I have to sell these things or I’ll die, so this one is going to be long.
Last time, I talked about “Why low gear?” and the philosophy behind NEUTRA’s low-gear concept.
Just to be clear, because I don’t want this to be misunderstood: I’m not a low-gear guy.
I use normal gear, high gear, and even super-high gear depending on what the situation calls for.
This is a continuation of the last article. After testing mainly with RICE, along with various other lures, I wanted to share what I’ve personally found to be the advantages and disadvantages of low gear.
These are just my observations, and some of them apply specifically to blind fishing, where I’m not watching the fish on a screen.
ADVANTAGES
▫️It gives the fish more time to swallow the bait on those “suck-it-in” bites.
▫️ Swimbaits are less likely to rise, making depth control easier.
Especially with center-eye swimbaits.
▫️ Plenty of torque.
▫️ A very smooth retrieve, with less stress on the gears.
▫️ Even with fine-wire hooks, I feel like there’s less chance of the hook hole opening up, which seems to help my landing percentage.
▫️ A great match for hard-pulling, lipped baits.
With DRT products, POLICE, KLASH JOKER, and cranking the various KLASH models are good examples.
DISADVANTAGES
▫️ Compared with normal- or high-gear reels, retrieve sensitivity drops dramatically.
▫️ It takes forever to bring a long cast back.
Miss a long cast and your arm is going to hate you.
▫️ It’s basically useless for “drifting” presentations—walking while fishing, or fishing from a moving boat.
You’ll have absolutely no idea what’s going on anymore.
▫️ When a fish runs straight at you, the slower line pickup means you have to crank like crazy.
▫️ Outside of moving baits, I basically have zero use for it.
Worms are obviously out, and the action-oriented, lipless Mode B on the KLASH series is completely out of the question.
▫️ It doesn’t suit natural S-action baits like the JOINTED CLAW, which are designed to smoothly deflect and move water.And by the way, GAN CRAFT’s MAGO is a high-gear reel in the first place.So... yeah. Something like that.
Now, onto the main topic.
TATULA 200 — WHY?
This time, I want to explain why I chose the TATULA 200 as the base for NEUTRA.
▫️ 25 lb / 100 m LINE CAPACITY
A reel with this particular line capacity is pretty unusual.
Even looking at the market, you don’t see many reels with this combination. It’s a fairly specialized category.
When I fish RICE, I use 25 lb fluorocarbon. No exceptions.
Before I found the TATULA 200, I was using the SHIMANO CONQUEST 200.
The compact round body is easy to palm, and as a reel, the CONQUEST 200 is genuinely excellent.
As for the gear ratio, I sometimes felt that with RICE it was getting a little too much bite into the water.
But those finer details could be adjusted with the VARIAL—changing the PCD and knob shape to balance the sensitivity.
Basically, I was using the reel in a way that made it fit my body and my fishing.
I still think the CONQUEST 200 is an excellent reel.
The CONQUEST 200 holds around 80 m of 25 lb line.
But with the way I fish, by the end of a day I might only have 60 m left.
Sometimes, if I’m having a particularly bad day, maybe 50 m.
And there are times when I’ll cut around 30 m after a single cast.
At that point, a full cast basically means sending almost the entire spool into the lake.
Of course, I could just respool.
But when you’re right in the middle of the bite window, you don’t want to lose that moment.
So until then, I would carry a backup setup with exactly the same configuration.
But why am I cutting that much line?
I’m sure many of you do the same thing.
When you’re really targeting a specific spot, sometimes you intentionally let your line rub against man-made structures or other hard objects while retrieving.
The same thing happens with swimbait bottom bouncing—slowly retrieving a buoyant swimbait while allowing it to occasionally contact the bottom.
When you’re working 25 lb fluorocarbon over breaks, dredged areas, or hard bottom, you can end up with line damage over a much longer section than you might expect.
And then there are long casts to very specific targets.
Which means...
I miss casts. A lot.
When the wind is strong, I’ll make a test cast first.
Sometimes that “test cast” goes completely sideways, crosses over something, and I end up retrieving it while dragging the line across an obstacle for a long distance.
Sometimes the surface looks dead calm, but there’s wind up high.
Sometimes I accidentally cast over an intake tower.
Sometimes I’m trying to parallel a long seawall, but the wind pushes the cast to the other side.
And when there are waves, things get even more unstable on a boat that is moving underneath your feet.
I do this stuff all the time.
But...
That’s entirely my fault. I just suck at casting.
At Lake Biwa, long casts to very specific targets are a huge part of this style of fishing, so I think a lot of you can relate.
Which is why, for me, line capacity isn’t about having more line just for the sake of having more line.
It’s about being able to cut questionable line without hesitation.
And after cutting it, still having enough line to retie and immediately make the next cast.
That margin is what I wanted.
This isn’t a numbers game where I’m trying to catch as many fish as possible.
It’s a style of fishing where you never know when your personal best is going to show up.
So I check my line constantly.
If there’s even a little doubt, I cut it and retie.
On paper, 25 lb / 100 m might only be a 20 m difference compared with the CONQUEST 200.
But out on the water, those 20 m make a huge difference.
Not 20 m for catching a fish.
20 m for being able to throw away questionable line without hesitation.
That was one of the first reasons I chose the TATULA 200 as the base.
▫️ LOW-PROFILE BODY + UNDER 300 g
You might say:
“Okay, you need that line capacity. Why not just use a 300 or 400-size reel?”
Well...
Baitcasters suddenly get much heavier and bulkier once you move into the 300-size class.
That’s just my personal preference, but they start to feel a little too muscular.
Not exactly what I would call smart or elegant.
And the lighter and more compact the setup becomes, the more sensitivity you gain.
Especially mid-water sensitivity.
Of course, you don’t have to think this hard about it.
When the fish are biting, you can just crank the thing and catch them.
But...
More sensitivity makes fishing more fun.
For example, when you hit a change in the current, you can feel it during a single cast:
The retrieve gets heavier...
Then lighter...
Then heavy again...
Come on... come on... come on...
BOOM!
That kind of moment.
When the entire setup is properly balanced, that almost weightless feeling while cranking
and the sudden bites that come out of nowhere
become seriously addictive. LOL.
Some of you may have already noticed, but when I fish this way with swimbaits, I don’t fish by staring at the screen and targeting fish with FFS.
That doesn’t mean I don’t use LiveScope.
It’s always turned on.
I might take a quick look before positioning the boat on a spot, or right before making a cast.
Once I know the depth and have a rough idea of the structure, I point the transducer away.
I’ll also use it to avoid getting hung up around things like abandoned fishing gear, sunken boats, ropes, and other junk underwater.
Honestly, this is a style of fishing I could do without sonar at all.
So why don’t I fish with FFS?
...
Because I’m completely against it.
Just kidding. LOL.
There are a lot of reasons, but if I had to give you just one...
I wait for the right timing, kill my presence, and quietly move into the spot.
This spot. This exact line.
I make the cast I’ve been aiming for, picture everything happening underwater, and start winding with absolute concentration.
Trusting myself.
This is the range.
This is the speed.
And when everything comes together exactly the way I imagined and I catch a fish over 10 lb...
Man, that feeling is incredible.
For a bank fisherman, maybe that sounds completely normal.
It’s that same bank-fishing mentality.
The feeling of actually hunting the fish—the anticipation, the tension—is completely different for me.
And think about it...
If I spent the whole retrieve staring at a screen and then turned around and told you,
“Mid-water sensitivity is really important.”
Wouldn’t that sound a little suspicious...? LOL.
To be clear, I have absolutely nothing against FFS fishing.
I use it myself sometimes.
When it first came out, I worked hard trying to learn it, but honestly, I’m still not very good at it.
That style of fishing has its own kind of fun.
And if I ever get the chance, I’d love to jump into a state-of-the-art bass boat loaded with multiple gigantic screens, hire a guide on Lake Biwa, and try to catch a giant that way.
Bass fishing should be free.
Anyway...
I’ve gone completely off topic.
Back to the subject of weight and balance.
Compared with normal bass fishing, an 8-foot-plus heavy rod with a long grip, plus a reel that’s under 300 g but certainly isn’t “light,” is not exactly a lightweight setup.
But when you’re trying to increase mid-water sensitivity, rather than sensitivity from physically contacting something, the overall balance of a big-bait setup becomes incredibly important.
And when you’re trying to increase retrieve sensitivity with a low-gear reel, that balance becomes even more critical.
I ordered a TATULA 200P from the US, swapped the handle to a VARIAL, palmed that ridiculously ergonomic body, made a cast, started cranking...
And immediately thought:
“Yep. This is it.”
I’ll talk about the actual casting feel in detail when I do the hands-on NEUTRA breakdown.
The US TATULA 200P was essentially the combination I was looking for:
The compact size and relatively light weight of a 200-size reel, 25 lb / 100 m line capacity, and a low-gear option.
That was the TATULA 200P.
And that’s why it became the starting point for NEUTRA.
That’s all for today.
Thanks for reading.
Next time, I might finally get into the actual reel customization and all the little details...
Maybe.
