brakes on Shimano reels

[king fisher]

For the past few years I have been using Diawa reels for bass fishing, and am happy with the performance.  I am thinking about buying a new reel, and the Shimano Curado looks like a reel I would like to try.  My question is how often do readers take the side plate off and change the brake settings.  Do anglers change the settings often depending on wind and lure weight, or do they set them once, and forget about them.  One of the advantages of Diawa is simplicity with one brake control on the outside of the reel.  If most people only set the brakes once in a great while, on the Shimano's, than that advantage wouldn't really mater, and I might give the Curado a try. 

[roadwarrior]

1 minute ago, king fisher said:

 ...set them once, and forget about them.  

 

 

                                                     

[softwateronly]

I'm partial to MGL's with internal and external.  Half on internal and somewhere between 3-4.5 on the outside and changing based on wind, weight, aerodynamics, etc.  Surprisingly important for me to manage long casts at all times.  My thumb might be dumb though.

 

scott

[king fisher]

3 minutes ago, softwateronly said:

I'm partial to MGL's with internal and external.  Half on internal and somewhere between 3-4.5 on the outside and changing based on wind, weight, aerodynamics, etc.  Surprisingly important for me to manage long casts at all times.  My thumb might be dumb though.

 

scott

Do you change the internal brakes often?  Or do you leave them set at half, and only change the external brakes?  I don't mind changing outside brakes, I do it on my 
Diawa's all of the time.  I am curious if it is common for anglers to constantly change the internal brakes. Thanks.

[DINK WHISPERER]

Every one of my reels except 2 are Shimano. Most of them have the 4 pin SVS braking system. They are all set up about the same. 2 pins on and 2 off internally. Spool tension tightened to where the side to side clacking just barely stops. The rest is done with the exterior brake dial depending on lure weight and wind. Pretty set it and forget it to me. 

[softwateronly]

10 minutes ago, king fisher said:

Do you change the internal brakes often?  Or do you leave them set at half, and only change the external brakes?  I don't mind changing outside brakes, I do it on my 
Diawa's all of the time.  I am curious if it is common for anglers to constantly change the internal brakes. Thanks.

Internals are never changed for me.  2 on and 2 off.  Spool is kept just slightly loose.  I move the external dial between 3-4.5 when conditions change.  I find a .1-.3 move on the external dial very useful for line management when dealing with wind or skipping, etc.

 

scott

[Reel]

Most Shimano's nowadays have external settings which are used much more than internal settings.

[GreenPig]

Set and forget here. Only time the side plate is opened is for oiling or cleaning.

[MidwestBassAttack]

2 on 2 off inside. With braided line I can go down to 2 on the external with side to side play.

 

My other setup is 2 on 2 off inside. 17lb P line tactical I generally go between 4-6 on the outside with a good amount of spool “shimmy”

 

 

[SmugOne]

Half on and never have to mess with them after that. 

[jbsoonerfan]

Never open the side plate once they are half on and half off. There are plenty of Shimano reels with an external setting though if you think you might like that better. The Curado 150 MGL would probably fit the bill. 

[Derek1]

Same, half on half off. And never change. 

[J Francho]

I set them to an X pattern (4 on) and leave them.

[newapti5]

I am mostly the same with others here, 2 on 2 off on the internal brake, and 1~2 on the external brake. This is the setting for the current white color brake shoes.  For the old SVS brake shoes - the red ones that are on last gen reels like Chronarch CI4+, Curado I, etc., the brake force is a bit stronger; thus I only turn 1 shoe on internally. 

[Bass Junke]

Just purchased a Curado K and Curado MGL. Both have magnetic and centrifugal brakes. Like most here. The internals, half on half off. External brakes set at minimal-2. I never touch either again. I do adjust the spool tension knob occasionally, but my thumb does most of the work. 

[PhishLI]

1 hour ago, Bass Junke said:

Just purchased a Curado K and Curado MGL. Both have magnetic and centrifugal brakes.

No magnets in either reel. The dial on the outside you think controls magnets actually controls the lateral movement of the conical friction surface that interacts with the flying brake blocks.

[BassNJake]

I guess I'm the guy that blows up all the time

I only have 1 brake on ( I use the green one and remove the other 3)

If I'm casting into the wind, I'll mess with the spool tension knob

(4 citicas and 1 old green curado)

[Aaron_H]

For the centrifugal brakes, I'm almost always set and forget and only fiddle with spool tension if there is a drastic weight difference between what I'm swapping between. Otherwise thumb control all the way. The only time I will change the internal brakes is if I'm dealing with extreme winds; either 3 or 4 on depending on what I'm throwing, otherwise 2 or 3 on is my normal.

[Bass Junke]

21 hours ago, PhishLI said:

No magnets in either reel. The dial on the outside you think controls magnets actually controls the lateral movement of the conical friction surface that interacts with the flying brake blocks.

Thanks for the info. Sorry to the OP for the misinformation. When I see internal brakes and an adjustment knob on the outside, I just assumed dual braking system. These 2 reels are my first Shimanos. Just went to the Shimano site to read up on their braking system and some of their other technologies. 

I stand by my original statement. Half the internals on. If their are magnetic brakes they get set to minimal and I don't ever adjust again. 

[garroyo130]

2 and 2 with external adjustments here also except when throwing deep cranks ill bump down to 1