Buying a new reel

Steve826 08/05/2008 - 20:36 Roll Your Own Technical Information This Friday, my family is taking the trip to Arundal Mills Mall for an afternoon...and of course me and dad will spend some time at Bass Pro Shops. This is actually going to be my first time at BPS, I usually get my fishing supplies at Wal Mart and we went to Cabelas in April-that was fun. But I have some money saved up and I got to thinkin. I decided I think I need an upgrade from my Zebco 33. I've been looking at a couple reels, but I still havent 100% answered this question- should I upgrade from a spincaster to a spinning reel, or should I just buy a better spincaster? I am leaning towards buying the spinning reel, due to some very good advice from Mike. But I am a little leery about shelling out 60 bucks for a spinning reel because of the line twists that probably will come with a spinning reel. If I were to upgrade spincasters, I would go to this: http://www.basspro.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Product_10151_-1_10001_44496____SearchResults

Copy and paste that URL into your browser if your interested in looking. Now, the main reason I am probably going to buy a spinning reel is because I want a reel that will cast accurately, and far. Spincasters rarely do that. I highly doubt even a top notch spincaster will cast very well. Basically, if I'm gonna shell out 60 bucks it would make more sense to shell it out on a spinning reel b/c it will probably be better. Thats what I'm thinking. Due to Mike's recomendation, I will probably buy this reel: http://www.basspro.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Product_10151_-1_10001_51666____SearchResults

Now, a few questions that I would like answered, if anyone has the time. Mike, if you read this, dont think I'm second guessing your advice- I trust your advice, I just would like as many opinions as I can get before I make such a big investment :)

1- Should I upgrade spincasters, or get a good spinning reel? Explain why
2- What is the best all purpose spinning reel for around $60? I mainly fish for largemouth, though I may give smallie fishing another try one of these days. I am restricted to the bank, so long casts would be nice.
3- What test line should I get it spooled with?
4- Should I get mono, flouro, or braid?

A big thank you in advance, to anyone who answers my questions. Mike, thanks to you for all the advice you gave me about this question as well.

Steve

UPDATE

Steve826 08/08/2008 - 21:11 Bought the reel today at BPS, the Pflueger President 6735X. Followed Mike's advice and bought a $10 rod to go with it. Its a 6 ft medium action rod. He said to get the cheapest rod I could find, and I did :) Also bought a spinnerbait and buzzbait to try for the first time, plus some more of my trusted grubs, actually I bought Zoom grubs for the first time, I've always used Yamamotos. Also got some KVD line and lure conditioner, I think its the same kind of thing as Real Magic? That Jeff mentioned...I'm getting the reel spooled up at Fox's on Monday. Probably gonna get Trilene XL in 8 lb line for the first spool, then I'll bring in the other once they finish the first and figure out what to do with that. Any suggestions? I know Hookup said one spool with 6 lb and one with 8lb..I'll consider that. Just thought I'd let everyone know :)

Steve

Spinning

HookUp 08/07/2008 - 07:48 Bait on the spincasters. I find to much maintenance and when you get the fish of a life time on, Murphy's law says it'll fail.

Get a 1500-2500 sized spinning reel and a ML-M rod. Cuz bought a combo for $49.99 and got 2 c-classes with it the next week. He loves that combo.

Rather then telling you what brand to get, find one that feels good to you and is well balance. Get one with two spools. Fill one with 6# and one with 8#.

Braid's nice, but a mean mistress if you're learning. Start with a high quality monofilament (BPS Excel's the best bang for the buck).

Avoid flouro for spinning reels - to much memory. Copoly's nice, but again, memory that'll cause you problems. Mono's easy - just follow the directions on spooling it or you'll have problems.

I fish with top end gear and recently got a Daiwa Excelor for $59.99. Nice reel for the $$.

Nothing beats dumb luck

Thanks for the tips on what l

Steve826 08/07/2008 - 20:32 Thanks for the tips on what line to use Hookup, mono definitley seems like the best choice. What exactly do you mean by 1500-2500 size? Wish me luck with my purchase tomorrow, I'm hoping the reel turns out well.

reel

HookUp 08/14/2008 - 16:46 Do you now know what I meant by 1500-2500 size?

Nothing beats dumb luck

No I dont, I took Mike's advi

Steve826 08/14/2008 - 19:18 No I dont, I took Mike's advice and bought the reel he reccomended so I'm not exactly sure what you mean by 1500-2500. For future reference do you mind explaining what you meant?

I'm goin on a camping/fishing weekend this weekend at Cunningham Falls State Park so I'll get to test out my reel. I got one spool with 8 lb trilene XL for throwing grubs, tubes, split shot rigged worms, wacky rigs, etc and one spool with 10 lb trilene XL for throwing Texas rigs, spinnerbaits, jerkbaits, topwaters, etc. I'll update my post on Sunday when I get back letting everyone know how it performed.

My 2 Cents for what it is worth :)

smalljaw 08/06/2008 - 05:32 Steve,

1- Should I upgrade spincasters, or get a good spinning reel? Explain why
I would advise yes. Just about everyone starts out with a spincaster, me included. For the bulk of my 35+ years of fishing I have used spinning gear. The main reason is that spinning gear is very good at all kinds of fishing approaches. Not the best at everything but it doesn't really get in your way either.

2- What is the best all purpose spinning reel for around $60? I mainly fish for largemouth, though I may give smallie fishing another try one of these days. I am restricted to the bank, so long casts would be nice.
Captwalleye is the king of long casts. Hopefully he will chime in here. Understand though that long casts are a function of the balance between the rod, reel, line and bait selection.

3- What test line should I get it spooled with?
I use 8 pound on all of my spinning reels.

4- Should I get mono, flouro, or braid?
I like Yozuri Hybrid line. The Yozuri line is strong and doesn't stretch as much as mono. Flouro is relatively expensive and I haven't had any good reason to switch over to that. I like braid and it has a lot of advantages but it is expensive.

I notice that you don't mention the size of the reel that you are looking at. That is important. Mike's recommendation is a good one but make sure he gives you the size also. Just from the model numbers I would choose the 6725X which would have been the wrong choice for me. Looks like the 6730X is the right one but check with Mike first.

IMPORTANT: Invest 5 or 6 bucks in a can of Real Magic and use it. I think it is a little cheaper to buy at Walmart.

I say take the plunge and get the spinning gear. You are going to go there at some point in your fishing career. Might as well start now. I can almost guarantee that your experience with throwing soft plastics and inline spinners will be greatly improved.

Smalljaw

Jeff, Thanks for taking yo

Steve826 08/06/2008 - 10:19 Jeff,

Thanks for taking your time to answer my questions. Mike recomended the 6735X...thats probably what size I'll get. I'm a little confused though: BPS says the 6730X has a line capacity of 8 lbs/100 yards, and the 6735 has a capacity of 10 lbs/120 yards...everywhere else I looked, including Pfluegers website said that the 6735X has 145 yards of 8 lb test. I'm assuming BPS just made a mistake? If it did, then I'm just gonna use the 6735 most likely, because 145 yards of 8 lb test sounds best. There's no way it would be different at BPS then anywhere else is there?

Thanks for throwing your two cents in, between your advice and Mike's advice I think I've decided that the spinning reel is the best choice.

Steve