Shimano Curado 300DSV

While i dont own this particular reel i've read alot of reviews on the reel and its a great reel, guys are using them alot for musky. The price you paid was a hell of a deal on it. To spool it with braid put some 8 or 10lb mono on underneath the braid, enough to cover the bottom of the spool. Then attach your braid to it and make sure you put it on tightly so it wont slip. The mono underneath will almost guarantee you wont have any slippage problems.

One of the guys PM'd me and told me to avoid braided line, that it tangles too easily and it's dang near impossible to untangle.   Basically, one birdsnest and throw the line away.    So far I've heeded his advice and have used only Sufix hi-vis yellow 20-lb mono.   A birdsnest with that stuff is easy to untangle.    Once you learn to adjust the spool control on the RH side of the reel you can completely avoid birdsnests altogether.  You place your thumb on the spool after you press the spool release down just to keep the spool from unwinding prior to your cast.  Once you cast there's no need to hold your thumb down at all.   I'm able to chuck it 110 ft with a 35 gram float from an 11'4" steelhead rod and have actally measured that distance.    I also have tried it with the same setup using my 6 1/2' bass pole (Berkley Power Pole) and have sent it 95-100 ft.  30-40 yards is very satisfactory distance for me.   I figure braided line might buy me an extra 5-10 yards but is it worth the risk?   On one of the websites where they do product reviews (maybe this website) I read a review on the Curado 300DSV where one guy wrote that once you understand the spool adjustment and adjust it accordingly you couldn't create a birdsnest with this reel if you tried.  Even though I've not had this reel on the water yet and have only experimented with it in the back yard I have to say that's a true statement.   Anyway I liked the reel so much that I went and bought one of 2 remaining 300DSV's at Gander.    I plan to take the 2nd one to Florida and leave it there.  One of the Shimano websites boasts that this reel is designed just as much for saltwater as fresh.   The only negative thing I've read about this reel which as I understand is the largest of all the low-profile baitcasters is that when bringing a fish up from deepwater it does not have the cranking power that some of the round baitcasters have.  So if one were planning to use this for deep sea fishing in 70 feet of water, there are probably better choices.   But for catching steelhead, salmon, muskie and most saltwater species from anywhere near the surface there's no better low-profile baitcaster.

Are you saying I should use the 17lb dia (65#) strength?   Certainly the bigger the dia the easier it is to untangle. 

The biggest mistake that people make with braided line is cranking the drag down tight because the line is rated heavier. If the drag is too tight the line will dig into itself and when you cast you will get a huge birdsnest.

Maybe I'll give the braided line a try.  I've been in Connecticut on business the last month or so and have ventured out onto the beach on Long Island Sound and caught me a 32" Bluefish and 3 large Tautogs (locals call them Blackfish) using the 20lb mono I described.  No breaks, only one minor snag.  The bluefish I caught using a steel leader, obviously.   What a thrill it was catching that blue on the 300 DSV with a mooching rod.   Never saw a fish move from L to R so fast.   Released the blue, kept the Togs

The early lines had a tendency to cut in more so than todays lines. Don't get me wrong, they still do but as stated above, setting your drag correcly pretty much eliminates this. As far as the cost, $200 reel and you want to put one line on it because it's cheaper, does not make a lot of sense to me. The main thing you have to look at is that this line has no memory I.E. you will not have that forms ringlets once it has been on the spool for any length of time. Also, mono will degrade when exposed to sunlight making it over time become brittle and weak, ever tie your knot, test it and it breaks? Thats what the sun does to mono. Lastly, here is a biggy, once your line becomes worn and freyed looking, run out all your line, tie the old end to your backing, reel in and viola! you have fresh line! Yep, you can use it twice now your at under $10/spool just by flipping your line! Really there is no reason not to run braided unless your trolling where you want the strech to help with snags but that seems to be a job for a floro leader then you get good abrasion resistance, strech, and it's all but invisable!
 
Good luck,
 
Jacob

When I said "cut in" I was not referring to it cutting into the spool it's self, I was talking about the line tightening in between the other wraps on the spool and cinching down. It is just burying into the line on the spool not the spool directly. No cutting of the spool or damage to it, just have to pull some line off the spool and reel it back in under tension. This was more prevelant years ago when the could not make the line round as it is now but was more flat and would bury in easier. Truth be told I have never heard of it damaging the spool, don't know how that could possibly happen...... It did have a tendency to eat line guides but now the vast majority of line guides are ceramic specifically because of superlines. I know of mono eating into the pin on a spincast which is the same thing that would happen with any line, but I still don't see how it could damage the spool itself especially cutting into it. I back my line with 20# mono for 1/4 then top it with braid. The reason being is that braid is coated, and does not get the grip that mono does on the spool so what happens is that the line pulls off despite how well the drag is set. I missed a few walleyes once because of this.... blamed the line, blamed the reel, looked into it and blamed myself. You can also wrap your spool with electrical tape or duct tape and then go with strait braid so that it does not slip but I have never tried that. Once again to each his own, but I know what I will be doing.
 
Jacob

When I was fishing up at the Walnut Creek Marina last saturday and it was too cold & windy to go out on the lake or the Trout Run beach I got out the Curado 200 DHSV that I have since lined with braided line, and although it behaved well and cast well I did get one major birds nest on one cast that took me the best part of a half hour to unravel.  Don't know exactly what caused it, but I suspect it may have been buried line that JAH describes above because my bait seemed to fly out about 30 feet and then hit a wall and fall straight down, and there was no other reason for it that I can think of, really.

Picked up a 301DSV @ Gander today....marked down to $112.  Couldn't pass it up.  Now I gotta build a rod to put it on!

It works well enough, i never feel that the dc10s outmatch the reel. I sold my red isis because my curados can handle it all. Also let it be known i may throw dc10s maybe 1/2 hour every few trips, have not had a ton of luck with them. For dc8 and single blade tails i have no problem burning them all day, I have a few safty pin spiners with 10s and again no problem.

I had my first failer on these reels on saturday, not the reels fault. The reel kept icing up and it built up on the side of the line spooling guide well i should have cleaned it more and it got packed up and i kept reeling hopeing to get another cast.... well now i will be buying the peice and fixing it. Not the best reel for below freezing, infact that would go for most low pros with braid.

Being realistic, i have put at least 10,000 cast throught this reel since i have owned it (probably more) from 1/2 oz being the lightest to 8 oz bulldawgs average bait 3 oz. It does what i ask of it. I will run these till i can not anymore.

I'd been seeing alot of the Curado 100D and 200DHSV and 300DSV models for sale on eBay.   And have even bought a few of them.   But my bidding always stopped around $100 for the 100's and 200's and around $120 for the 300's.    Don't know if Gander's limited inventory of this 2006 model is depleted yet.   I bought 2 at the Gander Mountain near Century III Mall.   But as long as those clearances were going on I couldn't believe people were actually bidding $140+ on some of these models unless they were a couple hundred miles from the nearest Gander Mountain.   I'm guessing that the E models will be all that's left soon and those are $180 plus.

Got mine @ West Mifflin....last one in the case.

ORIGINAL: BIGHEAD

What gander store are you guy's getting these reels????? I think a buddy of mine is looking for these reels. I have think seen them at the one in Washington pa but not the one at Robinson. I'll be heading to gander in Washington and then to cabelas in the next week or so Thanks Dave

 
I bought some Curados at Greensburg and some at West Mifflin/Century III.    I think the kid at Greensburg told me that some of the older Curados were available at Washington but that was some time ago.   But if you can get your hands on a 300DHSV they are sweet.    It will work on most saltwater applications (muskie also) as long as you are not trying to cast too light a lure.   I was using mine to cast these 2oz spoons off the beach in FL to catch bluefish.  I've thrown lures as light as .333oz with the Curado 200DHSV going after steelhead.   Lighter than that and you are asking for a ratsnest.  But with the Curado 100D I've tossed steelhead offerings that were as light as 6 grams without a problem.  

i think there might be one 300 left in stock, i work in the fishing dept. at the gander in west mifflin. ill double check tommarow if anyones interested

I came across some additional info on 300 curado on another forum.
http://muskie.outdoorsfirst.com/board/forums/thread-view.asp?

I guess the 300E has an extra bearing, and a titanium line guide. But it looks like if you guy's buying the older 300DSV have any problems you can send it back and they will upgrade it.