Reel Size

Bought a 9.5ft G.Loomis spinning rod. I've been looking at spinning reels for it and am looking for opinions on what size to use. It'll be used locally for trout and Erie for steelhead/salmon.

My setup for mainly stocked trout, but also sunfish, crappie, bullheads, etc is a 7' Uglystick GX2 rod with a Pleuger President reel. I'm not sure of the exact model as I have a bigger one I use for Drum, White Bass, and Catfish too, but it takes 4-8# line and I spool it up with 6# test mono.

I've fished Shimanos my whole life...and they're very hard to beat. However, in 2014 I bought a Quantum Smoke SL30 for Eyes and Bass and just recently (days ago) bought a SL25 that I plan to use for Crappie, Perch, Eyes, and for Steelies in the fall/winter. I liked how the 30 fed the line out and I found myself respooling (fillin' 'er up) less often. I should say that the Shimanos were 2005 reels, they likely have the beveled spool now that would be the same as the Smoke.