What is good baitcaster for  a beginner in the $100-120 range?

Shimano casitas most definitely! I'm proud to own one I also have the old shimano canaen that is also a great beginner reel.

Edited November 2, 20169 yr by Burros

I learned on a daiwa 153htsl.  they can be found cheap and still a great reel today

Welcome aboard, Jacob!

Do a search of the forums for what you're looking for.

Lots of information has already been discussed.

But for your range, a Daiwa or Shimano is a tough
piece of equipment to beat!  

Look to BPS.  Their reels will go cheap come spring.

Although, I can't disagree with going either daiwa or shimano.

To me my recommendation does not change based on your experience. I do not like buying beginner equipment and upgrading later. So go straight to a Daiwa Tatula CT. It retails for $129. It is just like all of the Tatulas. The are built well, cast smoothly and have very good drag systems. They are easy to adjust properly even for a beginner  I fish with 7 Daiwa  reels in the Tatula family. The Tatula CT is the newest version in the lineup. They are just workhorses

The Bass Pro Shops Pro Qualifier is THE best reel for the money come fall and spring when they hold their big sales. I believe it retails for $99.99 but drops to $69.99. 

You don't have to spend that much. Get a Black Max. I know a guide who catches hundreds if not thousands of fish per year.  He has Black Max and Silver Max on his high dollar rods. 

For that price range I would get a 7' MH/f Berkley lightning rod ($40) from wal mart or a fenwick rod from ffo tackle. I got a 6'9 MH/f elite tech smallmouth ($70)  and a black max ($40). The new 3rd gen. black max have really surprised me. They cast surprisingly far, breaks are nice, drag is okay, and it is a smooth retrieve. I've had it for about 8 months now and it still works great. I got this for a "river beater" combo for a float trip so I wouldn't jeopardize one of my more expensive rods and reels. Once you want to get a higher end rod/reel I would recommend lews reels and Fenwick, Kistler, St. Croix, Falcon, Lews, Dobyns, and g loomis rods. For narrowing your search of the best rod for you, do a search on here and you'll find a lot of information.

1st pic looks just like an Ardent reel.  

I would get the Daiwa Tatula CT

I learned using the Abu Garcia Black Max. They're good and not expensive. Between the Black Max and the Silver Max I now have 9. Starting out I'd personally spend a little less on a reel and a little more on a rod for the sensitivity.

I'm a new to baitcasting and I started with a tatula. Understand how your reel works. Just practice first it won't take long. Good luck.

Lews Speed Spool LFS, 13 ***, Bass Pro Pro Qualifier, Bass Pro Carbonlite and my personal favorite Ardent Apex Pro

17 minutes ago, Ohio Bassin said:

Lews Speed Spool LFS, 13 ***, Bass Pro Pro Qualifier, Bass Pro Carbonlite and my personal favorite Ardent Apex Pro

A $130 reel currently priced at $95.11 at Walmart Online.  Ardent seldom gets mentioned on any of the fishing forums I frequent, and when it does the comments usually aren't that good.  I read the reviews on TW.  Impressive if anywhere near true.  I'm not afraid to try the unusual, and would give one a shot if I didn't already own a boatload of reels.

How about a review of your own?  

Hmmm.   Is it a baitcaster for beginner to fishing, or beginner to the baitcasting reels?  Either way - wouldn't go crazy.  The Okuma Stratus V (Dick's exclusive) is plenty good at $35 (when on sale).  Or the Black/silver/Pro Max from Abu....   

56 minutes ago, new2BC4bass said:

A $130 reel currently priced at $95.11 at Walmart Online.  Ardent seldom gets mentioned on any of the fishing forums I frequent, and when it does the comments usually aren't that good.  I read the reviews on TW.  Impressive if anywhere near true.  I'm not afraid to try the unusual, and would give one a shot if I didn't already own a boatload of reels.

How about a review of your own?  

I would say performance wise and smoothness it is on par with reels in the same price category. 

Positives: Light, Smooth, Easy cast ability, can balance on pretty much any Rod, decent drag system. 

Negatives: High Maintaince,quite a bit of plastic parts for a higher end reel.

With the Ardent Apex reels I found that I have to relube and clean them more often than other reels to keep performance up. Also using other line besides the Ardent Reel Butter can have a negative effect on performance. All in All if you don't mind more maintaince more often these reels are on par but I think exceed in rod balancing which is a main factor for me when buying reels.

How about some good professional reviews.  a used sol or the advantage.  TT does great reviews give them a read 

11 hours ago, cottny27 said:

1st pic looks just like an Ardent reel.  

What do you think about ardent reels ? 

17 hours ago, Sugar said:

Hmmm, many things to consider. Such as gear ratio, max drag, line capacity, etc.

As for the price, I'd like to recommend 2 reels. Piscifun SAEX Elite  priced 100 dollars. Piscifun Thunder Saltwater Baitcaster priced 75 dollars.

You could check em out and see if you like em. 

(Mod if it violates forum rules)

 

Piscifun Thunder Baitcaster

Everything about this reel screams Ardent

Pretty much all listed reels will work.  I'm an abu guy who drives Chevies, a friend is full on shimano and he drives dodges,  we both catch fish

 

When looking at your first bait caster the better your equipment the flatter the learning curve.

All I know is abu, so this is biased .  the $135 revo sx will do all you want and it's pretty bullet proof.

However,  going up one level to the stx series ($199) Now you have a reel with three adjustable features, magnet, spool  tension, centrifugal brake. while this may appear overwhelming ,  the truth is you can counter many bad habits (look at the adjustability in golf clubs now) which allows you to spend more time with bait in the water rather then keeping professional overruns cleaned up.

If fishing is your love ( like most on this board) it's not an expense, it's an investment.

Good luck

Shishamo  18 bearings? Lol

just saying.

10 hours ago, Yeajray231 said:

What do you think about ardent reels ? 

I have no experience with them other than holding them in a tackle shop.  I do think if you are buying and "off brand" reel then $100 is quite steep.  I hope you get years of use out of that.  It sure looks solid.  I bought Kastking Stealth just for the heck of it and like it for beating up.  It been good so far.  $47..so who cares.

My first two baitcast reels were an Abu Silver Max and a Revo SX. Both were great, user friendly, beginner reels. 

19 minutes ago, Cheesefrank said:

Shishamo  18 bearings? Lol

just saying.

Hydrographics on a reel? I'll bet it's at least a grand for that reel! Shishamo....took one quick look and thought it actually was a Shimano. Lol