Can any recommend a good reel for my son

[BoldBear]

I still have all my old mitchells and Abu's in the back of a drawer and haven't used them for years, although I do still use my Abu 506 ocassionally when I'm fishing a light float or if I am feeling a bit nostalgic I may use an old 'Black-cat centrepin or Mitchell 300 with my old MKIV Carp rod for Carp fishing in the margins.

Yes they are still in good working order after many years service but personally I don't really think that they really as good as modern reels but thats just my opinion for what it's worth.

If you can afford £50 then you should be able to get your son a good modern reel with 'infinate anti reverse', 'twist buster balearm' etc. etc. and all the other things that older mitchells never had, plus importantly he will not look behind the times to his mates.

As Martin said I think it's a great Idea to get your son into using a centrepin as well, as I am sure he would have some great enjoyment from using one for margin fishing and for trotting a stream but I think an all-round modern fixed spool reel would be a much better choice for his first decent reel.

Okuma do decent reels at a lower price than Shimano but you can also get some decent shimanos quite cheap if you do a search on ebay.