Most forgiving baitcaster

[stevenhatchy]

I went with a lews for my 4 year old. It was the smallest one I could find in the $120 price range at the time. My thinking was that any braking system would be adequate as long as the reel fit his hands. It worked out well with him.

[freelancer27]

My Daiwa Steez A and the SV spool from the Daiwa SV103.

No idea why, but I can put the breaks on '2' and cast into the wind with a 1/4oz lure and i am not getting a hint of a backlash. Spool tension is normal.

[SSS]

The 2011 scorpion dc

[DenhamBruce]

Smart choice on the Lews given how tiny some of their reels are. I feel as though just about any reel can become "forgiving" when you put the breaks on enough. It just depends on how far you plan on casting at that point!

[zodiak311]

Smart choice on the Lews given how tiny some of their reels are. I feel as though just about any reel can become "forgiving" when you put the breaks on enough. It just depends on how far you plan on casting at that point!

I've never seen the Lew reels in person. Which ones have the smallest profile?

[Hobie-Wan Kenobi]

The new Tatula SV is really nice for control. Gets decent distance without feeling choked. I have played with it on "dummy mode" and was surprised at the distance it can get with sloppy, choppy casts.

[DenhamBruce]

Smart choice on the Lews given how tiny some of their reels are. I feel as though just about any reel can become "forgiving" when you put the breaks on enough. It just depends on how far you plan on casting at that point!

I've never seen the Lew reels in person. Which ones have the smallest profile?

I haven't handled any of the newer Lews reels, but the Tournament MB from a few years ago was really small and actually had an aluminum frame I think. Very solid reel

[bronzefly]

The new Tatula SV is really nice for control. Gets decent distance without feeling choked. I have played with it on "dummy mode" and was surprised at the distance it can get with sloppy, choppy casts.

Same experience here. Even with it "locked down" it still casts reasonably well without backlash worry. It's been fun playing around with what this reel can do completely opened up too

[toddmc]

It sure would have been nice to have SV reels when I was a kid and I started using baitcasters in the early 80's. Kids can make due, but it's really at about 10 years old that most kids develop enough motor skills and size to be proficient with a baitcaster. I have been through this with my 9 and 11 year old boys. I'm always afraid that they are going to drop my baitcasters when I hand off a hooked fish. They fight fish much better with spinning combos. Some of the early Shimano Bantam reels, with not much more braking than a cast control knob, were brutal on me when I was young. I barely had enough room to carry one combo on my bike when I was going to golf course lakes. One mistake and my day could be done!

[Carlos Carrapiço]

I wouldn't necessarily say "most" forgiving, but I'd recommend one of the Abu or Lews with dual braking. That way he can still learn to use a baitcaster and grow into by backing off the brakes as he gets more proficient. SV and DC are awesome (own several of each) but they kind of take the work out of it. Might be very frustrating if he ever wants to try a more advanced baitcaster as he gets older.

I would disagree, I think learning a proper casting stoke is vastly more important then learning the in's and out's of a given braking system. Once you know how to cast well, most any reel with any braking system is usable with a very short period of adjustments, so starting with a reel that is the most tame and least fussy would be best.

Nailed

[hokiehi]

Smart choice on the Lews given how tiny some of their reels are. I feel as though just about any reel can become "forgiving" when you put the breaks on enough. It just depends on how far you plan on casting at that point!

I've never seen the Lew reels in person. Which ones have the smallest profile?

I haven't handled any of the newer Lews reels, but the Tournament MB from a few years ago was really small and actually had an aluminum frame I think. Very solid reel

I owned a few Tournament MBs and they were always solid performing reels that casted well and remained pretty smooth during the time i had them. I don’t regret moving away from them to a full Shimano lineup, but at the same time I wouldn’t be against having a full lineup of the MBs if I had a tighter budget.

[Cal]

My son's first baitcaster was an Aldebaran BFS ... the key to learning spool control is teaching them how to pitch before casting. That way, they can practice thumbing the spool at slower speeds so the backlashes aren't as bad. Then, when they can pitch a good distance with a casting plug, you can transition to actual casting motions.

DSC_7246.jpg (77.91 KiB) Viewed 6930 times

[zodiak311]

I will say that my son, at 6 years old, is actually pretty decent at casting with a baitcaster, as long as I do the adjustments for him. The little sucker can never sit still for anything, but he can literally fish 6 hours straight, not catch a fish, but just loves casting various lures. On our last fishing trip, I wanted to go home before he did.

So maybe I can narrow it down a bit more here.

The three brands I am interested in will be either Lews, Shimano, or Daiwa.

Out of these three brands, I am looking for a combination of the smallest profile (not as concerned about weight), but also easiest to cast.

With Daiwa I know you can never go wrong with and SV spools. Is the current Tatula sv103 profile significantly smaller than the original one?

Shimano Curado 70, or SLX DC?

I am mainly looking at the "SLP" Lews, assuming they are smaller profile. Never held a new Lews in hand.

Thanks so much for the input thus far.

[zodiak311]

My son's first baitcaster was an Aldebaran BFS ... the key to learning spool control is teaching them how to pitch before casting. That way, they can practice thumbing the spool at slower speeds so the backlashes aren't as bad. Then, when they can pitch a good distance with a casting plug, you can transition to actual casting motions.

DSC_7246.jpg

That's awesome Cal, point well taken.

[LowRange]

I will say that my son, at 6 years old, is actually pretty decent at casting with a baitcaster, as long as I do the adjustments for him. The little sucker can never sit still for anything, but he can literally fish 6 hours straight, not catch a fish, but just loves casting various lures. On our last fishing trip, I wanted to go home before he did.

So maybe I can narrow it down a bit more here.

The three brands I am interested in will be either Lews, Shimano, or Daiwa.

Out of these three brands, I am looking for a combination of the smallest profile (not as concerned about weight), but also easiest to cast.

With Daiwa I know you can never go wrong with and SV spools. Is the current Tatula sv103 profile significantly smaller than the original one?

Shimano Curado 70, or SLX DC?

I am mainly looking at the "SLP" Lews, assuming they are smaller profile. Never held a new Lews in hand.

Thanks so much for the input thus far.

Yea it is much smaller. It is about Alphas/Pixy size now.