I have not had much luck using braid on a spin cast reel. I would stay with mono. I am sure some reels handle the braid better than the Zebcos that I tried it on.

As mentioned , I have had zero issues with braid. Matter of fact friends wife has the exact same set up and caught 11-4oz bass. Reel handled it flawlessly

thats awesome

@ Eric - i'll throw my vote in for the zebco omega's - i have a few different sizes of them. I use them to take either older, younger, or first time folks fishing with me. They have proved perfect for those who don't know how or have issues with reels. Though the other zebco models work - the omega's just have a slight edge due to better manufacture and QA - they cast almost as good as my spinning gear.

If you want to use braid - the trick is to go slightly heavier so that the line is a little stiffer - spin cast/spinning gear does better when the line has a bit of "spring" to it as it comes off the spool and braid has a tendancy to not have that.

thx to all that have responded. Will start looking for a zebco product. Glad they have improved since I used one ages ago

Zebco used to make a 888 (pretty sure that was the model) that had a star drag. It was big but the only spincast I've seen that would routinely hold up to upper slot redfish. Looking at their site doesn't look like it's available anymore.

Lot of catfish caught on the old 888's!

daiwa used to make some good spin cast reels. I have not looked lately. Can he use an underspin ( the kind with a lever ) ?

Again , Daiwa use to make some good ones. Hard to find , you might look on ebay , but I used an Abu 290 for years, until I graduated to
baitcast.

MO

Ouch ,, I just looked at ebay for the abu 290. asking $90. to $300. on the ones I could see.

I will have to dig out my old reels. I sold most of vintage Abu bait casters , I did not know the old abu spincast were bringing that kind of money.

MO

Mo

II think the underspin wont work for his and it is almost same motion as releasing line on a spinning rell. Pretty sure the button will be the ticket for him.

Academy had a poor selection of all the cheap ( non working ) zebcos. Honestly 2 of them would not release line at all and they are brand new.

No omegas or bullets in stock.

Was academy bought out awhile back? Store was diert, understaffed and a new checkout procedure that had people waiting a good while. I was going to buy a tent til I saw the mess. Went to gun counter.Not a sole there . You kid standing there looking bored. I said I like to check out. Kid say no I did nopt buy tent. Extremely poor customer service. Shoe section look like a tornado hit it

KastKing 6# test braid

Key is using small diameter line when using a spincast reel. I casts even light lures further, zero stretch for good hook sets at a distance of over 42'.
Here I compared casting distances between spincast (Daiwa) and spooning reels:


The spinning reel cast a 1/16 oz lure with soft plastic lure over 57':


The Daiwa Silvercast 100 just under 43':


This braid is not stiff and has a 2# test diameter thereby allowing light lures good action without the line bow of a leader; plus it's abrasion resistant. Other spincast reel brands do as well with this brand braid. No more monofilament or fluoro for me! Every fish photo I post on this forum was caught using braid.

For spinning or baitcast reels I would go up in lb test to 16 or higher.

I did not see any mention of what type of fish you guys plan to target. I have used and collected Johnson reels for over 50 years. For a price, I have several versions I would be willing to bring to a meeting for him to try out and sale to you for the going eBay price. Most are less than $40 and still perform like new. They range from those with 6lb to 20lb test line but you can not use braid on them, only monofilament.