Selecting a spinning reel

[Heron]

What are the important aspects that you look for when selecting a spinning reel?

[Darren.]

Reputation, feel in my hands, weight, gear ratio,
repair reputation, etc.

Probably most subjective, but one of the key 
things is feel in my hands.

[fishnkamp]

Myself it is all about how smooth it is when I have it mounted on a rod in my hand. Next it is how smooth the drag is. Next I consider what my purpose for it will be then see if the line capacity and if the retrieve ratio will retrieve the amount per revolution I am looking for. Recently I set my wife up with a new Irod spinning rod for throwing frogs. Normally one would do that with a baitcaster, but she did not want one. So I picked a Shimano Symetre 3000. It is both light and very smooth. The drag system is very smooth as well. Lastly it says it is a 6.2 to one ratio, but also lists line recovery per handle turn as 35 inches. If you compare that to a Diawa baitcaster it equals an 8-1  which is exactly what I throw for frogs.  Number of bearings is nice to look at but not necessarily an real indicator of how smooth a real is, some reals with very high bearing numbers are not that smooth. It is more about where the bearings are and less about having tons of them.  If you are looking for just an affordable workhorse of a rod go get a Pflueger President.  All 6 of our other spinning reels are Presidents.  We purchased this Shimano because of its gearing mostly.

[Philo Beddoe]

I was in the same boat about selecting a spinning reel and opted for a $100+ Shimano.  If I had it to do over, I'd give the Pflueger President a try. Not that my Shimano's aren't great, just that I'm not sure they are worth all the extra money.

 

[burrows]

Well when finding the right spinning reel you simply need to make sure it's a shimano also don't want to spent less than 69$ new Sedona fe is a good start. ?

[Bluebasser86]

Weight, retrieve speed, price, and line capacity were my big factors last time. I wanted a drop shot reel so I needed something light, that was fairly fast, wasn't overly expensive because I don't DS often, and held a reasonable amount of line. 

[Heron]

16 minutes ago, Cheesefrank said:

Well when finding the right spinning reel you simply need to make sure it's a shimano also don't want to spent less than 69$ new Sedona fe is a good start. ?

*yawn*

 

 

2 hours ago, fishnkamp said:

Myself it is all about how smooth it is when I have it mounted on a rod in my hand. Next it is how smooth the drag is. Next I consider what my purpose for it will be then see if the line capacity and if the retrieve ratio will retrieve the amount per revolution I am looking for. Recently I set my wife up with a new Irod spinning rod for throwing frogs. Normally one would do that with a baitcaster, but she did not want one. So I picked a Shimano Symetre 3000. It is both light and very smooth. The drag system is very smooth as well. Lastly it says it is a 6.2 to one ratio, but also lists line recovery per handle turn as 35 inches. If you compare that to a Diawa baitcaster it equals an 8-1  which is exactly what I throw for frogs.  Number of bearings is nice to look at but not necessarily an real indicator of how smooth a real is, some reals with very high bearing numbers are not that smooth. It is more about where the bearings are and less about having tons of them.  If you are looking for just an affordable workhorse of a rod go get a Pflueger President.  All 6 of our other spinning reels are Presidents.  We purchased this Shimano because of its gearing mostly.

Yeah Im just looking for a general workhorse reel, not for anything specific.  Theres one that Im looking at, that has the following...

- 5.2:1 gearing

- 27" line retrieve

- 7 bearings

- 9oz

- 17lbs drag

Its geared a little low, but Im thinking it will be a good fit for my purposes.

[Red Bear]

i look for something thats going to last a long time. can handle the type of line i plan to put on it. weight is a factor only if i plan on casting it a lot, if im going to use it for something like catfishing then weight is  less of a factor. the reel has to feel smooth when turning the handle and have a solid, smooth drag as well. also, the rod i plan to put the reel on has a lot to do with it as well.

[Angry John]

I look for a reels reputation on a reputable site like this or TT.  I then hunt down and hold the reel in my hands.  Is it smooth and does is it well constructed.  I then look at price and aesthetics.  I am a huge fan of the daiwa sol, advantage, and fuego spinning reels.  They are a few years old and i pick them up old stock or lightly used now.  If your budget supports i also love the certate as a special treat.  I only have one but i love it.  I have some brand loyalty so let that not be a secret.  A final thing i look for is a spare spool.  I have one that has braid and one that is spooled with flourocarbon.  I use the flouro in rivers mostly.

[OkobojiEagle]

Metal body/stem, side plate and rotor

bearing supported line roller

front drag with large carbon fiber drag disc(s)

balances intended rod well

 

oe

 

 

[loudcherokee]

When I decided to upgrade my spinning reel from my old walmart special Mitchell 300x, I went with Lews based on my experience with their baitcasters. I picked up a Lews Tournament Pro Spinning reel and it was an amazing reel. Smooth retrieve, fairly light weight, smooth drag, and could handle braid really well.

When the new Team Lews Gold Spin came out, I upgraded again with no regrets. I gave my old tourney pro spin to my fishing buddy so he had something better to fish with than the $10 Shakespeare he was using.

LC

[blckshirt98]

I look for a reel in the right size, that's on sale.  I stick with mostly Shimano but I've got a previous generation Fuego that's awesome to fish with.  Pretty much any reel by any of the big companies will work fine, a lot of it comes to brand loyalty and aesthetics.  Shimano, Daiwa, Pflueger, pick one you like and you'll be fine.