I am looking at purchasing my first bait caster. Have a little extra money to spend and have been thinking about this for a few years now. Would like suggestions. Bass is primary target but would like to handle a northern if needed. What rod would you accompany the reel with also?
Thanks for feedback…Ted
The first question to you is what do you want to spend?
Cabelas have a b/r and a Abu Garcia STXes are great. oR Abu has the MGX b/c and a St. Croix Legend Extreme are great at the upper end.
If it doesn’t say Shimano on the side plate and St. Croix on the blank it’s not worth buying. I’d look at the shimano curado 200e and pair it with a 7″ mh avid for a good all around bass/pike combo 
I have a citica. It is decent. It sure takes abuse. I also bought (for a great price) a pflueger echelon. I’m a big fan of pflueger. I think you get a lot of bang for the buck. The echelon has performed flawlessly. It ran around $50.
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If it doesn’t say Shimano on the side plate and St. Croix on the blank it’s not worth buying. I’d look at the shimano curado 200e and pair it with a 7″ mh avid for a good all around bass/pike combo
X2 I don’t have a 7’MH but 6.6 MM & 6.6MF lot of fun to fish with.
Price isn’t a true deterrent since I am planning on using it for many years. Couple hundred would be hopeful for the pair.
Buy a $79 Abu Garcia and stick a rod of your choice on it. It will last many, many years for the average fisherman. If you are doing a bunch of tournaments then I may have a different answer.
Having owned literally dozens of bait casting reels, while I cannot comment on all brands, of the many I have owned Shimano reels have been been the most reliable and lasted the longest. Reel repair is not as easily obtained as it used to be so if your going to use it a lot buy the best you can afford. Cheap bait casters don’t seem last more than one or two seasons for me.
If you are going to use it for walleye fishing i.e. three-way and bottom bouncing, make sure it has a flipping switch for easy one-handed line control. Spending less is an option for this application as they don’t get used as hard from casting day after day and the flippin’ switch feature is not found on many reels like it used to be.
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If it doesn’t say Shimano on the side plate and St. Croix on the blank it’s not worth buying. I’d look at the shimano curado 200e and pair it with a 7″ mh avid for a good all around bass/pike combo
Obviously Tim drives a Ford 
…..lol
I prefer the reliability and performance of a GMC. I run all Quantum rods & reels (both spinning and bait casting). Since the redesign of the Performance Tuned series of the Accurist through the Tour Editions, I think Quantum leaped out ahead of most manufactures.
Regardless of which manufacture you go with, keep this in mind. The better quality of reel you buy in a bait caster will make your transition to using it much easier. I think it is unfortunate, but ALL manufactures offer cheap reels to meet a lower end budget. Those reels are cheaper because they use cheaper parts, and you will get what you pay for. Also, don’t get caught up in the total number of bearings. That’s not the best way to look at it. Bearings have a rating, and you want better bearings over the total number. A reel with 6 high end bearings can be much more smooth than a reel with 10 cheap bearings.
Decent baitcast reels will be about $100.00 and up. I’ve used and abused the Accurists and they’ve held up perfectly. If your not a fan of the flipping switch, I really like the Kinetic for a starter reel. Fair price point and they perform flawlessly.
As for Rods, its too bad that Quantum doesn’t make a larger advertising campaign in this region. I’m running the older Superlite PT’s, the Smoke PTs, and the new EX Carbon 4. Weight wise, gram Vs gram they make St. Croix and most other manufactures look like boat anchors. When comparing my EX4carbon rods to loomis and croix, they are much lighter. You may not think that a set up that is grams lighter makes much of a difference, but after fishing 12 to 18 continuous hours I don’t have the fatigue that other have. The list price on the EX rods is $179. and the Smoke rods are $149…..compared to the equivalent loomis or croix
Most all the Rods and Reels at or over $100 will be a quality item.
Rods: Fenwick HMG – Shimano Compre or Clarus – Falcon BuCoo – Carrot Stix – StCroix Premier – Abu Veritas – Kistler Carbon Steel – Lews Speed Stick…
Reels: Shimano Curado or Citica – Abu Revo’s – Lew’s – Quantum…
A 7′ medium heavy will perform well with most techniques.
Check out all you can and decide what feels best in YOUR hand!
I’ve been a GMC guy for about 10 years now Are you really saying shimano isn’t reliable? Don’t you rep for Quantum Randy?
I couldnt tell you how many fish i’ve caught on my guides series $50 rod & reel combo from gander mountain!
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Most all the Rods and Reels at or over $100 will be a quality item.
Rods: Fenwick HMG – Shimano Compre or Clarus – Falcon BuCoo – Carrot Stix – StCroix Premier – Abu Veritas – Kistler Carbon Steel – Lews Speed Stick…
Reels: Shimano Curado or Citica – Abu Revo’s – Lew’s – Quantum…
A 7′ medium heavy will perform well with most techniques.
Check out all you can and decide what feels best in YOUR hand!
I’ll second most of this with a heavy lean towards Shimano reels. I’ve owned them all and they’ve been the least problematic for me. As far as the rods go, take your pick. There are some really nice ones out there in the $100.00 range.
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If it doesn’t say Shimano on the side plate and St. Croix on the blank it’s not worth buying. I’d look at the shimano curado 200e and pair it with a 7″ mh avid for a good all around bass/pike combo
X2
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If it doesn’t say Shimano on the side plate and St. Croix on the blank it’s not worth buying. I’d look at the shimano curado 200e and pair it with a 7″ mh avid for a good all around bass/pike combo
While those products are good….don’t limit yourself to just those…b/c there are lots of quality combo’s out there….
My only recommendation is go with a high quality KNOWN reel such as Curado, Revo, Tour Edition etc….you WILL learn how to use them better than getting a cheaper model.
Personally, I like to spend a little more on the reel and get a cheaper rod. I’ve had my curado for 5 years now and it still works great.
I like the tourney trail rods at cabelas. They are on sale now for $50 and they have an unwritten lifetime guarantee. I just brought back a cabelas rod and they exchanged it, no questions asked.
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I’ve been a GMC guy for about 10 years now
Tim – thought you would see the bit of humor behind this – the ford Vs. Chevy thing… Like I said in my post, REGARDLESS of manufacture, look for…. The better the reel you purchase, the easier it is to use (baitcasters) simple fact and it doesn’t matter if its shimano, quantum, lews…
Yes, I do represent Quantum. Its a product I use extensively, and I promote only what I use. I quit staffing for pflueger because of all the problems I had with the reels.
As for Shimano not being reliable, never said that about their baitcasting reels. I’m not sure and won’t speculate on which series of bearings they use. I know their Pro-staff guy I worked with at Bass Pro this Spring had a lot of complaints with the switch to cheaper bearing to keep them cost affective – However I don’t know which models he was talking about and won’t guess, I don’t know…
As far as the spinning reels, I gave/sold all my shimanos away. I had 2 left of the oldest stradics (early 2000’s??)that I liked. Other than that, never owned a shimano spinning reel that I felt strongly about. I’ll take my tour edition and smoke spinning reels over anything else on the market that I have tried.
Another note about guys that staff for product vendors/manufactures. Not everyone is just out pimping that product. We are in a very fortunate position that we get to use and test out a lot of equipment. Most, very good, and some…not so good. Good staffers will give a very fair analysis of what they use!
ABU-Garcia. Takes a lickin’ n keeps on tickin’.
Oh I see the humor Randy I just see way too many “staffers” pimping products only because that’s what it says on they’re shirt and im not saying thats you either. I’m glad your happy with your quantum’s and truth be told when you get to the higher end reels there’s not much difference between them.
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Oh I see the humor Randy
agreed
Shimano Citica 200e or 201e, which ever you prefer.
They retailed for $120, Gander mountain had them on sale for $79.99 for a while, I just looked online and they have them available again, but they are $99.99. They are a very simple, sturdy reel that performs very well.
Lews speed spools also have excellent reviews if you go on TackleWarehouse.com.
I have a Revo Stx and Revo S as well, and im not sure if they cast any better than the citica really, but the Revo Stx is smoother on the retrieve with the extra bearings.
I always had a weird feeling about quantum, maybe just because I read some bad reviews or something, but I have an Accurist PT and it has performed really well actually. I have it listed on the classifieds, only because I want a left hand retrieve instead.
I Think Its really hard to compare reels unless you spool them up with the exact same line, put them on the same rod, and try casting the exact same bait, which I have never done..
whatever you buy remember one thing, PRACTICE, PRACTICE AND MORE PRACTICE…:) one other thing set the reel correctly!
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one other thing set the reel correctly!
AMEN to that. And don’t forget to reset it after changing baits.
FDR
Having used the Garcia 55-65-6600 series for many years I switched to the Shimano Calcutta or Cardiff reels and find I grab them now instead of the older Garcia’s I have.
Rumor has it the new Garcia’s are poorer quaility than the old ones, don’t know for sure, but the Shimano’s are definity better reels imho.
Personally I get a list of reccomended reels and head off to Cabela’s or where ever they have a good selection of reels and see which one feels right to you.
I like the round reels, some like the low profile.
Good luck.
Al…who’d buy one bass and one northern reel if it was up to him.. 
I started with a Shimano Cardiff 400A round reel. Excellent pike tamer reel. Casts just as good any reel around the $100 and some change. I didn’t really like my first bulky low profile baitcaster. It was just a cheapo Shimano reel at $25 or so. It was fine for bass fishing but I feel that it is an underperformer. The low profile baitcasters of today are even smaller and palms very well.
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