Coming down firmly on the side of "I'm dumb as a stump" then....
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Coming down firmly on the side of "I'm dumb as a stump" then....
Aside from having less casting issues it is easier to work a popper or stick bait with an eggbeater winding and swinging to give action to your stick bait or popper sweeping or walkng the dog etc. There is some gear that is not outrageously priced such as shimano spheros or saragosa reels (upgrade kits better drag washers/bearings to replace plastic bushes are available) and rods like daiwa monstermesh and T-curve shimano etc that will get the job done ask on the for sales on www.fishing.net.nz you might dredge up some midrange 2nd hand gear for cheap.
Really I don't have any solid technical reason for preferring them, I just prefer the compact size of them and the ergonomics, and have found no real downsides for casting except that my cheap one only likes lures heavier than 10gm. I've found I can cast just as far as mates with spinning setups e.g. river mouth fishing for KY.
I believe that long distance casting competitions are the domain of free spool reels. That would lead me to believe that when set up properly they will cast further than a fixed spool (technical reasoning aside).
When I used freespools land based I was using mono line (which I don't now) and also your standard spinning reel of the day didn't cut it with a decent kingie on the end (perhaps with the exception of the Penn Spinfisher). A free spool reel would also hold a lot more line for it's size and gave the rod a far nicer balance due to the reel sitting so close to the blank.
Now, the use of braid and far better quality fixed spools have turned things around. I would still rather be using a freespool once the fish was attached to the end of it but for casting in all conditions you can't beat a good fixed spool.
Whats fixed vs free spool?
Fixed is spinning reels
Free spool is overhead/bait caster
the good old eggbeater would arguably give you less birdsnests and slightly less chance of a major cockup causing it.
watching salmon fisherman is enlightening as to just how good them fellas are with a baitcaster...