Which Casting Reel to choose?

canne à pêche
With the ever-growing range of casting reels on offer, we'd like to give you a few tips to help you make your choice. With casting becoming increasingly popular in France, it's important to be able to make a choice based on your needs and to understand the difference between all the different reel models.

The material aspects will be taken into account. We'll be talking about the ratio, which is directly related to the retrieve speed. This rotation can have many impacts. There's also the drag, its power, the crank profile and the quality and number of bearings. There are so many points to consider.

The fishing technique used will be a second point on which it is essential to focus. A finesse rod should be fitted with a specially designed reel in the same way as a big bait set. This will make your fishing more comfortable and your days on the water more successful. The same goes for the line body used, whether it's nylon, fluorocarbon or braid.

Finally, you'll need to choose a manufacturer from our collection of casting reels. Every angler has their favourite brand, but you still need to know who they are. The range on offer can vary enormously depending on the fish you're after. You'll need to look out for those most likely to offer a model ideal for pike fishing, sea fishing or crankbaits, for example.

Features to consider

The ratio will certainly be one of the first aspects to look at. It gives a numerical value that defines the number of turns your reel will make when you crank it. This will have an immediate impact on retrieve speed. Some lures or techniques will require it to be fast, others intermediate and still others slow.

The brake system and its power also need to be deciphered. You need to match it to the type of fishing you do and the species you are targeting. Be careful, though, not to say that the more you can do, the less you can do. A value of 10kg may seem attractive at first glance, and can cover a wide range of uses. But it's better to have a suitable value, with a system that triggers easily on target fish.

Another aspect is the range of use of your casting reels. Not all manufacturers play the game, but this is increasingly the case. You'll need to match this information to the lures you use. This will preserve your mechanics while giving you the best casting performance.

All that's left to do is keep an eye on the other traditional data. You'll need to check that the line capacity of the spool matches the line you want to use. The number of bearings may also be important, but above all their quality. Finally, you'll need to keep an eye on the weight to get the best possible balance.

Fishing techniques

This is the other aspect of great importance, and one that you need to take into account in your search. Your rod gives you the tone and power, and its action will guide you towards the future combination you choose for it.

If you're fishing for perch or trout, you'll tend to fish finely. This means using small lures, sometimes weighing less than 5g. Not just any reel can do this. So it's important to identify the reel's ability to cast in low ranges. This will make a big difference at the water's edge.

If you are less precise, and want to equip a medium, medium heavy or heavy reel, you will find a wide choice of reels. Be careful, however, with the speeds they offer: they should be as close as possible to the technique you will be using most regularly. Spinning too fast or too slow will inevitably have a detrimental effect on both efficiency and fishing comfort.

Big baits also have their fans, and there's no room for error here. And this is certainly even truer here, as you run the risk of rendering your purchase unusable in a short space of time due to premature wear. Resistance, construction, power range: these are all points that require your full attention if you want to fish for pike or catfish for a long time with your equipment.

Reference models

As you know, certain names echo in anglers' heads, and sometimes that's the best advice you can read or hear. Experience will always take precedence over technical information. Numbers are important to understand, but when many aspects are taken into account, any certainties can easily be debated.

At the range is immense. The names that really set the standard are Curado, Calcutta and Metanium. They come in a range of finishes to cover different techniques. There's something to suit almost every budget.

if you're looking for a more specific design, with names that sound like they're attributed to a particular technique or fish, you'll find the right one for you. We'll also turn to the prorex for the most powerful predators and to the SV for baitfinesse. Tatula and Zillion are names that have been around for a long time, and Saltist and Saltiga offer ranges that are perfectly suited to sea fishing.

At , we also keep the same names and vary the generations. The Revo Beast and the essential Revo MGX are the models that have been gaining in popularity in recent years.

The two latest brands available in France, and also have their share of flagship products, capable of competing with the best-known names. These slightly different approaches have already made the famous Super Duty 300 a success when fishing for larger freshwater predators.

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