So off I went surfing the interwebs for good reels that could stand as much as hardcore musky fishing. The reel that stored coming up was the shimano calcutta 400b. I’ve used shimano spinning reels since I used to be a kid and by no means had a problem so the fact that the calcutta’s kept arising didn’t shock me a bit. The issue, not less than for me, is that the calcutta 400b isn’t available in a lefty. Yeah I know I’m weird. I’m proper handed but reel with my left. No want to change fingers in mid forged! Anyway, I regarded on the TE’s however that’s a wee bit steep for my current budget. That goes for the trinidad’s as well. So to get some advice I referred to as thorne brothers and ronnie & helens. Each recommended the diawa luna. All people I talked to at each retailers said that there really is no distinction between the calcutta and the luna. They’re both great reels and excellent for musky fishing it doesn't matter what baits you’re throwing. One of many really kewl issues is that they’re saltwater reels so no need to worry about getting them wet! I thought of getting 3 but with a 5.1:1 gear ratio I figured I wanted at the least one with a 6:1 or higher for operating topwater baits, glide baits and other sooner transferring stuff.
My spouse picked up a revo toro winch at the chicago musky show because it’s a small low profile reel that fits in her hand and Joe Bucher loves it. I like the idea of a low profile but not made by abu so I appeared round and got here throughout the shimano curado 300e. Shimano has a video on their web site (search for Hunt for Massive Fish Curado - E) concerning the reel with Larry Dahlberg . I have read good reviews concerning the toro however after my experience with the opposite abu reels I received’t purchase them again. Oh and just to clarify my spouse purchased the toro BEFORE my other abu reels toasted otherwise I might have purchased her a curado.
Here is the second half of the video from the shimano website on youtube
Part one of the video confirmed bass which failed to impress the redfish didn’t do a lot for me either however when he hooked into a sailfish partially II with that thing I was truly impressed! Sailfish will put extra strain on a reel than a muskie will any day of the week. That video greater than anything sold me on the curado.
After torturing these reels for a season now with every little thing from 1oz bucktails to pounder bulldawgs there a world of distinction between the abu’s and these reels! Honestly I used to be astounded at how much better these reels work. With the abu’s burning double 10?s or even thirteen?s felt it felt just like the reel was working at or above it’s capacity. With the Lunas or the curado every part feels clean, just like the reel can deal with an entire lot extra with ease. It’s amazing to see and really feel that there is that a lot difference in reels.
There are only a couple of problems that I’ve had with these reels. First the curado doesn’t have an enormous amount of line capacity, especially with a hundred braid, like I favor to use, so that you’ll want to use lighter line on that. I’ve just about spooled it when casting a heavy baits with one hundred braid on. So use sixty five or at most eighty braid. Second the extent wind disengages when you solid so the road can pile up kinda weird at times. If you don’t over fill the spool (like I did at first) you gained’t have any problems.
As for the luna’s the one difficulty that I’ve had is that the nut keeper on the reel deal with fell off, however that was my fault. I didn’t check the screw to ensure it was tight. Ensure to examine those before you hit the water so you don’t need to tighten the nut before every solid! It really sucks, belief me on that one!
After a full season casting these reels it’s very obvious that a reel isn't the place to get cheap. You may get great rods for beneath 100 bucks from quite a couple of locations but reels that’s just not the case. (I’ve picked up St Croix rods on sale for $60 and you will get black river rods for $ninety nine in pretty much any size & energy that you simply might need). In the event you cheap out on a reel you might be in a situation the place it dies on you with the fish of a lifetime on. I don’t know about you but that will REALLY piss me off! So please save your self a number of issues and buy a good reel. Save up longer do what you have to do however don’t go cheap. It’s simply not price it.
Oh and to provide you an thought of how much I belief these reels I’m starting to do some sturgeon fishing at night time and the spots that were fishing usually produce fish over 60 inches, some upwards of mid 70 inches which is fairly good for lake sturgeon.




















