Shimano Citica E Upgrade?

[NOVA Angler]

Has anyone replaced the Citica E spool with a Curado E spool?  I've read that this makes a tremendous difference in the castability of this reel.  Just wanted to see if anyone here has personal experience with this upgrade.  Are there any other upgrades you recommend to improve performance?

[Simp]

I've taken my curado spool and put it into my citica and I notices the difference. It's start up a fair amount faster but IMHO the metal pins are what I like. I had my citica break a pin on it's spool. 

I've also added the drive shaft bearing last week and it's smoother. However I haven't gotten a chance to get out on the water and put it under a load yet. You might want to think about replacing the spool bearings with some ABEC 7 bearings rather then spending 40$ on replacing the spool as well. This would also cause the spool to start up faster.

[Thefishy1]

I swapped out the spools between my Curado and Citica and love it.

I wanted a 6.3 reel for crankbaits, but the Citica spool was not the best so I put the Curado spool in it and now I can cast #5 shad raps a mile. Then I put the citica spool in my flipping Curado because I did not need the lighter spool there.

Also I think the cosmetics look much better switched.

[BrianinMD]

Been thinking of doing the spool swap and adding the drive shaft bearing to my Citica. Wondering were is a good place to buy the spool, can you only get them thru Shimano? My internet searches are not coming up with anything.

[ksbasser]

Any parts dealer that caries Shimano parts will have the spool. They will all be about the same price. My question is, If you want the Curado spool, why didn't you just buy an E5 or an E7 curado? By the time you buy a spool and posibly the crank bearing, you could have bought the curado

[BrianinMD]

Didn't have the money at the time. Thoughts are if I get the spool now I can put flouro on it and leave the citica spool with yozuri hybrid. I can switch between the two as necessary.

[adclem]

I have several Curados and a couple of the Citicas.  I upgraded my Citicas this winter with the Curado Spool and handle as well as upgrading all of the bearings.  The reels feel super smooth and unfortunately have not got to try them yet since everything is still frozen.

If you can't afford a Curado at the time then the Citica is the way to go and just upgrade it as you can.

Later,

[NOVA Angler]

Any parts dealer that caries Shimano parts will have the spool. They will all be about the same price. My question is, If you want the Curado spool, why didn't you just buy an E5 or an E7 curado? By the time you buy a spool and posibly the crank bearing, you could have bought the curado

My Citica D casted very similar to my Curado D in terms of smoothness and distance.  I assumed the Citica E would do the same compared to the Curado E.  In my experience that's just not the case.  There is a big gap between the two. 

[OnthePotomac]

I put BOCA ABEC 7 Orange Seal ceramic spool  bearings in my Citica 200E's and what a difference.  No need to change the spool.  BOCA has a 4-pac for $54.95, which makes the cost per bearing very reasonable.  My advice is save your money for a drive shaft bearing, because it is not load bearing and you will notice little difference on your retrieve from the bushing well lubed.

[jamarkwe]

I uprgraded my the spool bearings in my Citica with ABEC 9's and It is amazing... I can cast my light weight cranks a mile in 30 deg weather. IMO there is no need to swap spools.

I also upgraded the drive shaft bushing and added a Core handle. ;D

I almost bought the Curado but I don't like the Green/gold color and I wanted the 6.3:1 for cranks..

I actually just bought a 2 more NIB Citica's off ebay for $170 shipped... At that price it Leaves me plenty of room for upgrades :-?