My sons new setup

[TennTyrant]

My son finally decided on a new rod and reel to throw his favorite crankbaits the SPRO little john and Fat John. He decided on
Pinnacle Perfecta Cast Rod 7' Medium Crankbait

Pinnacle Optimus XT Casting Reel 6:4 to 1

He would like to know what you guys think before he orders.

[BigBassin144]

I have no experience with Pinnacle gear whatsoever. However, the Little Johns are a beast of a crank for their size, coming in at 1/2oz. That rod is rated to 5/8oz. The Spro LJ fits into that weight range, but if the rod performs to it's ratings, those cranks will be above it's sweet spot. A true 7' M M crankbait rod excels at throwing 1/4oz cranks and struggles with anything above 3/8oz, but that just my opinion.

For throwing Spro LJs, I'd be looking at a rod rated from 1/4-3/4 or even up to 1oz. This will get the Little Johns right into the rod's "sweet spot." In the Perfecta line, he'd have to step up to the 7'8" MH M Cranking rod, which may be longer than he wants.

As for the reel, many will tell you go with a lower gear ratio, but I believe a 6:1 will work fine for shallow cranks like the Little John.

BB

[rrw4258]

I think that the rod will do fine with the Little John crankbaits. In fact, I sat in on a seminar early this spring with John Crews, and this is the exact same setup that he mentioned throwing his Little John, and Little John MD's on. In the Optimus XT line there is a 4.7:1 gear ratio but I think that it would be a little slow for fishing shallow/medium running crankbaits, so I would stick with the 6.4:1.

Ryan

[Tavery5]

Pinnacle has kinda stepped their game up as of late and have gotten a few good reviews. I think I would still be a little hesitant just based on some of their past offerings. As far as reels go for crankbait fishing, gear ratio can be important, but something you may want to look at even more closely is I.P.T. inches per turn, in most cases it will give you a better idea of what the reel is designed to do.