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[fisherkingnigel]

I'm thinking of customizing my callcutta 400 series handle. I hate how when I use it for lure casting I have to reel in so fast just to make the lure come quickly. My wrist takes a beating and after 2-3 hours it's not very enjoyible.

I'm thinking of adding a custom handle that's 80mm long.

here's a pic of what I want.







Do you guys have one of these?

Nigel

 

[smoqqy]

yes i got a power handle on one of my 400 calcutta.
use it only on saltwater,casting and retrieving lure.
the knob is made of wood.
tight lines!
jon

[Terry Bodman]

I too have a Calcutta 400 and while it is a beautiful reel, not happy with its retrieve ratio. Does this custom handle reduce the ratio?

[Gooey]

What the heck are you guys fishing for???  What kind of bait needs to be reeled in that fast?!?!?!?

When I bottom bounce the fraser, I waste no time reeling in my line after a drift...the pick up on the calcutta 400 if fine IMHO.

I dont think it is a good upgrade to increase line pick up.  That nob would ad a lot of weight, its one sided so it would not be balanced on the reel, etc. After all, it called a POWER HANDLE, its for just that...power.  Its a longer level to give you more torque for fighting big fish.   

But hey, if its cheap, try it out...maybe I am wrong!

[dennisK]

[Gooey]

That looks like a Abu 7000...fine sturgeon reel....great for bar fishing too. 

Don't know that I would want to cast lures with that reel all day!

[fisherkingnigel]

well basically I'm going to go for the gold type handle..... the other types you see are for jigging large metal jigs in the ocean.

I saw a fishing show here in japan and he was using a calcutta with a custom handle and looked like reeling in was not as stressful. I usually don't use my calcutta because of this. I'm not fishing on the fraser, I'm fishing for largre seabass off the coastlines of Japan. So constant cast and retrieve will be the game. I might be casting for 8 hours straight!

Are they cheap? Not really at $80 bucks but I want it and hey that' fishing for you!

Will it improve my gear ration probably not but it'll make retrieving faster and more pleasurable.

Nigelman

[TtotheE]

I'd have to agree with Gooey.  Having a longer handle only allows for better leverage.  I think having a longer handle would benefit reels with a lower gear ratio with respect to muscling in a big fish.  In actuality,  a longer handle makes for a greater circumference for the reeling motion.  For the spool to be turning equally as fast or faster than with the stock handle,  you would have to physically reel in faster.

[summersteel]

Why would you put that big ugly thing on a calcutta!!  Sereiously, I cast all day with my calcutta often... maybe go to a gym.  ha ha.

[Rodney]

$80 BUCKS?!

Then again, I would probably get sucked into buying one anyways.

You really shouldn't show us such explicit photos like the one above to us gear heads.... A reel paradise.... Oh boy....

[Gooey]

TtotheE nailed it...think of it this way, your gear ratio will never change by changing the handle so what does a longer handle do???

Not getting all mathenatical...the longer the handle the more distace it will have to travel to pic up the same ammount of line (and PIE-r-Squared is a linear function too ). 1 360 degree rotation on a calcutta picks up about 5-6 inches of line ...REGARDLESS of how far out from the axis the nob is its still the same pick up! Plus a bigger handle means larger radious circle, which means more distance to cover to complete 1 360 rotation...you would need to reel faster for the same pic up!

the only advangate I could possibly think of is maybe a small paddle gripped by the thumb and pointer finger would be more tiresome than the bigger nob grasped wth the entire hand?

[fisherkingnigel]

I'd rather make one big swoop of a retrieve than 5-7 to small one's to one big retrieve. I'd be curious to see what's fater?

I know it won't speed up the reeling in ratio, it's just me having to spin that dam handle a million miles an hour to get the lures to come in faster. I like bringing in my lures at high ratio and I usually use my spinning reel for that. I just thought adding a bigger handle would make the reel more enjoyable when using it for 8 hours of lure retrieving.

Thanks for all your comments and now I know GI JOE!

Nigelman

[TtotheE]

Nigelman,  you'd still be reeling in the same number of rotations per hour  1 big swoop = 1 small swoop.  5-7 small swoops = 5-7 big swoops.  If your handle was 1 m long,  a single swoop would be the same as with the stock handle.

Agreeably you wouldn't tire as much,  if your hand is moving along the arc the same speed(you would be using larger muscle groups).  The drawback is that you would be actually reeling in slower.  To maintain the lure speed you would have to reel in much faster,  and in my opinion,  be more tired.  In my opinion,  the smaller handle would be faster than the larger handle.


On a side note,  I wonder if putting a longer handle onto a reel would place extra stress onto the internal gears that the gears would not handle?  I'm sure on a reel with a lower gear ratio it wouldn't make too much a difference,  but a reel with smaller gears for the faster gear ratio I think it would.

[smoqqy]

YES,what ever handle you put in the reel,the ratio will still be the same. BUT the function of the power handle is for leverage power. you can only use two or three the most fingers on the paddle handle,compare to the five fingers you use on the power handle.
i use my 400 mostly for throwing iron lures(3 ounces,twenty lbs.line)to catch baracuda and yellowtails in the ocean.you don't set the hook,the fish will set it for you.the fish will always bite on the lure,so you'll need a power handle to keep on reeling and when the fish run thats when the lure will slide and the hook will dig in to the fish mouth.if you set the hook when the fish bite, there's always a chance the lure will fly out of the fish mouth.
so,no need to customize your 400's if your gonna use it in the river.
tight lines!

[Rodney]

Just to bring this back up and tell people why Nigel needs fast retrieve instead of the slow retrieve like we do in BC, watch these videos:

spinning for yellowtail kingfish in New Zealand

http://www.jjphoto.dk/film/newzealand_kingfish01.mov

http://www.jjphoto.dk/film/newzealand_kingfish02.mov