Shimano reel

R
Rferguson61
My father-in-law (who primarily fishes for bass) gave me a Shimano Curado Bantam 201CU to put on my new rod. Seems a bit small but he assures me that it’s plenty big for salmon (which is what the rod is for).
What do you guys think? Is it big enough? I wanted to put a Cold Water or CW low profile on it but free is a great price.
 
rogerdodger
rogerdodger
My quick check on that Shimano hit on the max. drag- 11 pounds.
I happen, lol, to have recently caught a 20# Chinook from my kayak on the ocean with a shiny new Okuma cold water low profile line counter so I checked and it's max. drag- 25 pounds. Best guess, I was definitely halfway to max drag.

my feeling, that Shimano would be great for steelhead and coho and smaller nooks. Get into a bigger Chinook, that Shimano will be pushed to it's limits...and beyond.
 
  • Like
Reactions: troutdude and Rferguson61
R
Rferguson61
rogerdodger said:
My quick check on that Shimano hit on the max. drag- 11 pounds.
I happen, lol, to have recently caught a 20# Chinook from my kayak on the ocean with a shiny new Okuma cold water low profile line counter so I checked and it's max. drag- 25 pounds. Best guess, I was definitely halfway to max drag.

my feeling, that Shimano would be great for steelhead and coho and smaller nooks. Get into a bigger Chinook, that Shimano will be pushed to it's limits...and beyond.
That’s what I was thinking/worried about. I’ll hold onto it for steelhead but plan on getting a cold water. How do you like the one you have? Is it the grey/orange one or the black SS one?
 
rogerdodger
rogerdodger
Rferguson61 said:
That’s what I was thinking/worried about. I’ll hold onto it for steelhead but plan on getting a cold water. How do you like the one you have? Is it the grey/orange one or the black SS one?
Grey/Orange. BiMart had a great price on them. I bought a second one after 'testing' out the first.
 
R
Rferguson61
rogerdodger said:
Grey/Orange. BiMart had a great price on them. I bought a second one after 'testing' out the first.
Great! Yeah I have spun the handle at Bi-Mart on one about a thousand times trying to talk myself into it haha. Wasn’t sure if the SS one was really worth it or if the normal low profile was good enough. Thanks for the info.
 
rogerdodger
rogerdodger
Rferguson61 said:
Great! Yeah I have spun the handle at Bi-Mart on one about a thousand times trying to talk myself into it haha. Wasn’t sure if the SS one was really worth it or if the normal low profile was good enough. Thanks for the info.
I really like that the star drag had a slight 'click' that you feel, so you can control it consistently- '3 clicks' tighter for example. And it's very sensitive, hard to over tighten it.
 
DOKF
DOKF
Don't tell your father in law ...
 
R
Rferguson61
DOKF said:
Don't tell your father in law ...
Hahaha I definitely will not. I appreciate his generosity. I just don’t want to lose a fish because the reel isn’t up to the job.
 
  • Like
Reactions: rogerdodger
DOKF
DOKF
While fly fishing for sea-run cutts a few years back with what i considered appropriated sized 5 wt rod and reel, I hooked into a 25 lb chinook. After a few really exciting runs, I landed the chinook, but the new to me graphite reel was toast from the fight.

Similar situations often happen; fishing for rock fish but enticing a really scary ling; trolling for salmon but hooking a halibut ...

Get another rod more appropriately sized for the reel from your FIL, at the same time you get the reel you want / need.

Will he know the diff?
 
  • Like
Reactions: troutdude
R
Rferguson61
DOKF said:
While fly fishing for sea-run cutts a few years back with what i considered appropriated sized 5 wt rod and reel, I hooked into a 25 lb chinook. After a few really exciting runs, I landed the chinook, but the new to me graphite reel was toast from the fight.

Similar situations often happen; fishing for rock fish but enticing a really scary ling; trolling for salmon but hooking a halibut ...

Get another rod more appropriately sized for the reel from your FIL, at the same time you get the reel you want / need.

Will he know the diff?
Good to hear you were able to net it! Bummer about the reel.
As for if he would notice…probably. He was with me when I bought the rod and I told him I intended to put a Cold Water on it and he told me he had a reel I could have. Next time we are out together I’m sure he will notice. I’ll just be sure to tell him I put it on a steelhead rod and it’s not going going to waste haha
 
DOKF
DOKF
Of course, he'll want to go steelheading with his favourite son in law ..
 
R
Rferguson61
DOKF said:
Of course, he'll want to go steelheading with his favourite son in law ..
We will see. I’m only the favorite by default because I’m the only one haha. He’s more interested in bass fishing than chasing salmon/steelhead.
 
DOKF
DOKF
Ah, one of those ..
 
DOKF
DOKF
I still use the graphite reel for trout. Usually don't get them onto the reel anyway ...
 
S
Spoonplugger1
Have a lot of inexperienced, or ill informed opinions here. The venerable Penn 409 reel my grandad used from the 50's till he died, my 86 year old dad still uses for salmon and sturgeon have 8 lb. drags, salmon were much bigger than. My Penn GTi320 reels I caught deep sea fish on including a sailfish and what I now use for oversized sturgeon since the 80's has a 15 lb. drag, fish to 9+ ft. long below Bonneville Dam with up to 3 lbs of lead. Very popular reel now and over many years. My Shimano TLD 20 deep sea lever drag rod has a 17 lb drag. My Penn 4/0 Senator that I have caught many 100+ lb tuna on hss a 19 lb. drag. Before you talk about the amount of drag you are using simply pick up an 8 lb gallon milk jug with your rod and see just how much bend that puts on your salmon rod, I think you will be surprised.
To answer your question, that reel has plenty of capacity and power for salmon if you pick your technique accordingly. I have used that size and smaller for hover salmon fishing for over a decade, so have a bunch of guides that use the little Diawa digital accudepth reels. While shad fishing just below Willamette Falls a buddy and myself caught 5 nice little 13 - 15 lb. springer footballs on #1 Dick Nite spoons and a Mack's Lure smiley bladed kokanee wooly bugger looking lure they no longer make, both of us were using light powered hot shot rods, 4/10 fireline and old Shimano Bantam 101 reels. No way I'd not grap the fine Curado and use it a bunch.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Fishnbuck
D
DrTheopolis
The drag on my Okuma trolling reel is getting pretty crappy, but I have this thing called a "thumb."
 
  • Like
Reactions: Fishnbuck
D
DirectDrive
Rferguson61 said:
My father-in-law (who primarily fishes for bass) gave me a Shimano Curado Bantam 201CU to put on my new rod. Seems a bit small but he assures me that it’s plenty big for salmon (which is what the rod is for).
What do you guys think? Is it big enough? I wanted to put a Cold Water or CW low profile on it but free is a great price.
Shimano 200/201 is "steelhead size".
We run 10# and 12# on them for steelhead and occasionally tangle with Chinook.
Those are good line weights for that frame size.

Drag is not the issue because you supplement drag with your thumb. It's about capacity because you'll want a reel that is better with heavier line.
I have a Curado 201 converted to direct drive and although the drag washers are still present, they almost never get used in a fish fight.
So drag is not a deciding factor, it's capacity for the type of line that you want to use.
 
Shaun Solomon
Shaun Solomon
^that's interesting. I assume you removed the clutch bearing and pawl and just cranked the drag down super tight?
 
D
DirectDrive
Shaun Solomon said:
^that's interesting. I assume you removed the clutch bearing and pawl and just cranked the drag down super tight?
No, not exactly.
There is no pawl, those are in the old school reels that had the "happy switch" where you could switch them from on the drag to direct.
Fishing spinners in fast water, I loved those old reels because I need to be in direct to control spinner blade RPM.
As of about 1990, all reels went to the anti-reverse, one way bearing at the reel handle.
This marked the end of the happy switch.

I wanted to use the new Curado but hated fishing "locked up" with no back reel capability.
I asked all the reel repair gurus if the new Curado could be converted to direct.
They all said no.

So, I started experimenting, asked an old machinist friend if he could make up a certain size bushing and I found a needle bearing that was almost the correct size.
Combining a mylar bushing, the Shimano clutch bearing cage, needle bearing and some Ambassadeur washers I got the thing running.
That was 2003 and it's been bulletproof.

Only a micro tiny fraction of fisherman would want something like this.
It's always in direct, so it changes all aspects of using and general handling of the reel.
You even need a keeper to hold the reel handle when the rod is not being used.
It's a real bear to fight fish. I lost my first steelhead with it because I thought I could just thumb the spool.....wrong.....burns.

The answer was to reel backwards (fast) when he wants to run.
And both hands are low on the rod, so you can't move your off hand up on the rod like you can with a drag.
This equates to forearm pain with a big fish.

You learn that a drag system is an extreme luxury....almost a cheat.
But for those of us that need the ultimate control of spinner blade RPM, fishing in direct is the only way.
Kicking the reel in and out of gear is far too slow.
 
Shaun Solomon
Shaun Solomon
That’s super interesting. I backreel with spinning reels on light line, under six. I was all Shimano until they did away with the antireverse, so I’m currently using Daiwa spinning reels.

I remember the days before instant antireverse and you could definitely feel the vibrations of moving baits better. David Fritts swears by old reels with back-play in the mechanism for that reason. I don’t think I’m finely calibrated enough to notice the difference with a spinner, but I do like to backreel on four pound line.
 

Similar threads

H
Replies
3
Views
837
Henry Sahuoun
H
bass
Replies
2
Views
1K
bass
bass
S
Replies
2
Views
2K
nikita_pdx
nikita_pdx
bass
Replies
0
Views
390
bass
bass
bass
Replies
2
Views
849
bass
bass
Top Bottom