Best Bait casting reels

[greener280]

What  are the best bait casting reels out there for small and large mouth bass

[Guest Texas_Bass_Pro]

Quantum and Shamino.

[cart7t]

Quantum, Shimano, Garcia, Pflueger.  

Oh and Brownings, The better BPS reels, old Lews BB1N's, etc, etc.

Most of the manufacturers are making good equipment these days.

[Guest DavidGreen]

After looking into the guts of the top 4 manufacturers for 21 years.....

IMPO There are no BEST only personal favorites!!

Tight Lines All!!!

[Alpster]

What  are the best bait casting reels out there for small and large mouth bass

WELCOME to the forum!

There are no best, only favorites. If you ask a more specific question, you will get a more specific answer. Try "what's the best 200 series reel for $50 or $60? Or whats the best cranking reel for under $100? Or "what are hard core smallmouth fishermen using these days"? I hope this is helpful.

BTW I like Shimano reels and use them in various types and price points for all bass fishing. Also try the search feature and read the articles, there is an amazing amount of info on this site.

Ronnie

[MALTESE FALCON]

Welcome greeer280,

I've used Abu Garcia for the last 24 years. But as others have posted, there are many good brands out there.

Falcon

[dodgeguy]

i like pflueger.like these guys have said,there are many good reels made today.we will state our personal preference without trying to bash other brands.any manufacturer today will take care of you if you have an issue with a reel.

[roadwarrior]

greener280,

Welcome aboard!

Just look through this section. There are at least a couple of hundred threads on "best reels." I think you will see that nearly everyone has a "favorite." Specify a price range and you will get several suggestions.

[ww2farmer]

"BEST" is highly subjective. The "BEST" reel for me might not be the "BEST" reel for you. A lot of variables go into selecting a reel. How will you use it? How many days per year will you use it? Do you fish tournaments or recreationaly? Do you like to have differant rods/reels for differant techniques, or do you like 1 or 2 "GP" combos? What is your price range?

I break reels into differant groups by price range:

#1 $200+ reels: serious tools for pro's, people who fish alot, or people who enjoy using high end tackle. These reels often use the newest tech. (which eventually trickles down to the lower cost reels), super light weight materials, the finest bearings and componants. But you also pay for every bit of it.

#2 $100-$200 reels: Quality stuff that will last a long time, no matter if you use it 10 or 200 days a year, good for weekend tournament guys, people who are a little rough on there stuff. This range is probably the most popular, as I can not think of any "junk" made in this range.  

#3 less than $100 reels: this is my price range, but you have to be carefull here, some of it is good some of it is not. It suits me fine, I take good care of it, fish only around 100 days per year, and like to have many differant combo's for differant techniques, which I could not do if I stepped up to the higher end reels. The magic (if there is such a thing) $$ range where reels seem to have acceptable quality to me is about $70-$80. This is where reels start to have metal frames, smooth higher count and higher quality bearings, and good cast controls. The trade off between these reels in this range and reels in the $100-$200 range seem to be, they are a little heavier, don't make use of the latest up to date tech., use a little more plastic, and a few less bearings, but still are far and above better than the reels in that price range made 15-20 years ago. Daiwa (procaster) Bass Pro Shops (extremes) Quantum (accurist) Abu Garcia (C3 round reels) all are good products that fit this market well. For a few bucks more but still staying in the sub $100 range, Daiwa (advantage) Pflueger (trion) Abu Garcia (revo s) are good reels as well. This range is probably not as popular as the $100-$200 range for serious fisherman, because of the "unknowns", you could sift through alot of cheap crap, spending more money on it than if you would have had just gone out and bought a higher end reel in the first place. That beeing said, I would still feel comfortable recomending any of the reels I mentioned, because, at least in my exp., those reels are good reels that suit a "recreational" fisherman like me fine.

[roadwarrior]

ww2farmer,

Wow!

That was a very well thoughtout post, excellent perspective and filled with very helpful information.

[Deuceu72]

Wow!

That was a very well thoughtout post, excellent perspective and filled with very helpful information.

Agreed!  ;D

[Redlinerobert]

WW2Farmer's post sums it up nicely.  Take a look at your budget and choose accordingly.  My new personanl favorite is the Steez baitcasting reel.  Amazing that a $450 reel can be so popular - they are often sold out and on backorder!

Overall I really like my Shimano Chronarch's as well.  Great reels for a much better price.  Daiwa TDX's are fantastic as well, they cast better than the Shimano's and have a nice small profile that fits well in my hand.

[ww2farmer]

ww2farmer,

Wow!

That was a very well thoughtout post, excellent perspective and filled with very helpful information.

LOL see what happens RW when I am in a "good mood", unlike my little "rant" last week. Thank god you called me on it so I could delete it before making an even bigger jerk of myself. But I guess we all have those moments.

[Vermelho]

Great post ww2farmer - I couldn't agree more!

Also, I'd like to add that no matter what reel you buy, it's performance and reliability can probably be significantly enhanced with good general maintenence and cleaning technique.  

[rosewalt]

The one that has the most current BIG BASS on the other end

[sal669]

Right on ww2farmer !

I would add that is the fisherman that catches the fish, not the reel. But than, you don't whant "head ackes"

I am for the midrange ($100-200)