OnthePotomac

I believe the Citica 200 E and Curado 200E series came in 2008. I had two Citica 200D's, which I sold 3 months ago, still in perfect condition, to a fellow who fishes the Mississippi. The Citica 200s are completely different than the Citica 200Ds in that the D is a much larger reel. With all of the hoopla about the new Curado 200G being made in Maylasia and how terrible it is, the Citica 200D was made in the Shimano facility in Maylasia many years ago and it is one incredible reel.

If you would like to know what is involved in super tuning, take a look at this. I have done my own reels (Shimanos), but I will not use sandpaper on any surface. As a former tool and die worker I am aware of changing factory surface tolerances. I only used rouge on my parts. Is there a difference other than ABEC 7 bearings - not that much in my opinion, I have a 10-year old reel I have carefully maintained myself and not "tuned" and it works just as well. You can't beat regular cleaning and proper lubing. http://jdntackle.home.mindspring.com/index%20page.html

The Curado 50E star drag is not "plastic". It is a very strong composition material and is used to reduce weight on some of their reels. According to Shimano, they have developed ever stronger materials for the composition star drags with each new generation of reels.

As a test, I am running two Citica 100DSV reels with TSI 301 dipped spool bearings, which I installed in January of this year. One reel is my jig n pig reel and the other is my Ribbit frog reel. Both sets of bearings are doing really well at this point with no further lubrication. Alan Tani claims he has just finished his third year with his 301 bearings and all is well.

A 7' MH BPS Carbonlite with a Curado 50E and 12 lb BPS flouro. Works great for weightless Senkos.

12 lb BPS flouro on mine.

The star drag on the 50E, according to Shimano, is a modern composite, which is light and very strong. The material was chosen for this reel and others for this reason. It has a degree of flex, which reduces its chance of being broken if stepped on or dropped. All I did to my three 50E's is add very high quality metal ABEC 7 bearings. I went metal instead of OS ceramics, because I have ceramics in other reels and get tired of the constant care they require to remain well lubed and quiet.

This may be of interest in view of previous discussions on micro guides. http://anglersresource.net/TheoryoftheNewGuideConcept(NGC).aspx

Try Yellow Rocket Fuel for metal spool bearings. Oust Met Oil in ceramics. Both are excellent bearing oils.

I have three Curado 200E7 reels with ABEC 7 SS bearings and they are really incredible reels. I use them for all applications with lines varying from 10 to 20lbs. Like all Shimanos they are incredibly easy to take down and lube. If you can find them, I highly recommend them.

This is from scrap lumber.

I really like the Shimano 50E line. I have three of the Curado 50E's in which I have put ABEC7 SS bearings and they are sweet little reels. I was fortunate in that when several retailers dumped them at the end of the year i was able to get my three for incredibly low prices. I can just imagine that the Chronarch 50E is a really fine reel. I maintain my own reels, so I am able to keep them smooth.

But if you find a Citica 200E and want to speed it up, you can order the pinion gear and drive gear from Shimano for the Curado 200E7 and make it a 7:1 reel.

I have two reels with TSI dipped TSI 301 bearings which are now in their 9th month with no further care. I also use Yellow Rocket Fuel in my metal bearings and Oust Met Oil in my ceramic bearings. Any high quality bearing oil will work and the key is high quality. There are those who use Quantum Hot Sauce and Daiwa oil.

Yes, keep the spool shafts dry and clean. Only a speck, and a speck of oil on the spool tension pads in the covers. I also periodically run a pipe cleaner through the pinion gear to keep it clear of anything. The comment above is correct in that the tolerances for spool shafts and pinion gears are so close that any oil, or grease is only going to slow down the spool. The bearings provide the RPM. Any professional reel cleaning/tuning service will agree on no oil/grease on spool shafts.

Try putting the reel in the freezer for awhile. Other choice, will a drop of Liquid Wrench work?

This may help.

I am also a January reel cleaner and change lines, except braid. I do one, or two a day depending on what else I have to do, but being retired affords me that flexibility. While cleaning each reel I also touch up components I have polished, but never with any sand paper, only metal polish.

I have had the $20 Berkley line spooler for 10 years and really like its simplicity and usefulness. I clamp it to the edge of my fishing bench for stability and also use the slide on screw down spool tension pieces on a small wire shaft in my drill when I want to unspool line and keep it for future use on an empty spool. A very handy tool.

Why not, once applied it is always there.

I hope I am not violating anything here, but incredible quality SS ABEC 7's are available at biggreenfish.com. And I mean they are really good.

It is made by the American Gas and Chemical Company and was developed for NASA because oil cannot be used in space. I am currently running TSI 301 dipped bearings in January in two Citicas and so far they are doing great, but I am a reel tinkerer on my own reels. TSI 321 is actually the lubricant and TSI 301 is a fast evaporating solvent with 321 suspended in it. Some reel tinkerers just use the 321, but they both end up the same. By the way, it is an excellent gun lubricant and is used by police departments. I use it on my unblued 1911 and there is now never a trace of rust on it. Here is the company site if you want to know more about the products. http://www.tsi301.com/main.htm

This may be of some help to you: The “IM” rating may vary among rod manufacturers, but the following values are fairly standard in the industry: IM6 = 30+ton material in the rod (this is considered a standard modulus) IM7 = 35+ton material in the rod (this is considered intermediate modulus) IM8 = 40+ton material in the rod (this is considered intermediate to high modulus) IM10 = 54+ton material in the rod (this is considered high modulus) Beyond this level manufacturers use various ways to describe their rod strengths. You will find rods which do not use the “IM” ratings on their rods. Instead they will use strength designations such as HMG 60 (High Modulus Graphite) which is used on Bass Pro Shops Extreme rods, or HM 85 (High Modulus) which is used on the expensive Johnny Morris rods. BPS Carbonlites are 85 million modulus, but this is not printed on the rod. Loomis goes even further and uses designations such as “NRX”, “GLX”, “IMX” and “NX” and do tell you what the modulus rating is unless you ask them. They will use the term “very high modulus” in their description of their rods.

Another Cabela's rod cover fan. I like the way you can adjust the length, but 7'6" is about the max used full length.

Does anyone have any experience with these? They have a 7-year warranty but a couple of the reviews are no to good. I have several gift cards, which would come in handy, but I also know where to buy a good cover if need be for the same price. The bummer is that Hurricane will not ship to a BPS store, only a residence.