Home Forums Fishing Freshwater Best bait caster for <$100

What’s your choice for best bait caster reel for bass
Fishing for sub-$100? what say you?

Lew's has a reel that is right at the $100 mark and is a good one.

I have bought several from Fisherman's factory outlet. They have bins of recondited reels. You about have be in the place though.
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I like my Shimanos but the Bass Pro "Pro Qualifier" I tried lists for about S100. It can be had for considerably less on sale and IMO is as good as any in the $100 range.

I’ve had three pro qualifiers (one I had to send back) and have been underwhelmed with them. The spec sheet on them is good, they just didn’t cast vey well. My lews cast better, but some of the lower end ones occasionally pop the thumb bar when casting, locking the spool. If I was buying a bare reel I would look toward Daiwa or Shimano.

I think I have six Lew's Speed Spool LFS and my son has that many or more, never had a seconds worth of trouble from them. Been using them for about six or seven years, fishing a couple days per week from mid March until bowhunting gets good in October. I'm a Lew's fan.

Anyone tried the Shimano SLX that they brought out about two years ago? It has several optional gear ratios going up to 8:1. I think they list for around $100.

You really need to go look at reels and see what you like. Like everything else there is seldom a best of anything but rather a lot of different personal opinion's on what's best. I have ABU Ambassadors, Daiwa Millionaire, Kastking, Shakespere, Ocuma, Shimano, a really old Zebco and maybe a couple others. Best of the bunch, I don't really know as I like them all. I do lean strongy to my ABU's but the round Kastking I got is really nice too. The Daiwa Millionaire I only got because it was on sale for about 75% off and a store going out of business sale. Really surprised at how nice a reel it is. Another thing you need to determine is do you want a round reel or low profile? I have two low profile's and the rest are round. May be I'm partical to round because that is what I started with and was quite some time before low profile even came out. My Shmino is the first low profile I ever got, a 100. Love that reel! The last low profile I got is a Daiwa RG 100HS. Have no idea which is a better reel but do lean toward the Shimino but that could be because it was my first low profile and no other reason. Love the ABU's as I said but in reality are they really that much better than my other round reels? I don't really know but if I had to get rid of all my reels but one, including spinning reels, I think the one I'd keep is my ABU 2500. Saw one for sale on the internet a while back for $1250! Mine is old and cost no where near that!

At some point your gonna find out picking a reel, bait caster or spinning, it's like picking a wife. Your gonna like what you like regardless what anyone else thinks of it. I'd lower what you want to spend starting out. Look around and you can find a round reel and a low profile that together you can get for $100 easily. Or if your pretty sure you want one over the other, get two $50 reels and see what you like. Te reels being made today are really nice, much better than what was around when I started them. if selection is important, go low profile, ton of them around! And, unless your fishing 8 hrs a day five days a week, your probably gonna have a hard time wearing one out! My first Zebco direct drive I got about 1965 while stationed in Germany Still works today good as it ever did. First ABU was about 1972 and used it a lot till I lost it in a house fire 20 yrs ago. The Shimino I don't remember when I got it but before I moved to where I live now and I've been here 31 yrs! And with all the reels I have now, I seldom use the same reel two time's in a row, just like to switch around. My favorite I think would be that little ABU 2500 but that Daiwa RG100HS is right on it's heels. Simply not pretty enough.

Low profile all the way...

Diawa tatula

Been using the Garcia Max series this year. Bought a Pro, Silver and Black and they have all seemed to work pretty well with no problems. I do like the click adjustable brake on the Pro Max better than the friction brake on the other two. The g/kid has appropriated the Silver as 'his' reel and let me have my Zebco 33's back. He's such a generous soul!

I bought a KastKing Royale Legend a while back because I had a hard time believing how good some folks said they were for so little money. I haven't used it a lot (I'm normally a spinning reel guy) but dang that thing is smooth.

If you like the looks and feel of a round reel, get round. If you like the looks and feel of low profile, get low profile. Probably a personal preference and nothing more. For bigger fish, channel cats, I never ever use a low profile reel. Might work alright but just a bit unsure with the low profile if I actually hooked a big fish. Have a ton of confidence in my round reels, like the way they handle and they cast as smooth as either of my low profile's, and, those low profiles are smooth.

Used a Silver Max low profile to land a 72# blue cat and it seemed to work fine.

My Daughter and I have switched over to the Lews. Think you get more bang for the buck with them. On the medium weight rods we spool with braid then a 15 lb. floro. which makes a great jig setup.

Well that's one. If you like the low profile and are confident in it, use it! It's simply a matter of what you prefer I started casting reels a good time before low profiles came out. Have the first low profile I ever bought, found it in my son's stuff Still a super reel but I would not consider it for channel cat fishing I'm sure it's in my head but it just doesn't look up to the job to me Works great on small mouth bass! I have reels I'm much more confident in for bigger fish! Oh, those low profiles, I do have, two, I would not hesitate to use on bull head cat's. Then again I've caught bull heads on an ultra light spinning set up with 4# line.

Hi Don,

Have you had any low pro failures? I haven’t, but I’m always ready to learn!

I see Penn is bringing out an lp series. The 400 series looks like it would be just the checker for catfish. The price needs to come down a good bit but if I start saving now I might be able to sneak one by the wife before next spring...

Shimano SLX is a fantastic reel for the money.

Failure's? No. Did have a newer zebco that was a really nice looking and feeling reel but had way to much trouble casting it. My second low profile was a Shimano 200, I think it was a 200. Had trouble casting it too. My most expensive bait caster is my ABU 6500. Got it quite a while back about $65. I have never really been in a position to buy an expensive anything just to try it out. Did buy my Kastking Rover 40 just to try out; about $45!

yep their slx rods are too