This week’s article might get some people worked up and I’m sure that not everybody would agree with the reels I’m going to mention, but I think I’ve figured out what my favorite casting reels are. After trying out a bunch of casting reels and looking back on the different models that I’ve used, I’ve come to the conclusion that I could get by with only two to three reels and be completely happy. Keep in mind that when I say ‘the best’ for the purposes of this article I’m talking about the reels that are (in my humble opinion) the best overall value out of everything out there that’s currently available. I completely get that there are some other reels available that are more expensive and I’m not trying to say that these are better from a purely technical standpoint, but in my case I’ve found that these specific reels are better in terms of bang for the buck. I will also mention that you start to see diminishing returns when it comes to casting reels (and most other fishing equipment in general), and specifically with casting reels I’ve found the $200 price point is what I would consider to be the sweet spot where the price increase is acceptable given the jump up in quality and performance that you get. Ok now that the disclaimer is out of the way let’s dive in.
The first reel I want to mention and my favorite overall casting reel right now has to be the Daiwa Tatula 100. This reel can take a little getting used to since it ships with their zero adjust technology, which basically means they designed it with the intention that you just need to leave the spool tension alone and use the breaks to dial it in and avoid backlashes. The spool tension should be set at the factory so the idea is you should never need to touch it, but if you get one used or suspect someone else may have adjusted it before you got it you can find videos out there that will tell you how to adjust it back to where it should be. If you do think that might have happened, then my recommendation would be to find one of those videos and watch it and while I’m not going to go into detail about it here, in summary the spool should have little to no side to side movement when you try to move it with your thumb, and you can just check to make sure that’s the case when you get it without actually adjusting the spool tension knob.
Once the spool tension is where you want it to be if you adjust the breaks all the way down to zero like I did when I first got it you will probably backlash. I suppose that’s what I get for thinking I’m the best thing since sliced bread when it comes to throwing a lure with a baitcaster, but eventually I got it dialed in and once I did holy smokes does this thing cast far. There’s a lot of other awesome features that are included with this reel and I’m not going to get into them all, I’m simply going to say that I barely ever backlash with it now as the breaking system is actually very good once you get it dialed in, and I don’t see the same sort of distance with any other reel that I use that I manage to get out of this thing. It’s a great overall casting reel at a decent price point, and I’d be happy with it for just about all of my casting rod setups.
The second reel that I want to mention is one that I reviewed on the site recently, and that is the Daiwa Tatula 150 SV TW. You can find the full review article here and since I already wrote that I’m not going to repeat everything that I said in that article here, but I will say that this reel is great for my frogging and flipping setup. Frogs aren’t as dense so if it’s windy that can increase the chances of a backlash and you can also see more backlashes when you are pitching and flipping due to the fact that you are casting the lure out there in a very different manner and as a result I’ve found it helps to have a reel that does a little more to prevent backlashes when you are using this sort of setup. A lot of companies out there make DC reels that have a computer chip in them and help prevent backlashes, but in this case I’ve found that this particular model is the one that I like the best overall. It also has a slightly bigger spool size which helps for using larger line like 50lb braid.
I could probably stop there and to be frank I could easily get by with these two reels for all of my casting setups. Having said that I did want to leave you with a third, more budget friendly option and the winner in that category would be this one right here:
If you aren’t already familiar with this reel it’s a Shimano SLX XT A. I also chose this one for the article image because even though there are a lot of anglers out there that only use Daiwa or only use Shimano, I actually really like them both. So here we are with an article that mostly goes over Daiwa reels but uses a Shimano reel for the main article image…
Sadly the price on a lot of Shimano reels (including this one) went up a bit recently, but they are still considerably less than the other reels mentioned in this article and there are times when you can find it on sale and the price ends up getting closer to $100. This is about the least expensive reel I would recommend since you start getting into reels that don’t have an aluminum body when you go below this price, and for this price I think this is the best option that is out there right now. In fact I also own a Curado 201M and while I also like that reel, I honestly can’t feel much of a difference between the two when I use them. That’s not to say there aren’t any differences and as an example the Curado does include their MGL spool and S A-RB bearings which will help it last longer, but it’s also more expensive and in terms of what you get for the price you are paying the SLX XT A is a fine casting reel and a great value. On a side note I also like Dobyns Champion XP rods and the colors on it pair up nicely with the rods in that lineup but most people probably aren’t as concerned about that sort of thing. One last thing I will say about this one is while it says it’s a ‘150’ reel, the actual amount of line you can fit into this reel is closer to what you would see with a smaller reels and both the Tatula 100 and the Tatula 150 SV TW hold more line than this one does.
In summary I’d argue that I could just use the Tatula 100 for most of my casting setups and then with the addition of the Tatula SV TW 150 I’d have everything I need for every casting setup that I own. Keep in mind I only own six casting rods and there are probably other anglers out there that would argue they need more reels in addition to these, but for most anglers that don’t fish full time I’d argue you can get by with just these two. On the other hand if your budget is lower and you are looking for a less expensive option, you may want to take a serious look at the Shimano SLX XT A and that’s also one of the best casting reels on the market right now in terms of overall value. So if you can only afford one casting setup and don’t want to break the bank on a reel for it that could be a great option for you. All of these reels feature a quality frame and components as well as an external breaking system and should last you a long time, so I’m betting you will be happy with any of them if you decide to pick one up.
