Ahhhhh...I keep trying. She won�t use a bait caster, and there isn�t enough time in the fishing day to undo her backlashes. She isn�t fond of spinning reels. Ok...closed face reels seem acceptable. I bought a sack of them, and I already had several AbuMatic 170s. So I started pairing rods and reels and bought a Zebco Bullet to add to the mix. She rejected the Bullet as too heavy. She likes the closed face that Bass Pro now sells, but she finally chose an old rebuilt Swedish AbuMatic 170. Now, if she can just catch a few Bass.

I do have one reel she hasn�t tried. It�s a Plueger Presidential trigger type closed face. I tried it out in our pond, and it�s a very unspectacular reel, to say the least, so I demoted it to catfishing with the grandkids.

Open for suggestions.

leave her at home,..

After that many reels a new wife may be cheaper.

Well...that wasn�t very helpful. She wants to learn how to bass fish, but it�s a struggle. Her targeting ability with a rod and reel is rather poor. She can�t hit a spot, but she can�t miss a tree. But...we�ll get there eventually.

Rough crowd. The 33 platinum is a few ounces lighter then the bullet. I fished 33s a lot when I was young but they were made in Tulsa then. Current ones I think are all made in China. Maybe the abumatic will work for her and you can get her a new one one later on if she learns how to cast it. Might be better to avoid trees also lol.

Try one of the new Curado DC or SLX DC reels??? They are supposed to be anti backlash and great.

She likes the AbuMatic and the rod it’s paired with (which took a good bit of gear shuffling on my part), so I have strongly suggested that she fish with only that setup until she gains some confidence in putting the bait where it needs to go.

Westtexgolfer, no way I’m going to put another baitcaster in her hands. I’m keeping this super simple and hoping she can catch a bass in our pond. We’ll start with one, and our bass are not sophisticated and wary.

She catches crappie when we fish, but I get tired of just crappie fishing, and she said she wants to catch some bass. I’m all for that.

Man! are we married to twins?...this is identical to what ive went through with my wife... fortunately she has done well with the zebco Omegas.

Get a pair of character rods from Wal-Mart. Sponge Bob for you and some Disney princess for her. Tie on some good baits, or better yet soak some minnows, and you'll catch fish with them. It'll be fun and she'll realize the reel doesn't really matter so much.

Daiwa Gold series. Has a higher gear ratio than most spincast reels.
The 120 size is good for bass fishing.

I have several for inexperienced anglers that may go with me.

http://www.daiwa.com/us/contents/reels/goldcast/index.html

I have a new in box Zebec PRO 10# never used. I bought for my grand daughter but soccer is her priority. check Bass Pro or Cabelas for info and pricing. I'll take 50.00 message if interested

Another vote for zebco omega particularly the zo2. My wife and i have 8 between the two of us that we mainly use for crappie but we have caught bass up to 6lbs on them. We can wear out the bushings in a zebco 33 in about 4 months so we upgraded to the z02 and have been using them for 2yrs now without a single problem. Best spincast reels made hands down

This MIGHT be the answer. I love the Curado DC but I haven't tried the SLX DC. I rarely backlash a baitcaster anymore, but have yet to backlash the Curado DC. My dad wanted to try it however, and backlashed it first cast into the wind with a frog. If she will ever be able to use a baitcaster it will probably be a DC though.
I know of a guy who uses nothing but the Zebco Omega Pro closed face reels, it doesn't matter what kind of fishing he is doing. He throws crankbaits with them, he catches catfish and crappie with them, he honestly uses them for everything. I think they're actually cheaper than the bullet, I don't know about the weight issue though.

I have her happily set up with an old AbuMatic 170 closed face and a 6’6” medium flex rod. She can toss it accurately (thank goodness) and a good distance. Caught 3 bass in our pond with it, and was very happy. She immediately started trash talking about out fishing me. All is well.

No way am I going to even start with her on baitcasting reels. You know I’ll be the one trying to untangle them.

Buy her the cheapest Daiwa SV reel you can find used.