I need a new bait casting reel

[Hooty Hoot]

I am tired of purchasing reels that go to my catfish pile after a few uses. I would rather try a reel somewhere before purchasing but that place does not exist to my knowledge. I would like to find a good value in a reel but thus far, good value equals catfish pile.

I want a medium fast reel that will handle lighter baits. What do you have that you like? My current go-to reel is 40 years old but I like it better than my newer reels. I will spend some money on a new reel but I want my monies worth.

 

[tcarlson777]

I have owned two or three Shimano Curados and they have never ended up as catfish reels.
https://www.cabelas.com/product/SHIMANO-CURADO-CASTING-REEL/2253684.uts?slotId=2

 

[Papa Bear]

I too like my Curados, but added 2 cheaper reels that I use a lot. 1) Abu Garcia Black Max had 2 years still going strong Walmart. 2) Kastking Royal Legend Amazon both under $40.00 reels.

 

[NoOne]

I've had great results with Lee's baitcasters

 

[NoOne]

I've had great results with Lee's baitcasters

I meant Lew's

 

[oops1]

This.. Their combos are quite nice

 

[CDW]

I have a shimano casitas reel and. For $99 I absolutely love it. It casts better than the more expensive reels I have.

 

[Quackmasterofgeorgia]

I like the lews baitcasters

 

[tree cutter 08]

I bought a lews few weeks back and like it so far. I think you need to spend a hundred or more dollars before you get into the better feels but that's just my opinion.

 

[Browniez]

Tackle Warehouse has a demo program that is very convenient to try new higher dollar items to get a real feel for them.

I did it before I dropped the coin on my Super G and my Stradic

 

[TomC]

DON’T BUY NEW!!

Option #1 - You can buy a used Ferrari for the price of a new Ford. Head over to the classifieds at Bass Boat Central and with a little patience you can get a used REAL reel for $150 to $200 that cost twice that amount new. Spend some time reading the reviews at TackleTour.com as they review a lot of higher end gear. You can read reviews at Tackle Tour going back quite a few years. Don’t be hesitant to buy a reel that’s got some age on it as IMO there is a BIG difference in the higher end reels from Daiwa and Shimano over the stuff they sell new in the $150-$200 range…..PARTICULARLY when it comes to tossing the light stuff. I personally like the higher end Daiwa reels. I’ve bought quite a few high end used reels over the years from BBC and have NEVER had an issue. Once you use a really high end reel you will be spoiled for life!


Option #2 - It’s been a few years since I’ve done this but I was BLOWN away at the performance improvement for tossing light stuff. Buy a used Curado since its a solid reel but the out of the box performance is less than stellar for tossing light lures because they are packed with WAY to much grease. For the most part any new sub $200 reel will be over packed with grease and lube as the mfg’s assume people buying these reels will not maintain them and probably never clean them. The extra grease KILLS performance though. Take it apart, totally clean it, relube it with with some quality lube and replace the bearings with some quality boca bearings. Next get online and google “Supertuning a Baitcaster”. It’s a fun project if you like projects. Essentially you will end up polishing a lot of the internal components with a dremel tool and some jewelers polish. This significantly reduces friction of the internal parts which will drastically improve the performance of the reel for tossing light lures or any lures for that matter.