return it produced confirmed to me it was a barra and not a gar or a catty. It was moving relatively fast across the screen, so I had to get my bearing quickly and after a quick gauge on the right line and distance I fired off a cast with the intent of landing the 7-inch Jerkshad a few meters in front of the fish. Unfortunately, my aim was off, and I landed the lure behind the moving fish. I waited for a few seconds to let the fish clear my line and the lure; then quickly cranked the lure back to the boat. I paused for a few seconds to compose myself and then let it go again.

Hitting the Mark

This time I was on the money and the lure landed about two meters past and ahead of the fish. I immediately starting ‘strolling’ the bait junkie jerkshad getting it to ‘swim’ about a foot past the barra’s nose. The fish tuned hard on the lure and start to follow. I sped up the retrieve lifting my rod tip as I did this. There was no mistaking the doink as the fish hammered the lure. I struck hard and the fish came flying straight out towards the boat.

As it landed it had the J- Braid crackling off the Certate as it charged past the boat and out towards the main channel. I had put enough pressure on the fish to sink the hook so backed off the drag a touch and let her go. After the usual slug fest and a few more acrobatics, I slid the net under the barra and lifted her into the boat. The fish went 110cm and was in peak condition. After a few quick photos, she swam away strongly, and I was stepping back up onto the casting deck ready for a crack at another one.

The above scenario is one that repeats itself daily in many of our waterways in the new world of forward-facing sonar or ‘scoping’ as it is generally referred to. Whether it is for barra, bass, toga cod or just about any of our Aussie natives, love it or hate it, it is a technique that is here to stay.  As simple as the previously explained scenario is, it takes a lot of time and effort to master it and most importantly the right tools to make it happen.  I am not just talking about the sounders, but the rod, reel, line and the lure all plays its role in the success of the technique.

Barra Focus

Before we delve a bit deeper into the tackle let’s make a comparative to a slightly different way of catching barra. The stock standard used to be setting up on a point, bay or likely looking section of bank. Anchoring or using your electric motor to spot lock and casting. A 6, 7 or even 8-inch plastic was generally the lure of choice. Making multiple consecutive big, long casts with slow steady retrieves for prolonged periods of time was the standard until a barra interrupted and jumped on. It generally then all went from mundane casting to adrenalin infused action stations quickly.

All the consecutive casting placed a lot of pressure on your reels and was in contrast to looking at a screen for a prolonged period of time and then making a few pinpoint casts targeting a specific fish. As a result of the difference between these techniques the tackle that you chose does need to be a bit different.

The Reel

Let’s dissect the sitting on a point scenario first. As I mentioned hours of consecutive casting retrieving large lures places a lot of pressure on your reel and specifically its gears. In this instance a reel with a slower gear ratio would be better suited to handle the load but just as importantly require less effort from the angler when turning the handle. I liken this to driving a car up a hill. We wouldn’t be doing in it a high gear- especially when towing something. The key is to gear down. Reels are no different, the more load you place on them the better they handle it with lower gear ratios.  

This also extends to putting hurt back on the fish. Hooking a big fish in and around structure means that you have to go hard on it at some stage during the fight. A low gear ratio reel will handle this a lot better than a high gear ratio model will. Don’t get me wrong, you can still do it with a higher geared reel, BUT a lower geared reel will do it better and for longer with much less chance of a mechanical failure or excessive wear down the track.

In this instance noting the larger lures, longer cast distances and time spent making the casts, a lower gear ratioed reel would be a better option to choose.

Circling back around to the scoping scenario at the start of the article. Most of this style of fishing is done in and around the main river channels in relatively deep water. Casting needs to be on point and if you don’t land your lure right on the money you really need to be able to get it back to the boat quickly to make another cast. If you are fishing around the main river channel you do often have to negotiate vertical timber. But if your fish runs around a tree, you have the option to let the fish run and follow it with the electric if and when required. As a result, you don’t have to always bully the fish and put the brakes on to get it to the boat. There is also no need for hours of consecutive casts. Lures are not required to be excessive and generally have little resistance in the water column so in this instance a higher gear ratio reel would be a much better choice.

Same species in the same waterway, but two different reel choices to improve your chances to target them.

The Rod

In recent times many anglers have shifted to longer handles to provide better leverage and fulcrum points to exert more pressure on the fish and relieve pressure on the angler- many of today’s bait cast reels are coming standard with these handles out of the box. The downside to this is that it ultimately places more strain on the reel mechanism. Put simpler a longer bigger handle will assist the angler to put more pressure on the fish, but that also lends itself to more pressure imparted to the gearing of the reel. Something to keep in mind when looking at upgrades or a new reel purchase.  

When Speed Matters

Cranking speed can sometimes be the priority over the capacity to put a lot of hurt on a fish. For example, spinning for tuna or mackerel with metal slugs, plastics or stick baits will generally require a high-speed retrieve. Many of these fish when hooked will head straight down and the fight, especially with tuna resorts to a vertical mission that places a fair bit of pressure on the everyone involved. In this instance the trade off is using smart rod angles, short pump and wind techniques to keep maximum pressure on the fish to tire it out. Although a slower gear ratio would help with the fight – you still need to hook the fish first and that’s were the higher speed is critical.

There are numerous other situations or scenarios that can affect your choice of reel and gear ratio and I could list quite a few, but hopefully this has got you thinking a bit more about what sits inside the reel that you are about to purchase. Talk to your local dealer about what you intend doing with the reel as well as what you want to catch. It may just be the key to you getting the most out of your purchase.