Home Forums Fishing Freshwater Baitcaster recommendations

Watching the pro's on the outdoor channels they shoot a cast off those baitcasters with a flip of the wrist. Easy enough with a spinning reel but a baitcaster. What reels are they using to get that ability?

I have a few Abu Garcia Revo's with just a flick of the wrist i get the casting distance I need or want. I have replaced all the factory bearings with "ceramic bearings" while noisy the reels are extremely smooth.

I have also replaced the bearings on my Abu round reels as well especially a 40 year old "2500-C" I use for smallmouth which spool speed can get ahead of my thumb at times.

I’ve had pretty good luck with Lews on the low/mid end. A Lews Mach 2 combo is around $200 and is a good combo. Avoid the Lews American Hero line, they have a problem with the lock bar engaging. Make sure you understand how to adjust the reel tension and other brakes and you should be good to go.

Technique and lots of time on the water making who knows how many thousands of cast is more important than equipment. At least after a certain point in quality.

They use all sorts of brands. Like MOGC said, it's technique. You can accomplish the same with any decent reel with practice.

Like others have said, there are a lot of great reels available to anglers at this time. Along with those already mentioned, Diawa makes some great baitcasters along with their spinning reels. Top tier baitcasters are smooth as silk when you get them adjusted right....

Casting ease is determined by both the rod and the reel. Last new baitcaster reel I bought was a Shimano Curado K. It is the smoothest reel I have ever fished. I have it on a midrange priced St Croix rod.

If you don’t know how to set the brakes and spool tension you won’t have good results regardless of the reel and rod you have.

What MOGC and others said, in the case of the pros it's not the reel as much as the user. Granted they're using high end equipment but they do this all day every day. I'd think the average pro could take a low end reel and still make it look easy. It probably wouldn't last near long enough but they could make it work while it lasted.

I like my Garica, it has a button that keeps the reel from freewheeling, easier that cranking the reel a short turn when running the motor.

I like lews reels.

They have them In all price ranges.

Modern baitcasters are pretty darn nice, I like Daiwa Tatulas myself,

However, there is a leaning curve with brakes, line and the proper balance of an appropriate rod to make things really fall in place,

Everyone still has an occasional birds-nest, I'll say bait-casters apply when using lures around 3/8's of an ounce and more.

When I was fishing tournaments most of my reels were Shimano Curado's, but now fun fishing I find the Lews not asd expensive but a very good reel for the money over the Curado's

Lews has some decent to good reels.

They aren't using those $60 packaged-in-plastic [bleep] reels from Walmart.

My favorite bait-caster is my Shimano Calcutta DC-TE left-handed. I don't know if they make it anymore in the Calcutta but the DC feature has made it a long ways down the line into quite affordable reels. If you can't cast with casual ease with a reel with a micro-processer running the anti back-lash mechanism you likely can't do it with anything.

Lotta good ones listed. As said above the proper tuning of the reel to what lure and line you use is a huge part of using any baitcaster.
I only use them for musky and lake trout. Used casting the big musky lures the most. Been guiding more than 40 years and as of late I am using Okuma reels. They are very good but so are many listed above. Just my current preference.

Osky

I hated baitcasters for years, although I could often get quality reels for nothing from tournament friends. I was always one back-lash away from giving them away. And a beer away from trying them again.

A tiny thing that changed it for me was accidently learning to thumb a section on the spool on the metal instead on the line. Huge difference, and probably a good example of the trials and tribulations of being self taught on so many things. Kids probably learn that from their dads so young that they don't even know they know it.

Sort of like how I hated jigs for years before a tournament friend showed me how to set hooks without saying a word.

I have all Daiwa gear. Abu Garcia makes good reels. The magnetic casting dials make it easy to get a hang of casting without backlashing. You can loosen that as you get better and flick cast before you know it. Check out the Daiwa Fuego on the cheaper end of their lineup.