And a glorious, good day to all.
Is the reel foot width, height and angle proportionately the same on all reel seats? Differently asked, does the width, height (possibly angle) of a reel seat increase as the diameter increase? Yet another view, will too small of a reel fit sloppily in too large of a seat? As an example, will the feet of the same reel fit similarly into all seats of the same size/ diameter? Is there a universal formula or does each manufacturer make their own rules? Hopefully I have described my question adequately.

Mark Talmo
FISHING IS NOT AN ESCAPE FROM LIFE BUT RATHER A DEEPER IMMERSION INTO IT!!! BUILDING YOUR OWN SIMPLY ENHANCES THE EXPERIENCE.

I like to fit the real seat to what's comfortable in my hand within reason. Obviously don't use a size 24 on an UL spinning reel. But for example, I prefer a 17 to a 16, so I'm using that on my crappie rod, even though it's a smaller reel. I don't know if that's what you were looking for.

Randy, thank you for replying. Let me try to rephrase in an attempt to allow those of you willing to share your knowledge with my issue. I am curious to learn if the openings / saddles / cut-outs / hoods for the reel feet are the same size on all seats or if they progressively increase in size as the seat size increases. I would expect an ultralight seat to have smaller reel feet openings than an ocean trolling seat, but I am not certain, maybe not. My concern / question is geared more to, we’ll say a size 20, 22, 24 and 26. Hopefully I clarified my initial question.

Mark Talmo
FISHING IS NOT AN ESCAPE FROM LIFE BUT RATHER A DEEPER IMMERSION INTO IT!!! BUILDING YOUR OWN SIMPLY ENHANCES THE EXPERIENCE.

Mark.
All you mentioned above, all goes up in size and length as the reel seat gets larger, but as your reels get larger, or more geared for heavy duty use, the reel foot gets wider, beefier and longer to a certain extent. The small foot on the small palming, bass reels will work on all 16, 17, and 18 mm reel seats of either pipe (spinning) or casting trigger designs. the 18 mm and larger reel seats of both designs will fit the smaller saltwater sized reel foot which is both longer and wider that the freshwater style reel foot mentioned before. Reels that have this reel foot includes all the bigger than 6500 ABUs, the Shimano Tekotas and similar sized reels like the Shimano Charter Boat Specials, etc. If I remember right, because I've quit using the really big reels years ago, there is also one size bigger reel foot.
I've used up to a size 20 on the standard spinning reel length reel foots with no issues to speak of, but you can always add a small bit of rubber gasket material under the reel foot or under the hoods/slots to snug up that area if you like.
Does this help?



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 05/03/2017 07:14PM by Spencer Phipps.

Spencer, thanks for responding and, yes, it did help. I do not have an array of different size reel seats lying around to measure. My inquiry stems from being afraid to purchase a seat with too small of an ID and hence openings too small for the reel feet of typical medium duty (25-75lb)ocean rods / reels. Although preferred not to, I agree a shim of sorts can be employed to snug-up a loose fit, but would refuse to grind down the feet of a reel to accommodate seat opening which are too small. Case-in-point; I ordered a 22mm seat even though an 18 or 19 would have fit the blank of this saltwater rod build.
Is it safe to say the reel feet openings in seats gradually increase in size as the diameter increases?

Mark Talmo
FISHING IS NOT AN ESCAPE FROM LIFE BUT RATHER A DEEPER IMMERSION INTO IT!!! BUILDING YOUR OWN SIMPLY ENHANCES THE EXPERIENCE.

Yes to a certain degee that is true.
Especially for salt water blanks that are now so thin and narrow.
I recently had to remove a reel seat from a jigging rod that had a size 20 reel seat ( fuji ) and it was too small for the large 30 size reel that was to be used on it for live bait fishing. The hoods were too small and the diameter of the reelseat was too small for the reel clamp.

With all due respect to previous responders, thank you, Mel. It took me awhile to state my question properly to be understandable. That being said, reel seat manufacturers should include reel feet opening dimensions as well as the ID, or is that just assumed to be common knowledge within the wizardry of veteran rod crafters? I‘m glad to have purchased a 22 rather than one which only fit nicely on the blank. It is difficult to believe I am the only one who would benefit from such dimensions.

Mark Talmo
FISHING IS NOT AN ESCAPE FROM LIFE BUT RATHER A DEEPER IMMERSION INTO IT!!! BUILDING YOUR OWN SIMPLY ENHANCES THE EXPERIENCE.