Hi,

I am purchasing a setup purely for surface fishing and wondered if anyone can give advice on a good reel. I feel I don't really need a 'baitrunner' for this task but you may think otherwise. My budget is around the £50 - £70 mark.

So far I have identified the Daiwa Emcast Advanced 5000 as a possibility (especially as I found it at £49.99)

I realise this is, in theory, a 'big pit' reel but I wonder if I could also use it for spodding.

Does anyone think this reel would be suitable for my surface fishing setup.

Many Thanks in advance if you can find the time to reply.

I do a spot of surface fishing from time to time and all I use is a 4000 size reel.With a reel of this size you can also use it for many other fishing senarios.

The Emcast will certainly do the job and is a capable casting reel but you`ll be restricted in its use.

Two reels I use for surface fishing is an Okuma Epix 40 and a Shimano Stradic 4000

Both reels are capable workhorses and have helped me land Carp to over 25lb whilst surface fishing.

Have a look on Ebay you can easily pick both of these reels up for under your budget.

I use a Shimano super gtm 4000 or something like that. Defiantly a Shimano Super though. Within your Budget and a great reel, although not as good as the Stradic I don't think.

yoggy & Christian,

Thanks for your replies guys... I actually went for the Emcast Advanced 5500 and got it for £49.99. When it arrived I baulked a bit at it's size but spooled it up and put on the rod. It felt nicely balanced so I decided to give it a go......

Went out this afternoon and had a 16lb mirror and 18lb common off the top. Happy with the reels performance.

Many thanks for your input!!