I missed your earlier discussion, so i dont know if you want inshore set ups or stuff for surf fishing. But for 500 dollars you could buy 3 or 4 nice inshore combos! Check out the penn battle 2's in the 4k or 5k size!

 

$500 for bull reds? Sheesh I'd hate to see what you drop on your tuna setups! Bulls aren't exactly the most difficult fish to land.

 

For BULL reds I like my 5000 shimano spheros - I have 150 yards of power pro backing and use 17lb. mono as my working line.

I'm going old school this year -back to the basics - live bait and a popping cork -I'm going to fish every inch of the bay this year.

 

Haha no tuna fishing for this guy my kayak is quite set up for big water as of yet.

 

To JD7.62's comment, it's not exactly "hard" to land many species. It certainly doesn't take a Zee or a Staal to land a king mackerel or a cobia, but you still see many people using those reels for those species. Nothing wrong with using what you're comfortable with.

To the OP, I've got two "favorite" setups for bull redfish.

My "go-to" spinning setup is a Shimano Stradic Ci4+ 4000FA loaded w/ 30 lb. Power Pro Super Slick. I have this reel paired with a 7' 4'' G. Loomis Pro Green. Perfect for working smaller baits & topwaters for finicky bulls.

My "go-to" baitcasting setup is an Abu Garcia Revo Toro NaCl50 loaded w/ 40 lb. Power Pro. This reel is usually on an 8' St. Croix Legend Tournament Musky Series rod. This is my favorite setup to use when throwing bigger plastics & heavy spoons at bulls.

If you'd like to have an excellent quality setup that won't cost quite as much, look into a Shimano Stradic FJ3000 (or a 4000, it's all personal preference) & a 7' 6'' Hurricane Calico Jack rod. I use this combo almost daily as well & it's very comfortable to fish with - love this setup.

Whatever setup you do decide to get, I'd suggest you do yourself a favor & replace your stock drag washers with Carbontex washers. If you fish for big redfish often, you WILL burn up your stock drag washers eventually, trust me.

Good luck with whatever setup you end up choosing, there's a lot of great gear out there man!

 

My bull red setups are a diawa legalis 3500. 60$ on a cheap two piece rod for now And a fin nor lethal 4000 100$ on a penn squadron 40$. The fin nor is a sweet reel!

Anything in the 500$ range is gonna be good quality, but why not spend 100-150 on one that will get the job done just as well and last you forever.

 

No need to spend anywhere near that for bull reds. I've landed a 45 inch red on a 3000 saros with a cheap 2 piece spanish rod. For a solid reel look at the spinfisher v 4500 or 5500. Some other good choices are battles,fierce stradics, saros, symetre, quantum smokes, cabo, bocas. All are decent reels with enough power to stop them easily. Most decent reels are going to have carbon washers already. Find one you like and pair it with a rod that fits your needs.

I've caught hundreds of bulls on cheap 2 piece wal mart rods just fine. The outcast in shore are nice for a relatively cheap, decent rod.

 

Most decent reels are going to have carbon washers already.

Don't mean any disrespect bro, but that's absolutely not true. Aside from the Penn spinners in the Battle series & up (which come with the HT-100 stack) & Quantum's spinners in the Boca series & up, there really aren't any spinners that come stock with carbon fiber washers. Most will have some form of felt material with a fancy name given to it, which differs from manufacturer to manufacturer.

 

The reason the price point was so high is my trade bait is work between 350-400

 

Both my boca 5000 and spinnfisher v 4500 dominated bull reds. I have enjoyed the battle with by battle 2500s. Don't forget about the Abu 7000's, all around 100-150 per reel and enough beef for any red.

 

I also use Penn Battle combos. $119/rig at Bass Pro. I've also caught more than a dozen on Pflueger President combos, $79/rig. As 90% of my fishing is out of a kayak, I don't fish with anything that I'd kick myself for losing or dunking.

 

I have a couple Penn Battles 2000/3000 models I use fer inshore, but haven't battled anything LARGE yet. I have a couple Penn Fierce in 5000 and 6000 models (I believe) fer targeting bigger stuff. Heck not too much money invested in them, and as long as Keith (OceanMaster) is working on reels, probably will last forever!!! Unless I loose em overboard or to the hands of a POS thief!!!!

 

That 29 or 30" bull will not work your tackle as much as that 40 or 42"er will. That Penn Fierce will wear out LONG before that NaCl 50 or 60 will depending on how many bulls you want to catch and how big they are.