To provide a motor-operated reel for fishing, having an overheat- preventing apparatus superior in responsibility and return response against overheat of a motor or power semiconductor constituting a motor drive unit.

To judge whether a motor or power MOSFET 10 which is a power semiconductor sealed inside a case constituting a motor drive unit is in an overheated state, the case temperature of the motor case or power MOSFET 19 is detected by a PPTC(polymer positive-temperature-coefficient thermistor) 18. When the motor or power MOSFET is in the overheated state, the temperature of the PPTC 18 also rises, and the resistance value of the PPTC 18 increases suddenly before and after a transition temperature. As a result of this, a control output signal from a CPU 7a is interrupted, and power supply to a spool winding-up motor is interrupted. As a PPTC 18, one having a transition temperature lower than the burning temperature of the motor or power MOSFET 19 is selected.