MindofZalla

I graduated high school this hear, and I have been bas fishing for six years. It wasn't until about 3 years ago when I became interested in the tournament fishing scene.

I am 17 years old and am really starting to get into bass fishing. I have been a bass fisherman for a few years now but only recently have I begun to take it more seriously. By doing so I have begun purchasing more and more baits/lures, terminal tackle, and just overall better supplies for fishing. I like majority of the anglers in the world have started fishing with spinning gear. But recently I was hanging out with a buddy of mine who fishes local tourneys and what not and he strictly uses only Baitcasters. And after a nice long day on the water I began to see why. I tried it out and as you could imagine I enjoyed his Abu Garcia Veritas setup he had going. I am again extremely interested and excited to further my bass fishing, and to start off on the right track I am looking for a very solid setup rod/reel wise. I know for a fact I want the Abu Garcia Veritas 2.0 rod, simply because I loved my friends original one, and I have only heard better things with the 2.0. However As far as reels go, I am not exactly sure what brand s are good, which are bad, or which are overpriced, etc. So my question for the Bass Resource community is: "What would you suggest as far as a reel goes for a beginner baitcaster-er. I am looking for something that good but at the same time newb friendly. By that I mean I want it to last a while, not put me in debt, and can take a fair amount of abuse while I go through the learning process of getting better with it." And all help is greatly appreciated.