i think the best reel out there for the buck is the daiwa sg17lca reels. they cost around 100.00 each but if you keep an eye on ebay you can get them much cheeper. another good reel for the buck is the daiwa accudepth plus adp17lc you can buy them outright for around 65.00 on ebay or you can watch the auctions and pick them up alittle cheaper. i use both of these reels on my boat and they perform flawlessly. then another good reel for the money is the okuma convector its around 70.00 but its a good reel. but i choose to use the daiwa reels myself.

and if you decide to go with the daiwa accudepth plus make sure you get the plus reel and not the old accudepth only reel. and on the okuma reels make sure and get the convectors they are a much better reel than the magdna reels. if you really have to go cheap then the magdna reels are the best lower end reels you can get for your money.

one thing i will recommend if you buy the daiwa reels invest a few more bucks and add the power handles. you can get them from tunasreeltroubles.com thats one good feature about the okuma convectors they come with a power handle and the paddle handle. but i still like the daiwas better. and i own all three reels but hardley ever use the okumas. just because i bought the okumas to use with my boards then never mounted my mast to run my boards.

hope this information help you decide which reel you want. if your budjet allows the daiwa sealine sg17lca is the best buy for you buck. then the daiwa accudepth plus then the okuma convector and last is the okuma magdna. the magdna is the cheapest of the 4, but will work but its just not as good as the other reels.

you can always get bigger reels in each brand. i just choose to use the smallest reels in the daiwas. the convectors i got the smallest reel is made alittle different than the bigger models. i think the 15 is the smallest but i bought the 20,s. but you can get 30,s or 45,s or i think maby even bigger. in the daiwas you can get the 27,s or the 47,s and i think they make them bigger. but the 17,s is all i need for walleye fishing. and i got the 20 convector just because i liked it better than the 15.

one thing i do if im running braided line for my divers. i put 200 ft of 17 lb mono line on first then add 450 ft of braid. this keeps the braid from slipping on the spool. i learned the hard way that just braid will slip on the spool if you dont use a backing.

sherman