in your price range, I'd look at the cheaper diawa reels and an ugly stick rod or one of the catalog brand rods (cabelas or bass pro shops). Shimano makes great reels, but their lower end sucks donkey balls. daiwa's low end is much more serviceable than the shimano stuff. penn's smaller stuff isn't as good as daiwa, either (their big game reels are great, though). Okuma makes some good reels in the30-40 dollar range. Quantum =meh. they feel great out of the box, but they don't stand up to long term use at all. something like
daiwa samurai
is a pretty good bottom end reel. not a shimano stella, but it will give you years of good use if you don't run it over with your car.
look for a reel with a line rating for 6 lb test or so. that'll give you about the right size you're looking for. pair it with a rod of about 6'6" or 7" and rated for about 4-10 lb test line.