Finally Fished My Curado Is And....

[TNBassin']

I like them. Coming from a Chronarch 201E the difference isn't night and day like it was when I switched from Gen 3 Revos to the Chronarchs, but for $20 less than a Chronarch you really can't go wrong. I was getting good distance with some 1/2oz swim jigs and red eyes, but not QUITE the distance my Chronarchs fling them. I'll chalk that up to the bearings being new and unflushed, though I never flushed my Chronarch bearings so definitely gotta get rid of that excess lube in the Curado bearings. One thing that kind of got a chuckle and a head shake from myself was the gobs of grease that seemed to work it's way out of the reel grips over the course of the night. Shimano really caked it on the bushings for whatever reason.

 

The reels seemed to smooth out a ton in the 6 hours I fished, and felt great reeling in the lone 2lber I caught. I was worried, because out of the box they feel really "tight", especially compared to the Chronarch. The SVS system came in handy, as it was very windy today so I kept the standard 2 brake blocks on and turned the SVS dial to 4 and didn't have any issues at all with back lashing. What's funny is that I can keep 2 brakes on when using my Chronarchs and have no issues with back lashing, but have to keep 2 brakes on the Curado I AND use the SVS so I definitely think the VBS system is a little bit better centrifugal system.

 

While I've only got 6 hours on these reels, it definitely doesn't seem like Shimano sacrificed any quality between the Curado I and the Chronarch. If anything, it seems like you're getting a reel that fishes a little above it's retail price. I wish I would've landed more fish to get a better feeling of these reels, but the holiday weekend pressure on the lake definitely seems to have taken it's toll on the bass here. 

 

All in all, it's definitely a tight little reel and Shimano has seemingly done it again. I've got over a year on my 3 Chronarchs and they haven't given me one issue, so hopefully these new Curados are tanks as well. They sure feel like it. I'm definitely gonna fish these for awhile before I decide whether or not to sell off my Chronarchs, especially since Shimano doesn't yet make a 5:5:1 Curado I in a lefty yet. Can I recommend you buy one of these? Not with only 6 hours of use, but it sure looks promising. Can I say that these perform as well as the $200 Chronarch? I can, though when it comes to JUST using the centrifugal system I feel the Chronarch has a better braking system. Is the Curado I's system worse? Not necessarily, just different than what I'm used to though the SVS did smooth out any issues I had though the Chronarch doesn't require this so take that FWIW.  In closing, for $179 it doesn't look like you can go wrong, and it's a Shimano so....

[bootytrain]

Glad you like the Curados, you seemed a bit worried for a minute lol.  One thing I would like to say is that the "2 on and forget them" mentality for the new 4 pin SVS Infinity brakes as well as the old 6 pin VBS is doing them a disservice. Leaving 2 brakes on the Curado I means that you are using roughly 50% of the braking force, even more if you have the dial set higher than one. If you are throwing a great casting lure like a lipless crank, or heavy jerk bait, or a spoon, its very doable to go down to 1 brake block on both the SVS infinity and the old 6 pin VBS and get really long distances, it will take a little fine tuning and a good casting stroke but I don't think its hard. For instance, I had 2 pins on and the dial set to 1 on the Curado, throwing a 3/8th oz rooster tail 100 ft consistently(measured with my line counter)  with no backlash and little to no thumb needed on splashdown. When I switched down to 1 brake and the dial set to 1 I was consistently getting 135ft with little to no thumb needed on the splashdown.

[CJV]

I sold off all (4) of my E series chronarchs for (4) new curado I and I haven't looked back one bit. Don't get me wrong I loved my E series but Shimano hit a home run with the curado I series for sure I've had mine since launch and they haven't skipped a beat. I also have 2 JDM Shimano Metaniums and although the casting distance is superb with those reels the curado I is not far behind it. Great reel