Working at Bass Pro Shops has meant that I have learned a lot about gear. I take good care of my equipment so many of my reels are over ten to twenty years old. This has been great for my wallet but when it came to learning my job it meant that I had to learn about ALL of the new equipment. To be completely honest, if you came to the Reel Counter and asked about saltwater conventional reels I'd tell you straight out that they are not my strong suit and you know more than I do. I'd rather be truthful than bullshit you. However, I do know about all of our freshwater spinning reels and can get by with our baitcasters.
One thing you need to realize as you read this is... no matter who you talk to at Bass Pro Shops or a tackle shop there is bias and strong opinions. Some guys have brand loyalty. The good news is the bias is usually based on experience and /or the experience of friends. Think about this, if I see three of the same rod come back to the store broken I'm going to quickly assume that rod is garbage. I won't recommend them to people. Another positive is that we aren't sponsored by anyone. Fishing pros get paid to use a product and promote that product. No one at Bass Pro has ever told me to push Bass Pro (or any other brand) products. We don't even get in trouble for talking people into cheaper equipment if it fits their budget (or level of experience).
With all of that said here are some general tips before I get into specific reels. Everyone I work with thinks Lew's reels are garbage. The most famous bass fisherman in the world, Kevin Van Dam, is sponsored by Lew's but everyone thinks it is overpriced junk. Shakespeare, Zebco, and Quantum sell either lower price gear or in Quantum's case they sold out to Zebco. The quality has gone down because of this. Abu Garcia is considered decent equipment but you can spend the same money on better equipment from other. Rands. The best companies are Shimano and Daiwa. Bass Pro reels are pretty good and they are actually made for us by Daiwa (shhh, our secret). Most of the newer companies such as Proficiency sell junk.
Lastly, before I begin, remember that all companies make cheap equipment and really expensive equipment. Just because a thirty dollar reel is made by Shimano does not mean it is good. An analogy that people can relate to are cars. Toyota makes great vehicles like Tundras and Camrys, but the also make the Yaris. You can't expect a Yaris to be as comfortable as a Camry. It can not be expected to last as long either. The same is true of reels. You do get what you paid for. However, after a certain point there are diminishing returns. I can promise you that a three hundred dollar freshwater reel is not twice as good as a one hundred and fifty dollar reel.
What makes a reel more expensive than the one next to it?
I get that question a lot. The answers are this. More expensive reels are lighter. They have more ball bearings which makes them smoother. The more expensive reels also have higher quality ball bearings. This last fact is less known. When reading the description of a reel they will all tell you how many ball bearings they have, but you can't tell how good the quality is of them. There really isn't any way to tell.
When I was a kid, my mom would buy me a new reel at Benny's every spring. It would be a cheap reel about $15. She would tell me to take care of it. I would and it would last the summer. I'd put it in the shed for the winter. When we took it out the following spring it would undoubtably make some sort of clicking or hissing noise. The handle would no longer turn smoothly. She would get annoyed with me and we would repeat the cycle where she would buy me a reel and tell me to take better care of it. But I did take care of my reel. They were cheap reels and the one ball bearing would corrode and the guts would rust. It took me years to realize that I didn't do anything wrong. Don't expect to get years out of a twenty dollar reel. It just won't happen.
Under $50
Please keep in mind when buying cheap reels, they won't last very long. Hope to get two or three years out of them. If you do, it is a win. The Daiwa Crossfire LT is probably the best reel at this price. It gets good reviews. The Bass Pro Tourney Special also gets very good reviews (the rod does not!). The only thing I don't like about the Tourney Special is that no matter the size, they are really on the same frame. The handle and body for a size ten (which should be for trout) is the same as the size 40. The only difference is the spool size. So I would go for the Daiwa LT. Any reels under this price are made. Any reel cheaper than the LT is made out plastic with really weak internals so don't expect it to last.
$50-$80
Despite being the second cheapest tier on the list, you can get a recent reel at this price point. In the same way teams look for "value" in the later rounds of the NFL draft, you can find good quality reels for under $80. Throughout most of my life this has been the price range of almost all of my reels.
The most popular reels we sell in this range are the Shimano Sedona, Pflueger President, Daiwa Regal, and Bass Pro Shops Carbonlite. To be honest, these four reels outsell all others combined including the other Bass Pro and Shimano cheaper reels.
I'll start with the President. Here is a situation where bias comes into play. We sell a lot of Presidents. It is a solid reel. It will last a long time. You could call it a "workhorse". I own two of them and I don't like them. A few years back I decided to treat myself and buy a new trout reel. So I bought a Pflueger President ( I don't remember when I got the second one). From the moment I bought it, I never liked it. I didn't like the look or the feel. If you read the reviews, they are generally fantastic. But for me, I didn't like the feel. With that said, do your own research and find out for yourself. You will probably like it far more than I do. Another added bonus is they go on sale quite often.
The reel that I wanted to replace when I wanted to upgrade was the Shimano Sedona. I had it for fifteen years and wanted something fresh. After buying my President and not liking it, I went right back to my Sedonas that I paid $60 for fifteen years earlier. I own three Sedonas. Two I bought for my trout rods (size 1500) and a 2500 that I found in a lake that I dried off and sprayed with grease. It has worked great for me. So needless to say, I am a huge fan of the older model Shimano Sedona.
That said, the Sedona is closer to $100 now (it goes on sale for under $80 every couple of months). It is a good reel but the most expensive of this lot. I used to recommend it as the best reel in this price range, but because of the cost I think it is the third best.
The Daiwa Regal is a damn good reel and may be the best reel under $100. If I didn't get a discount on Bass Pro brands, I would say of these four it is the best value. Although I'm only writing a few lines about it, is a damn good reel. The 3000 model weighs in at 7.8 ounces and has eight ball bearings.
The Bass Pro Carbonlite comes in at $80. I bought one in March and I love it. I love the 3000 size so much that I bought a 1500 for trout fishing ( to finally replace my old Sedona). The Carbonlite is really buttery smooth. I promise that it you feel it, you'd be shocked at the cost. The drag on both the 2000 and 3000 is an amazing 22 pounds. Many saltwater reels do not have 22 pounds of drag. The other advantage is this reel is super light. Both of the above sizes weigh 7.4 and 7.8 ounces. The downside is that because of the wide spool (which makes it easy to cast and also a lot of line pick up per handle turn) it holds less line than others of equal size. As I said in the introduction, Daiwa makes Bass Pro spinning reels (shh!). The Carbonlite is basically a Daiwa Fuego that costs twenty dollars more. So you are getting a hundred dollar reel for eighty. As I said...value.
There are a ton of reels at each price range and there is no way that I could review them all. As I said, these are the most popular. Bass Pro makes another reel at about $80 called the Pro Qualifier. I own five Pro Qualifier rods, but the truth is I do not like the reel at all. It feels heavy and cheap to me. But the part I really don't like is the oversized handle. The handle feels far too big for a reel of that size. The Daiwa Legalis is the reel in between the Regal and the Fuego. It is a very good reel but for reasons I really don't know, it is not a popular reel for us.
$100-190
While each manufacturer might have half a dozen models between $30-100 they only have a couple in each price range after that. Most companies make a model that is about a hundred dollars because that is a nice round number.
The Daiwa Fuego is a really good reel. As I said though, the Bass Pro Carbonlite is really a Fuego. However, if your brand loyalty is to Daiwa then you really can't go wrong for a buck ten. One huge advantage to the Fuego is that it does hold a ton of line.
The Bass Pro Johnny Morris Signature reel is a hundred dollars. Compared to the Carbonlite, it has less drag and it is heavier. The Carbonlite's drag is 22 pounds while the Signature is only eleven. However, the added weight is because it has really good internals. It is really smooth reel and will last for a long time. I bought a 2000 size for my second trout rod
I think the cream of the crop of hundred dollar reels is the Shimano Nasci. I really like how this reel feels. It is as buttery smooth as the Carbonlite. Shimano has a habit of passing down reels to the next lower model when they upgrade a higher end reel. So this means that the Shimano Nasci at one point was really a Stradic a couple models ago. (with a few tweaks). So you are getting a great reel for a hundred dollars. It is slightly heavy. The 3000 model is 8.5 ounces but it does have twenty pounds of drag.
The most expensive reel I'll suggest in this price range is the Daiwa Procyon ($179) It is a top of the line reel at a modest price. It is light and silky smooth.
Believe it or not, there is actually a lot of crap in this price range. Lews and ProFISHancy make a lot of hundred to two hundred dollar reels. I've seen a lot of ProFISHancy reels and rods come back broken. I love the Johnny Morris Signature Series, but I am not a fan of our top of the line reel the Johnny Morris Platinum ($129). I was told that the gears can grind by a co-worker. Then a couple weeks later, I saw it for myself when a guy brought one in that he had for two weeks and it sounded like it was full of sand in the gears. The Shimano Miravel is a good reel but it is basically a Nasci with a graphite body. This cuts back on weight but in my opinion, it makes the reel weaker.
Over $200
If you ask mw what my favorite reel is with the cost not being a factor it is the Shimano Stradic. The reel is not cheap. It costs $229. It is also not super light. It weighs 7.9 ounces. However, it is smooth. It is also a workhorse. I got one a month ago and although I can't vouch for its long term dependability yet, I can tell you how much I enjoy using it. I bought the 2500 model because I like the smaller handle that it comes with. It has a slightly smaller spool than the 3000 also. Other than that, it is the same reel. It has the same body, weight, and drag(twenty pounds). Some people use the 4000 size in saltwater mostly from kayaks and catch very large fish. I watched a YouTube video where a guy frequently catches sixty pound Tarpon with it. I would never put a two hundred dollar freshwater reel in saltwater but it does show that the drag holds up to any fish that would swim in freshwater.
The Stradic is the only reel in this category that I have personal experience with. However, the next Shimano up the ladder is the Vanford. It is basically a Stradic with a graphite body. It weighs under seven ounces. One of my co-workers has five of them. I'd worry about that graphite body like I would the Miravel but it is a top of the line reel.
At this price range Bass Pro doesn't make any freshwater spinning reels. So the only reel that is comparable to the Stradic is the Daiwa Tatula. I will be honest with you, it is smoother than my Stradic. I like the Stradic more because I feel the reel is solid. But I would never try to argue against a Tatula. If someone offered me one with the receipt, I would not return or replace it. Great reel.
Summary
There are reels more expensive than two hundred and thirty dollars. However, as I said at the beginning you are getting diminishing returns. For example, Shimano makes the $320 Sustain. I do not see any difference between it and my Stradic. I seriously doubt it could last much longer. For that matter, it is not three times better than a Nasci. I also know that most fishermen are not going to ever need a $320 reel.
One thing to remember, the fishing gear industry is there to make money. A good reel may be twice as good as a shit reel, but only twenty five percent worse than a great reel. I advise you to reach the seventy dollar price range and buy a Fuego or Carbonlite if you want your gear to last. If you want to feel like you have a top of the line reel then a Stradic or Tatula may be the way to go. If you want something in between there really are a lot of good options.
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