You guys and your $250--$300 reels.
For $50-$99 you can get all the reel you need for sport fishing or even recreational tournament fishing.
I have yet to lose a fish due to the cost and specs of my reels.
I used to use $49 ABU Garcia Black Maxs and have caught 100 fish on one at Falcon in one day.
Recently I bought a couple of used Lew's for $50 each, and although nice not enough to spend double the price for one.
Now don't beat me up,,,,,, but I don't clean or oil my reels period. I use and abuse them & I just got rid of my original Black Max 1 after 3 years of fishing.
The BM 3s are really good and can land as big and as many fish as you can catch in a day. And at $50 I can have 5-6 for every one $250-$300 reel out there.
Spend your money on a good sensitive rod if fishing worms, for swim baits and spinnerbaits put that BM on an Old ugly stick or Veritas Rod and go but momma something nice.
Just my opinion.

Less than $50-Abu SilverMax
$51-$99- Abu Orra
$100-$140- Abu SX (huge jump in quality IMO)
North of $150, Abu STX although I've rarely found them retail for less than $180ish but are by far the best reel on my deck as far as casting, but I've been lucky and have picked up a couple for half price. Paying more than $130-140 for a reel is about my limit-same goes for rods.

Shimano Caenan 150A is $99.99 and a good quality reel

Diawa tatulas are a good reel for a retail of $150 .. U can find them online for about $110 shipped.. I used black max,silver max , and pro max .. All were decent reels but the quality is not there .. They all work great for a couple of years then give out .. Stripping gears , not engaging after the handle is turned and also losing casting distance .. If u buy a $50 reel u get what u pay for .. After having tatulas for a few years I am hooked .. $20 to get them serviced every other year also pays off

As mentioned above, Lews LFS. Diawa Tatula on eBay around $85-$95.

BPS Pro Qualifer gets my vote. They go on sale at least once a year between 50&80$.

Quantum 1310mg, bought 2 of them new in 1989, still have them, they work great and never had them in the shop. Kept them cleaned and oiled and can still almost throw the line off of them. Can throw rattle traps, spinner baits and DD22's with ease. love'em.

That was the best reel Quantum ever made. I am not sure any of their new ones are as good as those.

Agreed. Nearly all the Shimano reels are great reels.

That is called "Drag"

You tighten or loosen the star shaped thing under the reel handle to adjust this pressure. You can screw it all the way down and prevent this from happening but if you hook a really big fish and it makes a hard run, it will probably break your 15# line. Loosening this off a bit allows the spool to slip so the fish can pull a few feet of line so hopefully it doesn't break.

Typically the heavier the pound test line you use, the tighter you can set the drag, to a point.

I have a couple of old quantum reels that still work like a champ.

These older model 1310mg reels were made in Japan. Not sure about the new ones. Old stuff is sometimes better including Ken Soo Choo ( lol ) and myself.

Shimano Caenan 150

I highly recommend this reel. I just bought one for a buddy of mine and I was blown away at how awesome this reel is. These reels were completely redesigned for 2016 and Shimano hit a home run with this reel. I was amazed at how light it felt in my hand and how smooth the retrieve is. It does everything a high dollar reel does for less than $100. You can't beat that.

Haha. What I was thinking.

Diawa tatulas are a good reel for a retail of $150 .. U can find them online for about $110 shipped.. I used black max,silver max , and pro max .. All were decent reels but the quality is not there .. They all work great for a couple of years then give out .. Stripping gears , not engaging after the handle is turned and also losing casting distance .. If u buy a $50 reel u get what u pay for .. After having tatulas for a few years I am hooked .. $20 to get them serviced every other year also pays off