davidsnookman

I want to thank Bass Resource and Yum for the package I won. It contained way more gear than I expected. I invited my bass fishing buddies over and let them pick a few bags each. Bass Resource is the best site for information that I have found, and now I got some free stuff. I still can't believe I won!

Tackletrap sells daiwa tatula 90mm handles for 20.99. I replaced the handle on my smoke 150 with one. I like it better than my factory handle.

Thanks for agreeing with me on e series. I really wanted to love those reels because everything else was great on mine, but I just could not get over the roughness. And it is not a grinding feeling at all. If you do a search on the internet, you can find some people that said the same thing about their e series, but its hard to find. They tried new gears, removing the anti-reverse pawl(which I think makes it noisy),levelwind pawl, deep cleaning them, but the roughness always came back in a short period of time. Now all the other shimanos I've owned did not have that roughness even after heavy use. I've had my 200i for a year and half with no problems(except when I forget to oil the brake drum). It is very smooth, and powerful under load and it is an excellent caster. Nick use your i's they will become one of your favorite reels. Check out this video with the curado i's.

It feels like rough gears when using resistance baits like spinnerbaits, crankbaits, rattletraps, and fighting fish. It is very smooth with no resistance, but rough and noisy when tension is on the line. The reel performed fine, but it felt like really bad bearings. There was no noise on casting at all. The bearings were smooth, so it wasn't that. I have no clue what the reason it would do this. Not any of my other reels felt like that. Even my 22 year old 200b that has only serviced a couple times was way smoother than the 200e7, and it has its original bearings.

I bought a barely used mint condition curado 200e7 about a year ago. I paid $170 for it because of everyone talking about how great they were. I have to say it was the roughest reel under load I have ever used. Yet it was very smooth with no load on it. I had it professionally serviced($25)and they said it was in great condition inside. It was still rough under load. I have tried many of my friends curado 200e7's and they felt exactly the same as mine. I tried to get used to it, but it just ticked me off every time I used it. Eventually I sold it for $100 on craigslist because i wasn't using it anymore. I know I could have got more for it, but I just didn't care. I have owned every curado reel since the b series and still own 200b, castaic 200sf, and a curado 200i(my favorite out of all curados) and I just don't understand why everyone loves the e series. I don't want to offend anybody, but I just don't get the hype. Please someone confirm they are rough under load and I'm not crazy. Just my .02 cents. Thanks Dave

Hi, my name is David. I have been fishing 40 years. I started bass fishing when i was 10 years old and have been hooked ever since. My primary fishing area is pinellas, pasco, and hillsbrough counties. I have been reading bass resource for about 2 years now and have learned a lot. I figured it was time I become a member. Although bass fishing is my passion, I'm also a diehard snook fisherman. It is amazing how similar these two fish are. I apply a lot of bass techniques for snook fishing. I split my fishing time about 50/50 between freshwater and saltwater. I fish as much as I can, and when I'm not fishing its pretty much all I think about(probably the same for most of you). I am looking forward to learning more on the forums and sharing what I've learned as well. Thanks David