High speed v Low speed for bottom bashing

[Noelm]

I guess to put a whole diffeent slant on this, no reel (except an Alvey) was ever designed to be used as a winch, even when just winding in a sinker, you should use the rod in a lift and wind action (no one does of course) the gears and frames were just not made to pull up dead weights, but it something we all do.

[Marky Mark]

I've got a Saltist 40 high torque and a Saltist 40 high speed. The slow one's for bottom bashing and the high speed for knife jigging etc. I wouldn't use the high speed for bashing for all the reasons mentioned above.

the gears and frames were just not made to pull up dead weights

Not too sure about this one though? Even if you pump and wind on a big fish with high drag settings wouldn't that be putting more strain on the reel than winding up a 4 ounce sinker?

[Fisher4life]

thanks for everyone's input.

I guess in hindsight i should've made it a poll.

For me i compare the high speed v low speed to the gearing to that of cars/4x4's they use low gear where you need brute power/torque to get something heavy moving, and bottom bashing is that when it is done right, hopefully bringing big things up from the deep, hence bigger reels use the lower gears also (2 speed reels).

At the end of a day of fishing i would prefer to use a reel that i would find lighter and easier to use, if that means i have to turn the handle half a wind extra in comparison to using a higher speed reel but find it easier to bring heavy weights up, then so be it.

I'm going to get the low speed reel for bottom bashing, and compare it with my mate's high speed torium. In theory the low speed makes more sense, but only time will tell.

Cheers
Josh

[TonyM]

I finally got to try the Saltist 30TH (high speed) out and found it comfortable for bottom bashing even at the 100m mark with heavy lead. Caught a few nice fish on it and it performed very nicely.

One important point though is that I put the handle on the longer setting which gives you a lot more torque, it was a bit tough with the handle on the shorter setting winding up the heavy sinkers.

I also upgraded the handle to a Jigging Master power handle which might look a bit wanky but worked very well - the handle itself was much better to grip, and the bearings in the handle make it smooth as butter!

Hope that's of use to someone!

Cheers
Tony