[Osage78]

Hi guys, first post except introduction so I hope I do this right.

I'm going to buy a baitfeeder spinning reel in the next few weeks and I'm going to have $150 roughly to spend. I've read reviews and even emailed people who repair reels for input and I'm looking at the Okuma Coronado CDX-65 and the Shimano baitrunner 6000oc. I've looked at everything from pawnshop Silstar rbx70m reels to the China special eBay wonders.

I want a reel that will work & not need a bunch of attention, last and do it's job for years to come but obviously if I can save money I'd like that.
I fish from the bank, deepest waters would be 80ft and rarely that and occasionally I'll fish the Arkansas river. In my situation what would you buy staying in my budget

 

[spokey9]

Penn fierce live liner...they're solid reels and will last a long while if the basic maintenance is kept up

 

[twaskom]

I would suggest the Penn Fierce 3 Liveliner also. I have used two of the Penn Fierce 2 liveliners in the 4000 size for several years. They are a good quality reel. For catfish of any size I would think the 6000 or even 8000 might be best. The Fierce 3 upgraded to carbon fiber drag disks which was a good improvement. It was easily added to model 2.

I always recommend finding a place that has the reel you want in hand. It is important to hold the different models to get a feel for the quality and size.

Fierce® III Live Liner Reel - PENN Fishing®️️

The PENN® Fierce® III spinning reels are available in a range of sizes, from 2500 to 8000. Featuring a full metal body and sideplate, along with PENN HT-100™ carbon fiber drag washers, the Fierce III can handle anything inshore or nearshore. A 4+1 shielded stainless steel ball bearing system...

www.pennfishing.com

tight lines

 

[canebreaker]

A dealer at the auction house had 7' Zebco Bill Dance Catfish spinning combos that sold for $18 last week. Couldn't see myself fishing with an orange and white combo.

 

[River_monster91]

anything made by penn gets my vote.

 

[Osage78]

I'm seeing a lot more Penn support than I expected, reading the reviews on the fierce line from bass pro and a few other places had me turned off on them showing quite a few broken reels and stories of out of the box failures and leaning towards the Shimano but maybe that wasn't a fair representation?

 

[spokey9]

I've got a couple penn pursuit spinning reels (penn's cheapest line) that are going on 8 years now with only bail spring and drag washer replacements. Maybe some of the reviewers got a dud out of the box but I'd put money on a lot of user error. Even if it was out of the box defects, no company is perfect in qc. Honestly for the money penn makes some of the best spinning reels imo

 

[ramon06]

Since you said minimal maintenance and lasts forever you're talking my language Penn Spinfisher 6500LL. I prefer the better models of Penn. I hear too many horror stories with the lower models and I don't like sending gear back and forth for replacements.

I also have an Okuma Coronado CDX-65 and a few german bait runners too. My gripe are the clickers can't be heard unless you're right next to them. I don't have that problem with the Spinfisher. Oh also forgot about my Kastking Sharky III baitfeeder. It's very nice despite the mixed reviews but I haven't really tested it as nothing bigger than 15lbs has been caught on it. It's only a 3500 size and I use it as my go to for Pike, walleye and everything else besides catfish and carp at the moment lol

 

[Ammo]

A dealer at the auction house had 7' Zebco Bill Dance Catfish spinning combos that sold for $18 last week. Couldn't see myself fishing with an orange and white combo.

LOL...I sure could. I'd put a Sharky III LL or Penn Fierce LL on orange /white every chance I get. My old eyes need all the help they can get.

 

[truckgrandpa]

LOL...I sure could. I'd put a Sharky III LL or Penn Fierce LL on orange /white every chance I get. My old eyes need all the help they can get.

I've got several "butterscotch orange" rods, 6.5' to 7'. I think they're all MH.
Some are casting rods, some spinners.
Like you said, old eyes need help.
I also have a couple white rods.
The last one I picked up a few days ago, an Eagle Caw Surf Beast, has a white Eagle Claw spinning reel on it. (It's what it came with, so I'll give it a try.).
I also have a few dark colored rods. (A couple ProCats, and some "off brand".
My heaviest, a 6' Heavy action spinning rod, with my biggest spinner on it.)
My favorites are the two yellow ones, one is my light Lew's and a heavier casting rod.

I have a few. But, probably, not as many as some folks here.

 

[Don Fischer]

Not knowing what a bait feeder spinning reel is, I'm not sure. Think if I was looking for a reel for bigger stronger fish I'd be looking at casting reels. They are my preference in reels. Spinning reel? gave one away a bit back that I would have cat fished with. Pretty big reel and guessing pretty tuff! Sent it to a guy in Illinois I think it was. It was an Ocuma and pretty big reel. Very smooth and not ad looking but I'm a casting reel type guy, spinning equip to means ultra light. I doubt strongly that Ocuma would cost $100 much less $150! Truth be known, I wouldn't pay $100 for a new casting reel! There's a lot of less expensive reels out there that will do a fine job for you. Seem's to me most fishermen are like most hunter's. They become equipment freaks! They can tell you what every little screw does, even if they can't use the equipment all that well.

The idea of buying equipment meant to last a lifetime is lost on me. With rare exception rod and reel last me maybe five years I'm good. Probably time to satisfy the urge to get some new stuff. Think I have about 15 casting reels in the bed room. Oldest one is an ABU 5000 I've been using about 20 yrs now. have a Millionaire, couple more ABU's, couple Ocuma's a Kastking and few other's. newest is a Kastking Rover 40 about three yrs old and works fine. Best I can recall it cost me $47 on Amazon! My though is if a reel last me say even 5 yrs, it paid for itself, all mine are older than that, even my worst, a Shakespere something or other. I never take the same rod/reel out two time's in a row, each get's its turn! So don't get hung up on price unless $150 means nothing to you.I don't know what they are worth today but I have two Mitchell 300's that are something like 65 yrs old that work as well as any new reel I've seen. I recall as a kid getting an old Mitchell half bail for fishing and cost me something like $2.50 used! Not that I look at a lot of larger spinning reels but I also have a bunch of UL crappie rod/reels I use in rotation too! Come to think of it I've even got a couple low profile casting reels with 4# line I'd use for crappie and have used for Smallmouth bass.

 

[Don Fischer]

I'm seeing a lot more Penn support than I expected, reading the reviews on the fierce line from bass pro and a few other places had me turned off on them showing quite a few broken reels and stories of out of the box failures and leaning towards the Shimano but maybe that wasn't a fair representation?

When I go to get a new anything I seldom pay much attention to neg reply's about the product. Some people could make a living writing them. Got my Kastking Rover 40 as a result of neg reply's, couldn't believe any company would put out a product that bad and survive. Go look at what your thinking about yourself and see what you think. There's a thread on a shooting form I'm on bad mouthing Vortex scope's, really intense bad mouthing. Nothing can be that bad. Strange thing is I got my first Vortex after reading that and lot of satisfied customer chimed in to. Report's I like to listen to are satisfied people and company's getting kudos on guaranteed products. Post's, hard to believe a lot of them. If your not a shooter you won't understand this I think. Popular wisdom is if you buy a new rifle and scope, the scope should cost more than the rifle! If that's was true I'd say if you buy a new rod and reel, the rod should cost more than the reel! Hog wash!

 

[Brownie52]

If they're built with the same quality today, I'd buy Penn GTI 320s. I bought 3 of them in the early 2000s for about $150 total and they've become my favorite reels for fishing below the dams or for big catfish anywhere on the water.

 

[Shootrj2003]

When I go to get a new anything I seldom pay much attention to neg reply's about the product. Some people could make a living writing them. Got my Kastking Rover 40 as a result of neg reply's, couldn't believe any company would put out a product that bad and survive. Go look at what your thinking about yourself and see what you think. There's a thread on a shooting form I'm on bad mouthing Vortex scope's, really intense bad mouthing. Nothing can be that bad. Strange thing is I got my first Vortex after reading that and lot of satisfied customer chimed in to. Report's I like to listen to are satisfied people and company's getting kudos on guaranteed products. Post's, hard to believe a lot of them. If your not a shooter you won't understand this I think. Popular wisdom is if you buy a new rifle and scope, the scope should cost more than the rifle! If that's was true I'd say if you buy a new rod and reel, the rod should cost more than the reel! Hog wash!

I’m a pretty big time rifle guy and I agree with you there,most of my scopes through the years have been less than $100 and served me well,the few exceptions are a $600 dollar Lyman Supertarget spot o my REM.513T,and 2 Vortex’s I bought for my new Bergara BMR ,these are exceptions bought strictly for target and long range target .22 LR. 100 yds-300yds( this is new and upcoming sport) with .22 lr,and 50 ft indoor Sporterifle comp.everything else is center fires and .22’s with Simmons,Tasco s etc. and they have served me well through many years often after serving others.
Sorry to get off topic just for a example but I have 7-8 Mitchell reels that have given years of service at about $5-$10 each.

 

[Don Fischer]

I have two Mitchell 300's from the 1950 that still work better than well. But turned into an ultra lite and casting user! Go figure. I need to take those Mitchells out just to remember one of these days. Just one rifle guy to another!

 

[Shootrj2003]

They would like that!

 

[Texasboy4life]

Daiwa sealine 30sha

 

[truckgrandpa]

As several people have said, I've read good reviews of reels and then, next review says,"...best I've ever had..."
I have to wonder, is the bad one a dud, or is it user error?
You can see reviews all day, online, that say,"This rod/reel cannot catch a fish. It's junk."
To my thinking, that's not the equipment. Could be just the "luck of the draw."
My most expensive reel is my 6500C3. I have yet to catch a fish on it, but I don't blame Abu.
At the same time, I've caught more fish of various species and sizes on my $39 Lew's Xfinity XJ than the rest of my gear, put together!
That doesn't make it a better combo. To me, it just means those baited hooks were at the right place at the right time. Right?

 

[Herbhome]

Rod and reel is a tool. I was told a long tiime ago, "It's a poor workman that blames his tools". That said, high quality tools are a joy to work with.
I have a firestik rod paired with Lew's SC600. Not a pricey combo at all. All it has ever caught is flatheads until I fished with Tom at the gather. I caught a blue, my PB. ( By the way, thanks Tom)
That rod and reel has got some mojo I do not want to mess with.

 

[Don Fischer]

As several people have said, I've read good reviews of reels and then, next review says,"...best I've ever had..."
I have to wonder, is the bad one a dud, or is it user error?
You can see reviews all day, online, that say,"This rod/reel cannot catch a fish. It's junk."
To my thinking, that's not the equipment. Could be just the "luck of the draw."
My most expensive reel is my 6500C3. I have yet to catch a fish on it, but I don't blame Abu.
At the same time, I've caught more fish of various species and sizes on my $39 Lew's Xfinity XJ than the rest of my gear, put together!
That doesn't make it a better combo. To me, it just means those baited hooks were at the right place at the right time. Right?

Good good reply. I have the 6500 C3 and it's my most expensive also. Have caught a good number of cats with it and a lot of bottom fish in the ocean and a few really nice salmon. Love it but I don't really think it is any better than some of my other reels.Two reels that surprised me, first was the daiwa Millionaire. Found it on sale for about $30 at a going out of business sale. Wish now I'd have bought them all. The second is a Kastking Rover 40 I bought only because I read a guy trashing it. Looked it up and for about $45 figured I'd find out for myself; really really nice reel. I would say neither is an ABU but then I've had ABU's a long time and admittedly am pretty prejudice for them! I think most of todays reels are well above what you could get even 30 yrs ago!