If you are totally new to fishing you want to avoid the baitcaster. I have been fishing my entire life and they still tend to give me headaches, plus they are a lot more expensive.

A baitcaster is an open faced reel that is similar to a spin cast.

A spinning reel is what I recommend. They are great all purpose rods and I use them almost exclusively when I am not fly fishing. They are most easily recognised by the wire "bail" that winds the line around the spool. They are also matched with rods that have the guides on the bottom of the rod rather than the top.

Spincasters are solid beginner reels. They are simple to use but are not as strong as spinning reels. There is nothing wrong with them, but they are not quite as useful overall as spinners in my opinion. I am goingto try to put some pictures on here for you to see the differences with. Hopefully they will work.

Andy

Here is the Spincaster