I'd rather have a stump puller with good line capacity than a fast retrienve. Fishonjohn makes some good points. I know some who use electric reels on Penn 345. If you're fishing deep, it is a lot easier to hold the button down than to spend minutes reeling up to check your bait.

Halibut have been landed on almost every size of reel. I mention the 330 as a good all-around reel. I also have a Penn 112 as my heavy duty. Holds a lot of line, but there is no level wind. You develop an educated thumb to get your line on level. One more thing to think about when playing a fish.

Don't forget a fighting belt. You can get some interesting bruises using your groin area as a butt rest.