With 2026 here, I figured I’d take some time to reflect on fishing in 2025, as well as my on my stupidly large and still growing BFS reel collection.
I currently have 60+ BFS specific reels, with a few more on the way, and a few more recent reels I haven’t had enough time on the water with yet to test fully.
In any sense, here’s some lists of my favorite reels from my collection in 2025, hopefully it can help some folks who are interested in buying a reel or two in the next year.
Favorite sub- $70 BFS reels
This year, I dedicated a lot of time to trying more affordable reels, mostly to see how the quality compares to the higher end offerings. Most of these are CDM-specific reels readily available on either Aliexpress or Amazon. I have to say, for the price, I’m really impressed with what you can buy for less than $100. I can’t speak to the long-term durability of most of these, as I fish with too many different reels to really stress-test that aspect of these. That said, overall performance is generally pretty great, and the following are well worth the cost.
- 1 – Purelure Cheetah – This reel rules. It’s 90% as good as other Purelure reels, at the most affordable price. Easily the best bang for the buck in the list.
- 2 – Soloking Acura Hicc 50 – This is a cult classic budget reel for a reason. It’s solid and well worth the price, although the price and age of the reel is making it a tighter competition than it once was.
- 3 – Cadence elves 2.0 – It’s super tiny, offers a slow gear ratio for moving baits, and it’s just plain fun.
Worst reel – Anatono Silver Rhino. Tolerances and quality of this reel are awful, even for the cheap price of around $35, it wasn’t worth it at all.
Best $100-150 BFS reels
The $100-150 price range is historically where a lot of regular baitcasting reel companies keep their workhorse lineups. Think the Shimano SLX, Curado, and the Daiwa Tatulas. BFS is more of a specialized technique even with recent wider adoption, but I’m still surprised that there’s not a whole lot of options currently on the market around these prices. That said, there’s still a few winners.
- 1 – Purelure cheetah air (w/ optional shallow spool) – Very surprised by this reel, as well as the shallow spool that turns the reel from a DC into a magnetic XUL reel. For performance under $150, this is the best one I fished this year.
- 2 – 2025 Shimano SLX BFS – If you don’t need to cast trout magnets and are targeting bass, the SLX BFS (or the Curado or Salamandura variants) are reliable and extremely durable.
A note about rebranded reels in this range
Some reels are marked up into the $100+ range for the USDM audience, but are way cheaper when purchased from their country of origin, like from Aliexpress. Specifically, the Ark Gravity BFS is just a rebranded CDM reel from Haibo called the Arise Air. Similarly, Kastking reels are significantly cheaper overseas, but the 2-day shipping offers from Amazon bring those reels up to $100+. I’m not including those reels in this list because with a little patience, those reels are normally found for far less than $100.
Best $200+ BFS reels
Premium pricing brings out the best of the best in terms of overall performance. $200+ is where you’ll find the top overall performers in basically every category, especially when it comes to durability. Some cheaper reels can cast 1g lures as well as the more costly reels, but none offer anywhere near the same versatile, backlash resistant, dependability as reels in this price range.
- 1 – 2025 Alphas BF TW – The new king of performance in my book. It took everything good about the recent Daiwa reels and just about perfected them for BFS. No aftermarket spool needed, easy to dial in, and very versatile. It’s my current reel to beat.
- 2 – 2022 Shimano Aldebaran BFS – While dethroned from my top spot in performance this year, it’s still an absolute beast that I can’t recommend highly enough for BFS, and it’s still the platform I compare every other reel to.
- 3 – 2021 Daiwa Gekkabijin – Although the new Gekkabijin is coming out in 2026, this is still a crazy good performer at distance and XUL weight casting, and still a hoot to cast.
- 4 – Zenon LTX* – For power BFS and long casts, this is my daily driver. It is the most controlled and farthest throwing 1/4oz for me. I did put a an asterisk with it though, because the USDM pricing for it is insane and not nearly worth the money. It’s a great buy at $250 or less, which is typical JDM pricing, but not worth anywhere near what it’s going for the in the US.
- 5 – Conquest BFS – Want an overbuilt, round reel Aldebaran? It’s precision-built BFS royalty, and I can’t argue against its amazing performance.
Honorable mention – Flight Feather SFS FF01. The absolute pinnacle of CDM reels currently, and with good reason. I was casting trout magnets out of the box, and it makes it look effortless.
Favorite Enthusiast Reel – Isuzu DD311SSS.
In my quest for finding the silliest, funnest reel of 2025, I think I found it with the DD311SSS. The world of direct drive reels is a niche within a niche within a niche, but boy is it incredible to catch a fish with a modern relic like this. It’s like driving a mint condition 60s Chevy with three on the tree. It’s impractical in basically every way, but it leaves you grinning the whole time.
Older reels I’d recommend buying Used
A good 5-10 year old reel is still every bit as fishable as the latest and greatest. If you’re looking for something that’s just different, or would rather save some money buying used, there’s so many good older reels out there on the used market that are great buys in 2026.
- 1 – Abu Garcia ALC BF7/LTX BF8 – Small, light and very fun. These are often overlooked so they can be found for a great price too.
- 2 – Daiwa T3 air – Daiwa was really trying some new stuff with these T3 reels, and for that, I commend them. It’s goofy in all the ways that make BFS fun.
- 3 – 2012 Shimano Aldebaran BFS – I like centrifugal brakes, and I love the old Aldebaran platform. They were fantastic at the time, and even 10+ years later they hold their own in any boat.
- 4 – Abu Garcia Morrum 1601 – The budget 2500c, lots of aftermarket parts, and a fantastic performer.
- 5 – 2014 Daiwa SS Air – This is my personal pinnacle of the older Steez platform, and with a few aftermarket extras, it’s a dream
Overall Most Fun Reels of 2025
When it comes down to it, here are my overall top five favorite reels I used in 2025. They’re not all the best performers, or the best value, or something I can quantify, other than that feeling of fun that I got fishing all of these.
- 1 – Daiwa Alphas BF TW – As I said earlier, this is the best performer in my arsenal at the moment, and I used it a lot this year.
- 2 – DD310SSS – Like stepping back in time, it was such a pleasure to use.
- 3 – Abu Garcia Morrum SX1601C Mag – A more modern take on the classic 2500c, and it also caught me quite a few fish this year, an easy favorite.
- 4 – Haibo Meliora – Definitely an underdog pick, but a reel that I surprisingly loved this year for creek smallies. It’s extremely light, and not as finicky as my other Haibo reels, making for an excellent caster.
- 5 – Kastking kestrel air micro – While I’m still ambivalent at best to Kastking as a brand, I caught two of my biggest fish of the year on this reel on separate occasions, and for that reason it’s earned a top as a top reel of the year for me.
Honorable mention – Flight Feather SFS FF01, 2025 Shimano SLX BFS, and Daiwa Tatula BF TW
Other reels heading into 2026
I grabbed some new reels around the holidays, but have either not fished them, or have only had them out once or twice so far, as well as reels on the way and currently somewhere in transit.
New to me reels currently testing: Haibo Arise Ultra Air, Flight Feather Kingfisher, Purelure Cheetah Creek, Seasir 119
New reels on the way: Flight Feather SFS-Pro, NKmaker custom Langley, Gangtu GT.S1, Loongze MC1, 2026 Daiwa Gekkabijin
