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  1. #1
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    Curado DC review

    This weekend I took my 16 year old daughter out for her first tournament, just a little club derby. She likes fishing but has only ever used a spinning rod. I'm fortunate enough to have a buddy who works for Shimano and he let me borrow a Curado DC for her to use. Long story short, it should be everyone's first baitcaster. We practiced for a day and a half. She could cast it immediately without a major backlash, by noon on the second day of practice she could pitch like she's been doing it for years (honestly better than some guys I fish with regularly). She used it to throw a frog and pitch a jig, had it spooled up with 40lb Power Pro. Unfortunately the frog bite wasn't happening but she did catch quite a few fish on the jig including our first keeper of the tournament. She had it on the #4 setting the whole time but there was no real loss in casting distance.

    Despite what they say, it will overrun a little bit (even set at 4) but never had a backlash that dad had to pick out. By the end of the tournament she said she liked the baitcaster better than a spinning reel.

    We didn't do great but did come in with a 9lb limit. Easily my favorite 9lb limit ever (and I've had a few of those).

  2. Member
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    #2
    Awesome!

  3. Member
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    #3
    2004 Stratos 295 Pro XL
    2004 Mercury 3.0 L EFI 200 HP SN: 0T908560
    Standard/Servicemaster Lower 859399T13

  4. Member WrenchNBASS's Avatar
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    #4
    Good to hear, memorable times on the water. Can’t wait to try one of those.

  5. Member
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    #5
    Quote Originally Posted by WrenchNBASS View Post
    Good to hear, memorable times on the water. Can’t wait to try one of those.
    We were fishing just a bit south of you, launched on Winneconne. Pretty bad algae bloom going on now.

  6. Member
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    #6
    Believe it or not my six year old son last summer could cast my shimano bait casters, Calcutta and Curado with hardly any problems for the most part. Santa brought him a cheap rod and reel combo and has a hard time with back lashes. So now i am buying new reels for myself and giving him my old ones. This made me believe you get what you pay for. Awesome job for you and your daughter i cant wait to take my son fishing in a tournament.

  7. Member
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    #7
    That Curado DC is gotta be on my list

    However, spending time with your love ones is more important

  8. Member
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    #8
    It was great getting out with her, ever since she stopped playing softball and since she's 16 and has her own friends, school, work and lives with her mom etc. there's been less and less of that kind of quality time. Was a really nice weekend and she liked it enough to say she'd do it again so I'm looking forward to that.

  9. Member C130's Avatar
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    #9
    Sounds like a great time. I ordered one from Tackle Warehouse a few weeks ago and the website gave an estimate of October 15th. I found some at Tackle Addict, somewhat local, and bought two of them. I wanted to see if I liked them and had thought I'd probably cancel the Tackle Warehouse order since I had just bought two. Then today FedEx shows up with the one from Tackle Warehouse. I like them and they have great casting distance. I still managed to backlash one trying to get way under a boat dock but it wasn't bad, I was able to get untangled pretty easy.

  10. Member
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    #10
    How’s the palmability ?

  11. No Bullchit cd4th's Avatar
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    #11
    Was just considering a Curado 150 DC for my father. He has a hard time with some of my reels, even if I crank them down for him. Think I'll order one for him.

  12. Member Black Haze's Avatar
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    #12
    Quote Originally Posted by Real Pudd legend View Post
    How’s the palmability ?
    . Just like the curado k, great

  13. Member
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    #13
    I like mine so much I’m ordering another. Fun reel to throw.

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    #14
    Quote Originally Posted by Real Pudd legend View Post
    How’s the palmability ?
    Yeah, exactly the same size as the K. I'll probably end up ordering a couple of them over the winter to have for less experienced people in the boat.

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    #15
    Nice fellas thanks for the info

  16. Member
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    #16
    It does palm really well. I’m actually surprised how it and the k feel considering their capacity.

    So so far I’ve mostly thrown a big worm with flourocarbon on it. Obviously not a skipping bait. When I have been around shallow stuff and did pitch the worm I was impressed with how well it pitches and not really skip but slide the worm. One day I’ll put on a jig and really test the skipping ability on it but nevertheless it’s exceded my expectations on short line stuff so far.

    Now also know that it does take some adjusting on the spool tension to get it dialed to your liking. The casting into a wall stuff while not thumbing is bull crap. You still need your thumb when the lure stops, as you’d expect with any reel. I have had some over runs when I didn’t expect them but that was setting the spool as loose as possible on the tension basically.

    It’s fun to use and cast very free like if that makes sense. Hope that helps.

  17. Member
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    #17
    I just got one have not spooled it up yet. But can't wait to try it. Wonder how it casts compared to my steez A.
    I am all Daiwa but this Shimano was too enticing

  18. Member
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    Jul 2016
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    Illinois
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    #18
    I've used mine for about four hours, not a lot of time, but I've been really impressed with it. I have the spool tension set so the lure has a slow fall. I can near dump the spool of sufix 832 40lb with a bronzeye 65 on setting one, no thumb, no thumb when it lands either. I'm using a 7' rod fwiw. Pitching is better than I thought it would be, again on setting one, and the DC braking engages during the pitch. Skipping the same frog pretty damn well with no thumb on setting four. I think the real key to this reel is finding the right spool tension. Will be putting more hours on it tonight but I'm getting another when I find an xg in stock.

  19. Member
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    Oct 2008
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    #19
    Just got mine in, cant wait to get it spooled up and get out with it. Probably wont be doing any pitching/flipping this fall or winter but will put several miles on it with a jig
    They aint got hands, set the hook

  20. Member
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    #20
    Quote Originally Posted by cd4th View Post
    Was just considering a Curado 150 DC for my father. He has a hard time with some of my reels, even if I crank them down for him. Think I'll order one for him.
    Any Daiwa with 3D Magforce would be good for him. I know nothing about the Curado DC, but the older Exsence DC is another reel that is extremely hard to backlash if you use the Max (definitely not Min if the spool is set loose) or any of the other brake selections.