I have a spinning reel on my 10.5 foot Lamiglas Cert Pro and feel I can outfish anyone with a baitcaster if the rivers are low/clear and small floats and lures are required. I think Vedder and the other float fishing authors have given spinning gear a bad rap for float fishing by saying you have to close the bail before the hookset. If you have the right line and practice, you can backreel a spinning reel and get a faster hookset than with a baitcaster. You have to put a slight amount of upstream tension on the float to do this-this also helps position the point of the hook downstream. If you want a baitcaster though, I'm not sure which to recommend.