As someone who compulsively absorbs any information I can find about bass fishing, it’s only natural I have acquired a decent amount of knowledge about the industry behind the sport. The deeper I get into this industry, the larger it seems to become and the more fascinated I become with it. I’ve probably fished thousands of different products from hundreds of different companies, and the incredible part is that I’m not a pro angler or even one with a disposable income to spend on gear. Lures of all different shapes and styles, hooks for every imaginable application, line made with space-age materials, rods that are so light you can only feel their weight in the guilt from their price, and the reels—oh my, how I love the reels. I’ve never heard a rule for it, but I’ve noticed that fishermen seem to get less sure of themselves the closer the product is to them while they fish. For example, the lures a guy will use are entirely dependent on personal preference, as it’s more about the location, time of year, and style of bait rather than the brand. Get a little closer to the fisherman with the line of choice and it’s the same story, and as long as he’s using braid or fluorocarbon or monofilament in the proper situation he or she should be just fine. Now you get to the rod, and guys start to lose their nerve. Fishermen have fits over the action and the power and the length and the modulus and the split grip and the Fuji guides and you darn near need to hold their hand to help them choose one. Finally you reach the reel, the most intimate part of this system, and fishermen all but lose their minds. Well let’s talk about reels, specifically baitcasters, the tool of choice in so many scenarios for the majority of successful bass fishermen. Whether you’re looking to purchase your first baitcaster on the tightest budget imaginable or you want to buy your 40th reel to go along with your new boat, we’ll give you a brief synopsis on the best way to select the right reel for you.

I don’t have a thousand reels. I’m not sponsored by Quantum or Shimano or Daiwa (yet), so I have had the opportunity to sample plenty of different brands at several different levels of quality. I own and regularly use reels that cost less than fifty dollars and I also have reels that are worth a few hundred dollars. By far the most important part of the whole process of fishing, in my opinion, is having the right reel. Call me biased, as I have a certain obsession with these incredibly complex items, but I stand by my opinion, and this opinion is reaffirmed every time I’m out on the water. The best reels I own, without a doubt, are the ones that I rarely think about. When the situation calls for the presentation I have tied on that setup, I pick up the rod, launch the bait a mile out there with a smooth, clean cast, retrieve, repeat. No issues, no backlashes, no clunky gears or hindered casts. And the crazy thing is, my favorite reels are not all of the most expensive ones I own. They’re not all one brand or one braking system. Before this starts to make you hyperventilate, let’s talk about the biggest key in selecting the right reel for you. Research is the single most important way to ensure that you can make an informed decision, and this goes for all products in the fishing industry, not just reels. You would never walk into a Bass Pro Shops and pick out an $80,000 boat because you liked the color or you heard that brand was good. You would hop online and find reviews, product descriptions, pricing options, and you would talk to experts to determine exactly how to pick out the right one for you. Unfortunately, there are probably ten or twenty times the number options for reels as there are for boats, so this is only the beginning.

I remember the first baitcaster I ever owned. It was simple, bland, and inexpensive, but it was my pride and joy for several years. When purchasing that reel, which I think I did with my mom at the local Cabela’s way back in the day, the only thought in my mind was price. This is a factor that holds true for many fishermen today as well. As a general rule, you will get what you pay for, to a certain extent. Vague as that may sound, it’s probably the best way I can describe the pricing conundrum that vexes so many anglers. Shimano, a Japanese company, makes reels with a Digital Control braking system. These baitcasters literally have a miniaturized computer chip inside them that monitors and controls the rate of spool-spin after you cast in order to minimize backlash and maximize distance and accuracy. Yes, these are insanely expensive, with some of the premium models going for over $700. On the flip side, Kastking, an American company, doesn’t offer a reel over $100, and yet are constantly praised by owners as being some of the lightest and smoothest baitcasters they own. This is just one example of a juxtaposition that can make a fisherman tear his hair out, myself included. However, I think the first step for selecting any part of your fishing arsenal should be establishing your price range, and with the number of options on the market today, this range can be fairly narrow. For example, if you feel that you can spend somewhere between one and two hundred dollars, there are so many options that cost between these numbers that you will still be utterly overwhelmed. Narrow your price range to within just a couple dollars and you’ll have a solid starting point.

One thing that I think a lot of anglers overlook when choosing gear is that the selection process is often more about you than it is about the gear. For example, I don’t use monofilament anymore. I don’t like the stretch, and the fact that it absorbs water throughout the day makes me lose confidence in its sensitivity. That’s just a personal preference, and I know lots of far more successful anglers than I who use monofilament regularly. Along the same lines, if you have a habit of setting the hook hard enough to move a train you should probably stay away from excessively light line and braid to avoid snapping line and tearing the hooks out of fish. Tendencies and preferences like these are especially important when it comes to picking the right reel. After all, this is a finely tuned piece of equipment that will be rest in your hand most of the day, launching lures, detecting bites, and fighting fish. Comfort is critical, and if you’re not an experienced buyer, I would highly recommend a trip to your local sporting goods store, just to handle some of the reels in your price range. Finding a brand that fits well in your hand and will be comfortable over a long day of fishing is an oft forgotten aspect of this process. In my experience, different brands have different physical characteristics that generally hold true for most of their product designs. Abu Garcia reels are robust and square, while Quantum reels are feather light and typically have very low profiles. I recently purchased a Daiwa Tatula 150, and while I love the reel and all its features, I find it doesn’t fit as well in my hand as my smaller Shimano or Quantum reels. Overall, the feel and personal preference of the angler is far more important than the brand or the price.

Once you have done some research and handled a few different products that have allowed you to narrow your preferences, the next step is to look past the product and at the task you’re trying to accomplish. This sounds a lot more philosophical than it is. Basically, what kind of fishing do you like? Are you looking for an all-purpose reel or one that is technique-specific? Will this reel be for moving baits or slower presentations? Asking yourself what the purpose of your purchase will be is the final step in selecting the right option. Let’s say you’ve found that Shimano is the brand for you, based on physical ergonomics and price range. You have handled the Aldebaran and the Chronarch, two exceptional options for bass fishing, and decided that you would like to purchase one or the other. Now, these reels are close to the same color, have that sleek Shimano look, and are even offered in some of the same gear-ratios. However, the Aldebaran was designed as and remains the premier finesse baitcasting reel on the market, optimized to handle light line and smaller presentations. The Chronarch is a great bass reel but was originally designed to handle hefty inshore saltwater species. Therefore, if you love finesse fishing, the Chronarch might be a bit bulky and end up overpowering the presentation. On the other hand, if you prefer to flip thick cover and frog fish with heavy braid, the smaller and lighter Aldebaran might not hold up to the abuse. It’s important to note, however, that high-quality reels like I mention here do an excellent job of performing for their designed purpose, but can also go slightly outside their comfort range, so long as you don’t take it to the extreme.

The last point on reel selection is understanding what you’re paying for. Yes, a $400 reel will perform better than a $40 reel, but certainly not tenfold the performance of the cheaper model. Properly tuning your reel and using it for the correct application will maximize its capabilities. What you’re paying for most of the time is durability and adaptability. In my experience, more expensive models last far longer than cheap ones, and have higher quality braking systems that can be adjusted more easily to match the conditions, such as wind or differently weight lures. I hear lots of anglers promote a certain brand of reel that sponsors them and claim it to be the only effective product on the market. While I understand their promotion, this is simply not the case. Shimano, Quantum, Abu Garcia, Pflueger, Lew’s, Daiwa, Kastking, 13 Fishing, and even Bass Pro Shops make excellent baitcasters, models that you will truly enjoy using as long as you simply take a little time to do some hands-on research and understand how to get the most out of your purchase with the proper emphasis on comfort, durability, adaptability, and using it for the right application.

-Hans Alwin

Choosing the Right Baitcaster for Bass