Opinions on a new reel?

[river rat24]

I am currently looking at buying some new low profile reels for my musky rods. All my larger, round reels are abu garcia and i like them alot. Now it's time to replace the bargain diawa reels I bought for my lighter rods some time ago. I have narrowed it down to either the abu garcia revo toro ( or winch) or the shimano curado 300 dsv (or e). Anyone have any advice or already own one of these to give me some pointers?

[Ivan]

I have a Revo Toro and I like the reel's feel, profile, smoothness, drag, etc. I have always had good luck with Shimano products also though. You would probably be good with either.

The only bad thing I can say about the Revo Toro is I don't cast very much, and I had my first one fail this spring right after I bought it. It was either the bail or the drag, because it wouldn't reel the line back in. I bought it from Rollie and Helens Musky Shop and they replaced it very fast, with no questions asked. They also told me that many of them and their customers were pleased with the reels and i was the first problem they knew of. Hopefully it was jut a fluke.

[Red Childress]

I picked up the Winch last Fall and used it a few times. I really like it so far. I read dozens of reviews about and all were very positive. I have never owned a Shimano baitcaster but I have never read or heard a negative comment about them. Both are great reels, IMO. It will just depend on the application that is best suited for you, I suppose.

[NitroMusky]

I have the curado 300e and love it for throwing the 'smaller' stuff. it is flawless, smooth, casts a mile and set up correctly it is almost impossible to backlash.

I agree with Red though, the first consideration is what types of baits you plan to throw with it. the winch and curado have very different gear ratios (4 vs 6:1 or thereabouts). so the curado is not going to work as well for pulling high resistance baits but will burn a bucktail or take up slack on a jerkbait quite well.

I like to keep things simple and don't have a million rod/reel combos in the boat at a time. for me its curado for bucktails and other smaller baits and a round reel for the big heavy stuff.

[Anzomcik]

You can not go wrong with any one fo those reels you mentioned. I have several curado 300 dsv they have taken alot of abuse, only failer was i got ice packed on the inside of the reel when the line guide moves back and fotrh and it opened the pawl that rides on the worm gear ( i was forcing it at the time, it was really my fault not the reels). That took two years to break and its a 7$ part.

I pull dc10 with these reels, you cant burn them with it but a medium speed can be achieved, it isnt fun but they can do it. and i throw 8-9 oz baits with them also.

I also have a abu revo stx (it isnt what you are lookin at) But my revo has been a great reel for me also, i use that for my lightest musy/pike and bass baits.

If you can find a curado 300 dsv in stores you might be able to get them for a great price, but if you are lookin at curado 300 E or revo toro. Thats a tought call, Toro look killer, but they both function the same.

You have a great problem to be in, chosing between two great reels, good luck

[stushsky]

last fall i retired my luna 301's. they are great reels but was looking for more comfort in the low profiles so i bought a couple curado 301's a few weeks back. i looked at the revos but went with the shimanos since they have great reviews coupled with the fact they have been out there for quite a while now vs. the newly introduced revos.

red / others out there...what baits / situations did you find the winch a good match for or is it more of a "one hit wonder" for db 10's?

thanks...

[river rat24]

Thanks alot for the input. I'm planning on using this reel to throw my smaller baits, whereas all my bigger baits get thrown with my round reels. Mostly spring applications, small spinnerbaits, spring dawgs, etc. I use the seven 1/2 ft st croix rods with abu garcia reels for everything large. This will mostly be a spring time reel. Would it be a good idea to buy the reel with the higher gear ratio just to get the higher speeds and the capability to burn baits?

[Anzomcik]

It is hard to say about the higher gear ration, I wish i could say this is the perfect reel for you. But you are the one that will be using it.

Get ready to get even more info to think about. It sounds like you want a reel to that can burn lighter baits, correct? Not only do you need to look at gear ratio but you will also need to look at how much line is taken up per turn of the handle (the mfg might specify, i think some are show in cabelas). Example we have a reel with 5:1 ratio that takes up 34 inches per rev, and you have a reel that has a 6:1 ratio that takes up 32 inches per rev. Lookin at the ratio by it self you will say the 6:1 reel is faster, but in this example it isnt. That is because of the spool diameter is greater on the 5:1 reel and it takes up more line per turn.

Now think of this, when you cast out your spool gets smaller in diameter. this will change the line take up per turn. this will decrease, so now you might have say 24" per turn on the 5:1 ratio reel on a long cast. Lets say the 6:1 has a wider spool so on a cast of the same distance might have say 26" of recovery per turn. This intake per turn will increase as the bait gets closer to the reel. How to combat that is to have a wider reel, this will have less of an effect on the change in line takeup. While this will not correct it, it will have less effect. So in my examples the 6:1 reel is slower closer to the boat as compaired to the 5:1 but out on a far cast is fast way out there.

Ok i know most people do not think of that nor most do not care, or can tell. But it is the mechanics of it all.

The only real life example i can give was i had a abu 6600 c4, it was my first musky reel. I did not know much about anything, so i spooled on 150 yards of 30lb fire line (i thought 30lb was more than enough, since then i have changed my views) I knew nothign about spooling a reel all the way up, and 150 yards did not come close. But even thought the c4 had a high ratio i pulled in dc8s like nothing was there, well i soon found out i could spool more on, so i did. Off the bat i noticed i could cast further (reel had to spin less to let out more line) but i was amazed to feel the difference in resitance to pull in my dc8. Then it hit me, i never thought about the effectes of the spool diameter.

Ok enough schooling in this post. By what you have said i would go for a reel in the area of 6:1 ratio. Remember the reels i put in my examples are just that examples with made up numbers to show what goes on.