So have a brand new 201g7 curado and after hooking my first fish with it, the drag pretty much sucked. It was very grabby or sticky, I ended up just loosening the drag and used my good ol' thumb.
Has anybody else experienced this with their new out of the box curado, sure seems like I shouldn't be having to take this reel apart after one trip?

Dom, I have the same reel but right hand. I have used it on almost every outting and have had no problems at all with it.i have had it for about a year and a half now. Doesn't sound like a long time but it definately has the hours on it. Send it my way if you get too frustrated with it

you might as well take that reel and toss it in the garbage

the new curados are TRAAAAASH the drag should be lower on the list of concerns.

i am sorry to say

if you really don't like it, take it back and exchange it. It's defective.

Define new, and what is different about them?

thanx

mine did the same thing.. i took it apart and lubed it up and then stuck it in the water and havent had any problems since..

I have been there with my Curado. Did you happen to get your reel wet? The Curados or at least the older models will develop a drag problem as you described if water gets on the drag. If thats the case you can either replace the drag or take the reel apart and pull the drag out and let it dry. And remember with Shimano the drag needs to be greased. And that might be your problem. Maybe your drag simply needs to be re greased.

Don't get it wet...it will muck it up!

I realize that not being able to get a steelhead reel wet sounds kinda screwy, but the Curados...new or old...don't work well when wet.

Fish on...

Todd

Just take the unobtanium drag washers out and replace with Carbontex from SmooothDrag.
Grease with Cal's drag grease or Shimano Drag Grease.

You could probably grease the unobtaniums if you didn't want to monkey with ordering Carbontex.
You would get a better result with Carbontex though.

JFC
Here we go.


Here's an old one that works pretty fookin' good.....


It was green and didn't have a happy switch so it took a while to warm up to it.
Bought in in '93 or '94.

the G series is 100% crap
the E series is 50% crap

the reel flexes under the pressure of big fish (less aluminum more graphite and plastic)

less durability due to more graphite and plastic parts throughout the reel

they wanted to make it a mid range reel that would be a good work horse reel but they made it ungodly super 'cheap' as in cost effective for them sacrificing durability and performance. it should have a $100 price tag on it.

in the bass world, stores that put them on sale at $100 have trouble even selling ANY of them

if shimano doesnt present something phenominal at icast this year then a good chunk of their bass supporters are going to leave them for Abu, Diawa, and Lews.

do yourself a favor and replace it with a Lexa... the Lexa owns albacore... a G curado would explode on an albacore.



sadly i follow up on several bass fishing forums specifically for reel talk.

was more of an issue with 300 sized curados over 200.

There is no excuse for new reels from the factory to have sticky or grabby drags. It's unacceptable to spend $150++++ on a reel and that be the outcome. Every shimano spinning reel i have bought over the last 15 years have had flawless drags. Roughly 20 reels, sedona, saharas, stradics and symmetrys.
While every curado and citica, roughly 12 or so, have had garbage drags.

Water never did a drag any favors, regardless of mfr.

Why the hell does anybody willfully dunk their reels?

Bad brain.
But then some claim the freakin' rain does the dirty deed.

Best ones EVER made!

Well this reel has only seen about 7 hours of fish time, it did get wet from rain but hell I've had my 201bsf for ten abusive years and never had an issue.
I will probably just do order the carbontex washers and replace the stock ones. Thanks for the input.

u know whats funny.........

shimano japan and shimano north america are 2 different qualities within the same reel. as in the japan versions arent cheapened up.

Phil if you truly followed the Bass forums for reel talk you would know that the e7 Curados are an all time favorite and still highly sought after. Can't speak to the G series - haven't fished it.

Banki:

I'll trade you.....have 3 or 4 of the Old lefties.....

We live close......CP.....here