Steelhead Reels

I know I asked this before but I can't find the old post. I must ask again nas I now have a friend who we are outfitting from new and need to find a decent reel at a decent price. My stuff is all old such as classic Mitchell 300's and some older Abu Garcia cardinals. I'm looking for a decent reel in the 30-50 range that will hold up

I wouldn't really sell the cheaper reels short. Dec. 3rd, 2012, I landed a state citation steelhead off the end of the wall in the lake at Walnut Creek using a cheap little Shimano FX2000 mounted on a Cabelas' IM7 Tourney rod using Trilene 6 lb. XT line. Weighed at the station by the Commision rep, the fish was 33 & 1/4" long, and weighed 13 lbs. 1 oz. That fish made 6 runs of 25-30 yards from the wall, and the rod was creakin' in the reel seat, but it held. That little reel had the rear knob drag on it, and it was only $18 from Allegheny Bait & Tackle. Threw that rod and reel in the Allegheny River to save my life, but that's another story.
Smoothness and drag are what I look for in my reels, and Daiwa is my brand. I have Black Golds, Tournament Series, Excellors, and my latest purchase just this past week is a 2500 Fuego. They are all smooth as silk and have excellent drags.
If you're fishing from a boat, you can get away with less drag ability, but if you're on the creeks and can't slow down or stop a fish, there's gonna be a lot of folks irritated with you if the fish tangles up about 8 other lines. Figure $60+ for a decent reel.

I second the recommendation of Pflueger President. Also check out Shimano Sprirex, same price, $59.99

I got a couple of Shimano Nexaves (new model) this spring and love em so far. Haven't tangled with any real drag screamers yet but they handle 7-10# channel cats just fine. On my way to Mississippi right now to put em to the test against reds and speckled trout and other assorted saltwater fish that'll give these reels a real test. Rated for salt use too so we'll see. Expecting good things.

Bought the newer Mitchell 300 2 years ago. Absolute junk. Both of 'em. Not at all like they used to be.

Bought 2 Pfleuger Trions late last summer. One is excellent. The other is pretty rough already.

Looks like a ton of rain up there last night, I hope we can have these types of flows come late September/ Octoberish. 

That said, I actually use a shimano syncopate FG (30 dollar reel) on a Berkley lightning shock rod for bass fishing, it's my Senko/ split shot rig set up, I'm guessing the whole thing costs around 100 dollars. I caught our clubs lunker of the year, a six pound smallie from Chautauqua, on it last year. I don't fish for steelhead on spinning gear much, but if Im taking somebody who wants to spin fish, I'll bring that combo along, or take the reel off and slap it on another rod. I always keep it spooled with 8 pound fluro, but for steelhead, can easily tie on a 6/ 4 pound leader. Would definitely recommend checking this reel out. 

Also, as others have stated, the Pflueger president is another of the best bang for your buck reels on the market. 

I'll jump on board with the President recommendations. I've got one on my 7' ultralight and one a 6'6" medium rod and they're both great. I'd buy another without a second thought.

CAPTAIN HOOK
That's a 6935 , got a 6925 (smaller)also. Not a bad reel for the price, very smooth. Good enough for most average fish . Not sure how long they will hold up, it's only a year old and I do fish a lot. Time will tell. Got Penns that are 25 plus years old and still spinning good. Some of the Penn SS series parts are becoming rare. Never needed much work over the years for all the miles on them. Use to be nice when reels came with extra spools !

I've had my larger one for 7-8 years now and the smaller one for 5-6 years. They both get a lot of use and I have the ultralight out banging on rocks and the ground 1-3 days a week year round. They're reliable without a doubt.

Excellent advice, I think we will research the pflugers some more. Hell I might retire the abu cardinals if I like what I see and find

check craigslist, you can often find people selling brand new gear or **** near brand new gear.

pflueger president.
 
ive turned A LOT of people on to them... they're great.
 
check ebay might find a little better price...
 
or check gander mountain theyre going out of business so might find a deal there

Pflueger President on sale FishUSA. $49.99 to $59.99.

I'm gonna shy away from Gander for a bit, I was in the one in Monroeville a couple of weeks ago and the prices had all been raised 25-35% before being marked down. The closeout prices were spot on with everyone else's everyday prices. I looked at the president when I was in Poor Richards this week, very nice reel.

Gander seems to be a joke with going out of business sales games. Agreed..... the sale prices are never a big discount at least at the Niles store. Fish USA is usually the better deal ! 

CAPTAIN HOOK
Gander seems to be a joke with going out of business sales games. Agreed..... the sale prices are never a big discount at least at the Niles store. Fish USA is usually the better deal ! 

The Niles store is stated as not closing yet:
http://wkbn.com/2017/05/1...-landlord-cooperation/
Prices always were bad there, only great deal I got was some Christmas returned multi tools when they first opened for $6. The restroom was always clean as well.

I was lucky enough to find a gently used Abu c2r on eBay this week for $22 with a spare spool. Naturally I jumped at it.

Now I have a new topic, for those who fish centerpin reels have any of you tried or see anyone try using a Spey reel in the same fashion? I've been looking into centerpin more and more but the reels are so **** expensive. I started to notice Spey reels run about half the price and range anywhere from a 4/5-9/10wt.

Being that these reels are so large and run a click and pawl system meaning you can control the run by hand would something like this work in place of a centerpin? I'm guessing the click and pawl operates the same on a Spey reel as it does on a traditional fly reel.

Thoughts?