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Posts: 1936
Location: Eau Claire, WI | I was having trouble opening the post from the other day but thought this noteworthy to add to the discussion from the other day.
Like many of you I have wondered about using low profile (Bass) reels for musky. Both my wife and daughter get tired easily using my regular stuff whether its the 5600 series or 6500 series Abu's.
Discussing this with a friend the other nite and he borrowed me a Spidercast reel with 50lb Tuff Line XP on it. It was put on a 7'6" lighter weight rod.
Tuesday evening I had my first chance to use this setup, my daughter threw it for about 3 1/2 hours. It worked great for smaller bucktails and lighter topwater baits. She caught a 36"er on a Topper-Stopper and it handled the fish just fine.
She commented 4 or 5 times that night how nice that setup was and asked if I would buy her and Mom one... I am considering the Curado and Abu Torno's and will probably own one by the weekend. I have traded my buddy for some other tackle for his setup... so I'll buy another one for my wife or myself. To be honest I really liked using it, it fit so nicely in my hand.
Will it handle a big fish...?
At the end of the night she said, "I'm getting a little tired", so I said, "no problem take a break we're almost done for the night anyway" I just wanted to finish working this one point. I decided to give the setup a try myself as she was using a bait that had produced in the previous weeks so I put down my rod and grabbed that one.
5 casts later I tied into a 45-46" fish and that little reel handled it with no problems whatsoever. I had good control over the fish at all times and was able to put the reel in freespool with no problems when the fish had tension on it. I was very impressed to say the least.
Someone mentioned not being able to crank the drag down super tight on these. I couldn't do it to this one either and I don't do that with my big reels so I guess it's not a big deal to me. Sharp hooks and whip-crack hookset from a good rod will bury the hooks just fine.
Just thought I would share this story for those who are curious about the reels ability to handle larger fish.
One suggestion on these, if you buy one get one with a higher gear ratio, say 5.8:1 or higher. Due to the smaller spool size this will allow you to retrieve bucktails fast enough to buldge them or slow it down for topwaters.
Hope this helps a little,
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Posts: 131
Location: Kalamazoo, MI | I went in to pick up a cardiff the other day, figuring I would give that a shot. They didnt have the cardiff model number I wanted, but they had all their curados on sale. I ended up picking up a CU-201B5. The first thing I can say, is take Mark's advice about the higher ratio. I figured the 5:1 would be nice in the smaller reel, thinking it would need all the power it could get. Now I really wish I had gone with the standard 6.2:1. The reel is definitely a solid reel and I dont anticipate any problems whatsoever. Retrieve is silky smooth, casts 65lb test power pro a mile, and the drag is very nice and smooth. All in all im pretty pleased with it. Whether it will hold up to the test of time remains to be seen, but I have a feeling it will. |
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Posts: 58
Location: Edina, MN | I don't think its the fish that trash these smaller reels. Its throwing baits larger than what they are intended for. They are designed to throw bass sized spinner baits and cranks. If you stick to smaller baits, they should work beautifully. What they won't do is burn large bucktails or hold up to casting large heavy baits. |
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Posts: 20281
Location: oswego, il | Mark, I bought a torno on eabay brand new really cheap. Seems alot of places have an overstock on the 5:3to1(I have not seen any 6:3to1 tornos) and they are all over ebay with about a 25-30 dollar savings over new. Supposed to have the same guts as a C3. I casted my new torno and my new ultracast 5600 I bought and the torno casted at least 20ft farther.
Lots of cheap low profile reels on ebay. Unfortunately the curado does not seem to be one of them. They are going around 80-100 bucks used, some very used. |
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Posts: 1023
Location: Lafayette, IN | Since I haven't really given my Curado a tried and true test of Musky Casting, today I did. I threw everything from a Mepps Musky Killer to "FirePike" (see my photo album). the reel worked flawlessly. 80# Power Pro on a 7 1/2' Lightning Rod using straight retrieves.flairs, and twitches. I even speed trolled with it for about 30 minutes. No fish though.  |
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Posts: 96
| Thanks guys, for all of the info. I'm going to pick up a Shimano. Good luck out there. Musky39 |
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Posts: 626
Location: ashtabula ohio | well , i didnt have the same luck with curados as you guys do. i just returned my 2nd, and last one. neither of them would engage correctly after depressing the cast button. the 1st one would sometimes grind and the 2nd one, the thumbar would only come half way up and the gears wouldnt engage..it was nice and smooth but...oh well, thinking of trying a catala? anybody got any horror stories with those?? |
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Posts: 20281
Location: oswego, il | I just picked up a quantum iron acs reel(small round) and a diawa procaster with a 7:1 retrieve. Both seem to cast well, can't wait to musky chuck with them. |
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Posts: 136
| Mark,
I've got two Spidercast 300's this year for my son and wife and put 80 tuff XP on them and they work great! I actually don't mind throwing them because they are so much lighter!
Steve |
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Posts: 425
Location: Elkhart, IN | Originally written by luckymusky on 2003-06-30 10:30 AM
well , i didnt have the same luck with curados as you guys do. i just returned my 2nd, and last one. neither of them would engage correctly after depressing the cast button. the 1st one would sometimes grind and the 2nd one, the thumbar would only come half way up and the gears wouldnt engage..it was nice and smooth but...oh well, thinking of trying a catala? anybody got any horror stories with those??
Wow, that's unreal. I just caught my first muskie on a Curado 100b and love it. I've had several Shimanos and never had a problem with any of them. In my personal opinion Shimano is the premier reel maker. I'm sorry you had so much trouble with them, I wish I could talk you into one more try because they really are nice reels. Mark |
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Posts: 1023
Location: Lafayette, IN | I posted a request for opinions about the Catala AND Corsair a while back and got really bad press on both. HOWEVER, I haven't had a minute's trouble with either one. But I especially like my Curado 200. Undoubtably, one of the best reels I've ever owned! Having said all that, I dare you to post a request for opinions/ bad experiences with ABU. I've seen quite a few dissatisfied owners of them as well. I guess some people get bad runs of product from all brands at some point. Bottom line is maintainence and customer support. I bet Walmart will replace either brand in a heartbeat if it is deemed defective by the owner. Certainly, Shimano and ABU Garcia (and Quantum) will too. I know from my own experience. Just use what you like and like what you use. Now...Let's all join hands and walk to the boats. ( Rangers are crap!) sorry. Just kidding! |
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Posts: 626
Location: ashtabula ohio | yeah ive always liked and used shimano also. but still i wasnt about to try a third one. waiting on a catala at gander to come in and will try that. |
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Posts: 1023
Location: Lafayette, IN | luckymusky, You say you aren't about to try a third one (Curado I'm assuming) but you're waiting on a Catala. Do you realize the Catala is also a Shimano product and is considerably less quality than a Curado? I have both and even though I haven't had any complaints with my Catala 300, I'd own a Curado over a Catala any day of the week. In fact, I'd trade all my other baitcasters for all Curados. $$$$$$ Just wanted to make sure you understood what you were waiting on. |
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Posts: 131
Location: Kalamazoo, MI | The catala is a far cry from a low profile also, but i digress.
The cardiff still looks to me like an excellent cheaper-than-calcutta option. The next time I need a new reel, its probably going to be a cardiff.
Still very happy with the curado, its been tossing 1oz-2oz spinnerbaits, medium sized bucktails, baby shallow raiders, phantoms, and even a jackpot now and then with no problems so far!
Now I just need to break my 58 day musky dry spell and see how it handles a fish. |
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Posts: 626
Location: ashtabula ohio | yes i do know that catalas and curados are shimano... after 2 PISS POOR performances by CURADO...i will try a catala, if its piss also, it will go back... |
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Posts: 391
| Just wondering if anyone has tried the fluegers or the pinnacles. I checked out the pinnacles and the upper end ones seemed really nice? any thoughts on these?
kly |
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Posts: 20281
Location: oswego, il | that pinacle has 10 bearings and they are going reasonalble on ebay, new in the box. The phleuger seems nice too, tried to buy one on ebay, was outbid. They have two low profile reels, one is a trion and the other has one more bearing, looks the same and has the same price. Very smooth reel. |
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Posts: 96
| I ended up buying a calais. I used it for a week casting musky baits at Indian lake near Vermillion Bay. It is the smoothest reel I have ever used. When the week was over my hands felt a million times better than when I used round baitcasters. The largest fish was only a 38" it handled that with no problem. We saw lots of large fish, but they would not bite.
Musky39 |
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Posts: 58
Location: Edina, MN | I've got a Pinnacle Vision Limited VST10 and its the worst POS I own. had an internal spring break first time out, fixed it only to have the drag fail on me the very next outing. Very difficult to find parts.
I also have a Bass Pro low profile reel which I believe is a Pfleuger product. I use it for river jigging in the winter as it has a flippin switch. So far, very nice for my needs. I don't work it over w/ big baits etc though. |
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Low Profile Reels part 2