Decision made! Which baitcaster?

[Chris at Tech]

Go to a local store with the rod and find the reels in your price range from the well-known brands -- Daiwa, Shimano, Abu, Lews.  Try the reels on the rod to see how they palm, how the whole rig balances.  It's good to get advice like above, but you don't fish with just a reel.  You fish with the rod and the reel together, so find a pair that feel good together.

 

As far as I'm concerned, the written specs on bearings, braking, etc are meaningless to those who are new to baitcasters.

 

When you make your choice, spool it up with line.  Then pull 40-50 yards of line off and put a small piece of electrical tape on the spool, and crank the line back on.  As you learn the reel, the tape will help to keep backlashes to a minimum, and make any you get easy to pick out.

[Bigmommachaser79]

On 8/13/2018 at 12:06 PM, MUSLENUTZ said:

Made the decision to go with my first bait caster. Putting it on an Avid X 7 MHF. Looking to spend $150-$200. Shimano, Dawai, Abu or Lew’s? 

I would go with the lews hyper mag or the lews custom pro speed spool. You can get either on eBay right now for 200.00 brand new