Budget Sweet Spot... Casting Reels

[SSS]

If i had $200 for a rod n reel, i'd get a used TDZ for $100-120 and a Corzza from MC.

[jjbassnforfun]

Depends on if the wifey finds out..........

[bpettus2]

I’ll pay for rarity and limited editions love having things others don’t . That being said I say 400.00 can get most of that

[btoups]

I end up being too worried about scratching up my higher dollar reels so end up fishing the mid range ones more often.

[mark poulson]

I end up being too worried about scratching up my higher dollar reels so end up fishing the mid range ones more often.

Me, too!

[LgMouthGambler]

Wow. I didnt think the 200 to 250 margin was gonna be soo low on this site. Thats my sweet spot.

[jvelth74]

Budget sweet spot is Tatula from Autumn discount ~$100. It's worth of much more Still I love my SV Zillion and OG Zillion and planning to buy Steez.

[K3RRY]

$200 for me but I just got a 17 scorpion dc and a curado dc so there goes my budget
A metanium mgl for $285 is tempting

[HobeyBaker]

The Tatula 100 is a nice caster, good ergo, and somewhat light. One would need to move up to a Met MGL or Steez to get a better combination, in my opinion. The Bantam MGL is a hell of a reel if you don't care about weight, but if you do then you're looking at a $400 msrp reel.

[Just_Bass]

100-200 is good start, but also depends on size and comfort of the reel. I'd love to spend more but family come first. My recent purchased 1 brand new Bantam MGL, followed by a brand new Shimano SLX.

[noc10]

This is my first post here, though I have been reading the posts here trying to learn things for quite a while now. This thread seems like a good place to jump in and a logical place to tell a little about my taste in gear.

I've got maybe 30 reels. Some of them are middle of the road or budget reels. For example I have 6 crappie rigs Ozark, B&M, and Fenwick rods. On something like that there is no point in using top of the line gear so I have them all outfitted with Pflueger President 20 size reels. Those are $60 reels that work extremely well for what I need them for.

I have a bunch of other middle of the road stuff for various uses. Some trolling gear for Walleye and white bass fishing, a few little panfish rigs for Bluegill, a couple of big Fenwick heavy rods with ABU 5599 c3 for Cat fishing and the like. Trolling rods with big spinning reels etc. Most of those setups are $100 rods like ABU Veritas and $50-150 reels like Pfueger's Supreme XT, Daiwa Laguna, and Abu G3 SX.

Now, to the stuff I really care about, I use ABU Volatile Inshore (serious backbone), G1 Villain and St. Croix Tournament rods, $150 to $280. This is the group that I based my budget vote on. I like many others tend to buy older reels. I have 4 OG Steez, 4 Px68R, 4 TD-Z, An SS SV, A Tatula CT-R, and a Tatula SV TWS.

I voted the $300 range because I buy these reels used (except the Tats and SS) for maybe $150-250 and then spend money on cleaning them up, upgrading drags, replacing worn bearings or adding more etc. So in the end they end up costing maybe $300. But I never buy beat up gear and when I am done, for $300 I have a top notch reel for a decent price. My most recent project is a SS SV (5.3:1) I just bought for $172, I just ordered a set of 4 knob bearings and a 100mm handle and am trying figure out the drag upgrade. Hopefully I end up with something new and custom that is similar to the OG Steez.

The problem I'm seeing is that the parts for these older classic reels are becoming scarce and I cannot seem to find anything new that compares well with the old Steez, and most particularly the PX68 and TD-Z reels.

[Drew03cmc]

I've been moving towards Daiwa and Lew's. The midgrade reels from both are incredible. I'm shocked the totals are as low as they are from $200-250.

[scrapiron]

I didn't think the 'unlimited' budget category would be have as many votes, but I totally understand.

[bwjay]

For just the reel, $200 is a nice spot. I can stretch to $250 to get a nicer reel, and I have a Bantam at the $350 US MSRP, but that's not at my "sweet spot". $200 is right where I would prefer to be for the reel for most combos.

[montey]

$200 for me which is where the Tatula SV TWS and Curado K sits.