I've exclusively used spinning reels my whole life. I've recently been looking into buying a baitcaster for bass fishing. Any suggestions on a good reel that is beginner friendly but also good value that will last? Budget is somewhere in the $200 or less range.

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Just don�t go to cheap, I had issues trying to cut corners and got nothing but birdsnests after birdnests. But 200 is easy to do. You can even do a nice reel for say 150.00 and match it up with a cheap rod. Then up grade rod later or 100 on each.

Curado K

1) Listen to Darin Y;
2) Use this dial no reel's left side, set it high and decrease it's setting gradually;
3) begin with softer but thicker line, avoid hard lines like Ande or fluoro

I ended up getting a Casitas paired with a Dobyns Fury at my budget. Looking forward to learning how to use it.

Casitas is a great reel for the price! Good choice

Yes you did good choosing the Casitas! Out distances my curados with just a flush and oil (rem oil/ardent oil) of the spool bearings!

check this website out great buys on some reals only for another day or so

www.reels-express.com

I have always had trust in the H20 mettle reels, they are fairly cheap and are great reels. I have been actively for about 5-6 years now and i still have the same reels that i got ever since I started and they still work perfectly with no problems!

Abu black max thats what i started my son on and he caught on pretty quick

Plus 1. I have 14 of them and all still working great.

I don't think there is such a thing as a "beginner" baitcaster.

They are "all" difficult to use for beginners, no matter how low or high the price.

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If you cast with your right hand, hopefully you bought a left handed reel or vise versa. Having to switch hands after a cast is dumb!

I guess there are lots of "dumb" anglers out there like myself who have been switching hands their whole life and think nothing of it.

Was on a guided trip once where all the spinning rods were setup to reel with left hand.
I switched mine back to what I was comfortable with despite the guides objections, everyone else left as is.
Really amusing to watch everyone else hold the handle still and crank the rod and reel.
If we were not hooking so many fish, would have had some really unhappy clients.

Acknowledge it would have been best to start out otherwise.
At our age, we are not going to change.