I fish Zebco Cardinal reels for Salmon and Steelhead, and I purposely bought a bunch of them (C3's and C4s) because they have such great drags.  I have 2 Abu Cardinal reels, but I prefer the Zebco models.  
 
Instead of spending money on a new reel, why not take your Abu Cardinal reel to a reel repair shop, and pay a few bucks to have it cleaned and "tuned?"   If you take it to a reputable shop, they can replace the drag washers, so it works fine again.   Why reinvent the wheel, when you can just inflate the one you already have, properly?

I've had 4 Shimanos burn out on me within the first year so I'm not a big fan. Get yourself a U.S Reel they are really marked down I've bought several not one has failed me. The light large arbor reels work awesome for steelhead

joebaker79
I'm Penn all the way now.  Any reel that needs replaced gets replaced with Penn. 

 
I had a cheap Penn reel on my ultralight trout rod once.  Different pieces fell out of the thing every single time I ever used it, until about the 10'th or 12'th trip out when it left me out of commission and I threw the thing away.  Didn't even want to keep it for parts but did take the spring out of the bail.  
 
Not sure how you can say Shimano is junk until the $150 - $200 range.  My experiences have been totally different, I've used and abused my Symetres at around $100, and all of them still problem free and as smooth as the day I bought them.  I did once get a cheap plastic Shimano reel with a Shakespeare combo;  Now that thing was junk but I don't even think it was a Shimano model you could buy stand alone, probably some junk reel manufactured specifically for a cheap combo.
 
As for Pflueger, I bought one once about 7 years ago for a trout rod as well.  Got it home and the shaft that the spool sits on was slightly bent and could barely reel a full turn.  Took that thing back without ever using it and bought another Shimano, no problems since.

Stillhead
Just buy Shimano and be done with it.

 
This. ^
 
 
Ironhed

I like my Van Stalls  You can reel them under salt water. They are sealed and just about bullet proof.