Reviews: Baitcaster

[BASS FISHERMAN]

big into chuckin spinners bait so i gos with SHIMANO reels on all me fishin poles A 
i gots 3 of thems castin reels an poles A   
an i gots 2 of thems spinnie poles A 
i keeps the spinnie poles fur chuckin lite spinners baits A 

RANGERS BOAT RULE 

[fiker]

After Shimano bumped their Curado up to close to $200 (out of my price range) I inquired about the Citica.  Which costs about what the Curado used to. 
According to the email answer from Shimano, "if you liked the Curado, you'll be more than happy with the Citica". 

[yukonjack2]

Shimano all the way - I have a 50mg wich is nothing short of awesome . the rest are curados of varying types - a few SF - 6.2 ratio, and the regular in both a 5.0 crankbaiting, and a 3.8 carolina rig - I changed out all the bearings in them (except the mg50) to abec 7's, did a little supertuning on the drums, and lubed em with rockt fuel yellow - they throw like a dream whenther its flipppin or a 1 oz spinnerbait. 

for spinning, I have a few shimano stratic 2500 - they have worked flawlessly since I got them.   I highly recommend them.

I was looking at the shimano DC with the chip in it for anti-backlash control - would love to see if it actually works skipping light baits under docks and boats - but it is in the 5 bill range as well - stick to the spinning outfit for now.

Jack

[rufus]

After fishing tournaments for 16 years I have no other reels in my boat except Curados and Stradic's. I buy about one Curado a year and now have 14 Curado's that are up to 14 years old. Other than a cleaning and lube job and a few minor repairs they have worked awesome (I am extremely hard on my reels, just ask Reel_Man). I use them in both 5.1:1 and 6.2:1. I have a couple Symetre's, but I would definitely spend a few extra dollars on the Stradic's. When changing rods it is nice to have the same reel on every rod. Even though your action will change as you change rods you will not have to worry about the way the reel feels. I have not tried the newer Curado's, but my father-in-law bought a new Citica and this is a very nice reel. I will soon have to start letting go of the older Curado's and upgrade . God Bless and Good Fishin'!

[REEL_MAN]

Rufus is correct, he is hard on his reels, BUT he doesn't abuse them. They are a tool, like a good hammer
I have worked on all of the major reels (even designed them at Quantum) and the majority are good. Many of the reels feel great out of the box, but what about a couple of years later? It's the gearing that takes the abuse. Gear material is very crucial to the performance of the reel. At the present time the only manufacture I feel that has the best gears is Shimano. If you use the drag the Shimano drag in the bait cast is best, if it is spinning you should look at the Diawa. If you want dependability in a spinning reel, Shimano. I know many of you use Quantum bait cast and they are good reels, but the spinning, well let me say their not the level of Shimano or diawa, But close.
We have our favorites and we will fight to say mine is the best. The main thing is don't settle on a reel that you don't have confidence. Also if you have that favorite reel please please take care of it, keep it cleaned and lubed. Reels are getting more expensive every year. I've had one of my Chronachs since '93 and it is still smooth.

Waitin on soft water
God Bless

Reel_Man

[outdoorkid]

my personal opinion in a shimano curado. either the sf or the d series never had any problems with them it all depends on what u want for speed. but shimano all the way 

[225XS4Garza200PXL]

I forgot to mention earlier... Daiwa released a reel called the Advantage a couple years ago in the 100 dollar range and Super-tuned version for like 30 bucks more I believe...

I have not used this reel, but have heard nothing but good things about it... As said earlier, Daiwa is really stepping up to the plate in all price ranges...

I'd highly recommend taking a look at that reel for the money...