Baitcaster Reels Advice

[Flippin & Pitchin]

I am in the market for a nice baitcaster for cranksbaits and such. A little on the cheap side. Cabelas suggested an Abu Garcia Black Max or a Pflueger Echelon. I also checked out a Diawa Exceler combo last night.

I'm not wanting to spend to much over $115 on the whole setup of rod and reel.

[bassprofishguy]

you want a baitcaster for $115 or a combo?id go to basspro or cabels and see what housebrand combos they got going on sale esp. since fathersday is coming up you should be able to get some great deals

http://www.basspro.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Product_10151_-1_10001_103927_100003001_100000000_100003000_100-3-1

check this combo out thats the first baitcaster i learned out very forgoiving and very reliable still have it and still going strong and rod is great to. or this one at cabelas

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/pod/horizontal-pod.jsp?id=0065217&navCount=1&parentId=cat20285&masterpathid=&navAction=push&cmCat=MainCatcat20166-cat20285&parentType=index&indexId=cat20285&rid=

not to sure of that reel but its a pretty sweet lookn combo.but pflueger reels are great the new stuff they got out is topnotch

[Muddy]

I fish nothing but Pfluegers and I have to tell you to STAY AWAY FROM THE ESCHELON, it is a very poorly made reel. I cracked the graphite housing on one.

Pfluegers quality line is from the Trion up

You can get a Trion LP for 99 bucks at Cabelas ,Johnny's Fishing Pond and other sites for this, they are the only reel I use.

I have no experience with the other reels you posted, so someone else will have to chime in on those choices.

[Sam]

Curado E5.

Sweet.  

[cart7t]

Curado E5.

Sweet.

You're $40 over his budget not including the rod.  

[Crestliner2008]

I have 3 Abu Ambassadors and have been using them for many, many years with no problems. The ole' reliable 5500C is hard to beat for the money. A matching BPS Bionic Blade and you're good to go!  

[Muddy]

Those ABU's round reels are sweet. I always forget to mention them. My thumb was broken a while ago, except for that I would use em, but the profile is too difficult for me

[SPEEDBEAD.]

Pick up one of the BPS Extreme combos.  They are always on sale and you will likely find something around your price point.

[roadwarrior]

Pick up one of the BPS Extreme combos. They are always on sale and you will likely find something around your price point.

Yep...At your pricing point the best deal will be a combination

from a major retailer, ON SALE.  Be patient. They rotate

their sale items, but it's all on sale at one time or another.

8-)

[Muddy]

Good Point RW, they do rotate their stuff. and if you ask ( get to know someone, I did at Cabelas and it has paid off) you can get what you want and save some dinero. He lets me know when sales are on the way, and the circular not out yet :

[SHW300]

Pick up one of the BPS Extreme combos.  They are always on sale and you will likely find something around your price point.

X3

Check online before you go to the store.  I was a few days late on the sale last month, but the fishing manager gave me the sale price anyway.  $109.00 for the combo.  Any extreme reel i ratio of your choice  & extreme rod of your choice.  I have since bought three.

[KYntucky Warmouth]

another one for the extreme

[shootermcbob]

A little over your budget, but currently Cabelas has their XML casting rods on sale for 69.00 and their prodigy baitcaster on sale for 74.00. Rod retails for 139.00 and reel retails for 99.00.  You would be saving nearly 100.00 and you would have a very high quality outfit.

[Flippin & Pitchin]

I've decieded that a new setup can wait until next year.

I hear nothing but great things about the Curado. Is it really worth it to throw that much more money into it? It wouldn't be difficult to put aside a few bucks here and there to have it for fishing the powerplant lakes this winter.

[Hammer 4]

Check ebay for the Curado...about 150.00 shipped

[Flippin & Pitchin]

Yea that was one of the first places I checked. I also found a Citica for just under $90 plus shipping on some discount site. That may be the better option for me and put on a mid level casting rod.

[infiltwb]

Honestly, one of my preferred baitcasters is an okuma stratus. got it for $40 at dicks a while ago, and despite being a low end reel, has performed quite well. If your new to baitcasters, I would definately get a cheapie to see how your going to feel about em. They definately take a control touch and take some getting used to.

What i've learned in the past few years of using em, magnetic brakes are a pita and dont really feather too well. Centrifugal are definately a better, more consistent and reliable braking system IMO. I love my Quantums and Shimanos. I have a daiwa that i do use from time to time but thats almost always with heavier lures(3/8 oz+).

Fluorocarbon or a copolymer line tends to work by far better than anything else. the stiffness in the line seems to help the line peel off the spool much easier as opposed to braid that tends to wrap under the line guide from my experience with low weight lures.

The BPS stuff is made by browning iirc and the cabelas stuff is daiwa, i would definately be more confident in a bps setup for that reason, my daiwa stuff looks great, but the performance is not what I would consider up to par.

If you want to take the plunge, shimano stuff rocks. I recently picked up a pair of citicas from a friend as their a bit light for what he's doing in the salt, and i love em. Have one on a cabelas mag touch and the other on a compre, dynamite setups on both.

Hope this helps heh.

cyas

[rubba bubba]

The Citica is nice but I found the Revo S to be smoother, imo. They both have centrifugal brakes.

The Bpro Extremes are great because they have both centrifugal and magnetic brakes (which in and of itself isn't amazing but for this price point - $59 on sale for current, $39 for clearance - it is). I have one with a lot of miles on it and just cleaned and lubed it the other day. It still is smooth and solid.