2-Speed or Single Speed Reel?

[Flattop]

I'm in the market for a new reel to sit on my new rod I'm having made. The rod is in the 50# class and I'm torn between a 2-speed or a single speed reel. I do 80 percent of my fishing within 30 miles of the Jersey coast. A 50# rod maybe overkill for inshore but you never know when a big thresher will hit your bait and with the braided lines and small reels a 50# set-up is pretty much a standard striper set-up now.

So are there any REAL advantages of 2-speed over a single speed and is it worth the extra $130.00 or more for the reel?

[Innovator]

The real question is what is the experience level of your anglers? A two speed reel can be quite effective to an experienced angler, knowing when and why the high and low speed should be used. An angler can get caught with their pants down if using the low speed/higher torque gear, when a fish charges the boat or with tunas doing the death circle. There is a time and a place for low gear, but you need to know when and where this is. Alot of fish are lost when slack forms in the line and the hook is spit. That is why I keep my reels in high gear 90% of the time. Only when I have a fish straight up and down and can't budge them would I put the reel in low gear, but are always ready to slide back in high gear if needed. I can count on my hand the times I have used low gear.

If I were you I would go with the 50, you are better off having the line capacity if needed, and worry less about the two speed. A wide 50 can catch 90% of all species you are going to run into, canyons included.

Hope this helps

[54bullwinkle]

Get the two speed. Down the line you will wish you had. What reels are you looking at. I had 50w reels and switched over to tld50 2 speeds. Does everything that a metal 50 does, less weight and cheaper.