Reel Decision

[iziris]

Most of my fishing is done in the marshes for red fish. i bought a shimano curado 200 sf about 1 1/2 - 2 years ago. That was the first time i've dropped that amount of money on a reel but it's the best reel i have used. i am now looking to purchase a few new baitcasters. i am not really looking to spend what i spent on my curado but i am looking for something that is comparable. if i could get a few recommendations that would be great.thanks!
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[mactuna]

Penn reels for life
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[iziris]

[reply]
Penn reels for life
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what penn reels would you suggest?
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[Tarpon4me]

Mactuna is probably refering to Penn International series bait casters. . I dig Penn stuff too, but for the money, i'd go with a Cacutta bait caster by shimano.

Here's the Penn:
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Here's the shimano



However, you can save a ton of money and go with an Abu Garcia. They make a killer reel, and under 100 bucks. Most of my smaller bait casters are made by Abu Garcia. 6500 C-3 is a great model.
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[iziris]

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However, you can save a ton of money and go with an Abu Garcia. They make a killer reel, and under 100 bucks. Most of my smaller bait casters are made by Abu Garcia. 6500 C-3 is a great model.[/reply]
i've always used abu garcia reels until i bought the curado. most of them are older models so the newer ones may be smoother since they have bearings and what not. i was looking around and saw quite a few upgrades you can do the abu garcia reels. are the upgrades worth it?
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[tubeN2]

The upgrades can be worth it but they are costly.

If you want something comparable to the Curado I would suggest the Okuma line of reels.

The Okuma Alumina will run you around 80 bucks. You can get the 100 series or the 200 series for that price.

The Okuma Vsystem is around 140 bucks but has more bearings and is excellent for casting lightweight jigs and plastics.

The Penn Internationals are good but since you didn't want to spend what you spent on the Curado, the Penn would be well out of your budget.


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[Tarpon4me]

Some of the upgrades can be pricey, like the tube mentioned. However, upgrades really aren't necessary if you go with a C-3 or better. They are smooth and reliable out of the box. The only thing I changed on my mine is I added a larger, live bait handle to mine. It makes torqueing down on a big fish much easier than with the stock double handle.
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