Basswhippa

I have 6 Shimano Calcuttas, 4 Curado 200 B's and 4 Citica E's and a host of other reels. I love the older Shimanos. I'm not sure about this G series. The sideplates on them wiggle. It feels like crap. The Lews feel awesome in the store. If they hold up and you can get parts, they will be very good reels for and give Shimano a run for their money. Why the heck Shimano got rid of the Curado B I'll never know. I wish some other manufacturer would just copy the thing since apparently it is useless to Shimano anymore. I'd buy the Curado B no matter where it was made. Most all reel mechanics will tell you that the legendary reel is their favorite to work on and most often they will tell you it is their personal favorite. Shimano has been putting out a new Curado basically every two years since discontinuing the original. It's like they are running around like a chicken with their head cut off. They don't know what to do. They put something out it's too heavy. They put another out and they can't make money at $179.00. Then they put another out, make it in Malasia to save money, and the sideplates are loose(Citica G's too) Now we get them that the sideplate moves in your hand. Don't think I'lll buy it. If feels cheap. Vote with your money. The Lews are getting rave reviews and the guy that is running it seems top notch. He actually seems to know what he's doing and Shimano who seems to being putting out Curados every two years does not seem to know what they are doing and maybe even somewhat clueless. If you can get Lews serviced, and it holds up like what some people are beginning to say, well it could be a legend again.

Great rods. Son has two!

Nice fish!

That is a heck of a deal on a reel cleaning!

This is a bass forum, so 1/8 to all the way to the rim is correct. If you are a competitive caster, using an ABU 5500 CS Mag Elite, chunking 200+ yards with 10' rods, you won't get the distance with a reel filled to the spool. You would backlash. 1/8 or less would allow for maximium spool spinning without backlash. Good luck!

I have three skin mounts from the eighties that look the way they did when I got them. They have spent 5 years in a detached garage that is subject to heat. So the newer mounts are fine. They don't age that bad. People say the replicas stay real looking forever. That may be true. But I like looking at aging mounts and thinking about how cool that fish must have been to someone 20, 30, 40 or even 50 years ago. It gets my imagination going even if the mount is fading. I saw a 12 pound TN bass that must have been from the 70s, if not 60s. It had me so stirred up it wasn't funny. I'm not sure if it would have had it looked like it did 40+ years ago. That said, had it been a replica with a few old pictures, it might have got me going as well. This is preference. If you catch a 10 pounder out of Okeechobee, you might want a skin mount. It could be eatin by a gator the next day. If you catch a 10 pounder out of your pond, or a local pond where it has a great chance of surviving, and the fish looks textbook, knowing Lake Fork or one of these guys can adequately give you an accurate represenation, by all means, get a replica. Interesting stuff here.

Great fish!

Years ago I saw an 8 weigh 5 and 3/4. Test the scale. it is a skinny fish but might weigh more than 7.

Weigh 7 pounds and 1 ounce and see what it weighs. Or the excellent suggestion of trying a gallon of water answering how your scale does. I have seen n those digitAl scales be way off. That said a 15.8 forth on a 25 inch bass will man for a lighter than should be fish.

Thanks everyone for the ideas. DVT, I did a pretty good job taking it down and cleaning it, but I'm 100% sure not as good as the one you would do. I am going to order the parts, and if it isn't the gears, I'm going to send it to you for a lookover and professional cleaning, as I would have missed something , which certainly could be. Thanks again everyone!

I was fortunate to pick up an almost perfect reel for cheap the other day with one notable exeption, it feels rough.. I've been into pawn shops for years, and it is the first one I have seen. I broke it down and found a slight amount of silt and sand. So I cleaned it all up, hoping if I got it perfect, it would work perfect. Well you guessed it, it still feels rough when winding it in. A grinding would be the best description. It casts perfect but grinds on the retrieve. I'm thinking the gears were damaged. Everything else is perfect. I didn't check the ARB bearing very close though admittedly. My question is this. Does Shimano still carry the drive, yoke and pinion gear for the legendary but discontinued Greenie? I'm pretty sure the drive gear is the same as the Castiac Model, but the pinion is different. I would like to add this new to me reel into service. I might even stockpile a few parts for my other 3 Greenies. Thanks and remember, if fishermen were good enough to be Jesus' closest acquaintances, they are good enough for me. Got to get ya'll to quit telling fish stories though. Ha.

I am pretty well stunned by this entire thread. I've fished Pickwick many a time and released many great fish from this wonderful resource. I am somewhat a contrarian. Up until this point I have never kept a single bass from Pickwick. Not one. I believe that I very well may begin keeping every single fish that I catch out of there that is a legal keeper. It would be well within my rights. This thread sickens me. The guy probably is like most of us, we release thousands of fish over our lifetime and when he keeps one, people want to slit his tires or crucify him or something. Instead of telling folks what a low life this man is, let us be happy for him. It's a great fish. It would be far more productive to figure how to get lots of milfoil back into the lake rather to argue what an outlaw loser that some who kept a single fish that is probably on it's last leg or year of life. Milfoil is the only reason the hawgs are there, and it's lack is why they are being caught. I'm rethinking my catch and release only policy. A bass is still a fish, one of natures more simple life forms, maybe on par with an amphibian or turtle. As a bass and fish, as such, it is no better than a shad or drum or carp or catfish, which I have no qualm about killing. I've not eatin a bass in 30 years that I know of but I've never eatin a bad sunfish, of which a bass is one. PS, if you want people to not take large fish from Pickwick, please have folks quit starting and posting internet threads on 14.58 pounders that are swimming around there(actually someone said it would be even bigger due to egg buildiup ) , posting threads of all the 10 pounders that are being caught right now, telling people there are World Record smallmouths cruising in there (which is highly doubtful and yes, I have seen brown fish between 8 and 9 pounds personally) and pull you 8 pound smallmouth avatars down!

I n Isn't this new Curado the third Curado in 6 years? So they are changing their reels around every two years like it's a new model car or something? That's crazy.

This is horrid. I'll have to stick to my six Mid 90's Calcuttas and three Greenie 200's. I still don't think Shimano has ever outdone any of those reels, except maybe a mid 90's Chronarch. JMO

In the mid 80's a distant cousin of mine was fishing a central Florida orange grove farm private lake. As he was moving along in his boat, he felt the familiar "tap" on his plastic worm. He set the hook, fought the bass up to the side of the boat, and realized it was not only the larget bass he had ever hooked, but the largest bass he had ever seen. He estimated the fish to be 16 to 18 pounds. Somehow, the fish came unhooked on a final surge. My cousin sat there shaking, and just calmly held his favorite rod and reel over the edge of the boat, opened his hand, and donated the rig to the bottom of the lake. Personally, I've caught one between 8 and 9. However at Joe Wheeler reservoir I lost one that hit right at the boat on a 1 ounce spinnerbait that was likely 9-10 pounds. I was using one o fthose old 5500 with the delay in the anti reverse, he hit 10' from the boat and I just lifted up instead of setting the hook and she rolled onto her side, opened her mouth (she had clamped down on the head) and spit the lure right back out at me.

James, I don't hear of Truman Lake like I used to, come to think of it. You should know. I would say the key phrase here is "always dropping or rising". That messes with the spawn.

This is my first post ever here. I would like to share a story. I was fishing with my son on a small state managed lake in Tennessee. There are documented 10+ largemouth caught there and it is rumored the TWRA shocked up a 15lber a few years back. It's full of gizzard shad and the bass have always grown large there. It also has catfish, crappie, bluegill and hybrid stripers. To make a long story short, a week earlier, I had caught a 7lber. The big fish were on the prowl. Fastforward a week, and I caught another 7 pounder about mid day. My son hung a fish and we saw a large gold flash and it got away. It was a large fish, at least 5lbs, but we didn't get a good look. My son is only 12, but he's big, strong and athletic, so he can handle a 6'8" rod no problem. He's caught tons of largemouth 4 - 6 lbs. He has a Castaway heavy action, I think they call it their lizard rod. He's young but knows how to tie many different knots and is a perfectionist. I've never had a failure on a palomar knot and i've fished since I was a kid. He's always been fascinated with knots and even asked for a knot book when he was about 8. He studied and practiced knots for years. I'd trust his palomar far more than even my own, and I've never had one fail. He reties regularly. He had just spooled his reel up with brand new Big Game 15lb test, a line I've had tons of success with over the years. He had just tied on a 6" Yum Dinger. He got a hit, set the hook, felt a surge for a second, and you guessed it, his line became limp and it just came in. We both were stunned. I looked it over and there was 1 abrasion place about an half inch above the break. I've never had a bass bite my line in half, but that's exactly what it appeared to be. He went on to catch his personal best, a 7lber. So we had two 7's in the boat, hooked another monster, and had something to bite his line in half. We also caugh quite a few 3 to 5's that day. My bet is that the fish that bit his line in half was a 10lb or better largemouth. Big fish were certainly on the prowl. Never had it happen to me in 41 years of fishing. He still talks and wonders about it. Though we wish he had caught that fish, it was so unusual he continues to dream about the one that got away. I've only read one post on The BFHP where an estimated above 12 lber bit though a guys line at Guntersville.