northern basser

I have a chr. 50mg and a e7. IMO the 50mg will cast lighter baits better and its better for flipping. Lack of line has never been an issue for me. I would never put 17# mono on any of my reels though. As far as the new chronarch, I've never used one.

The carbontex upgrade, in a shimano atleast, is nice. The bearing upgrade would be more noticable if yours were wore down and needed some anyway.

I think a ounce is roughly 28 grams, which would make it 1/28 of an oz. lighter. Even so, that little bit of a difference in just the spool is prob. enough to give it the edge in casting lighter lures. A while back I read a post on this site that stated how shimano was on the money w/ the pricing of there reels. I totally believe that statement. The citica definitely has more plastic parts than the curado. It still performs pretty well though.

The curado is a little better than the citica. A little. The speed and the brake pins are different, like already mentioned. I believe the spool on the cur. might be lighter too. I have both and can't tell much of a difference.

Mike put some ceramic bearings, aftermarket drag washers and serviced my chr. 50mg. The turn over time was great and the discount worked out great too. Come winter I will be giving him some more business, for sure!!!

Been off line for a few days. As far as my comparison with the core 50mg7, if someone was giving 1 of the 2 to me for free, I'd prob. take the core. The 50mg7 is a really nice reel! The XT is also a really nice reel and VERY close to the core. The XT is prob. more versatile because of its 20lbs of drag. The thing is price and for the price difference the XT wins. It's very tough to find a deal on the core. You certainly can find them for less than $369, but your still going to pay $329 at the cheapest. If my memory is correct, the XT can be found on ebay for less than 200 bones. The difference in price is WAY more than the difference in quality! I'm definitely a shimano man. However, I think that there are a lot of nice reels of all makes and models out there these days. I wish I could try them all. For some reason I couldn't stand to have all of the same reels. I like to have variety. Expensive reels are nice to fish w/, but are certainly not needed. I really like my citica 200e and would give it the award for best "bang for buck" easily. Especially since I got mine for less than $100.

I bought some InvisX 12# and have been using it on a baitcaster this year. I really like it also. Besides being more abrasion resistant, is there any other reason to use abrazX on a bc?

Exactly. Like all my shimano's, 2 on 4 off. I love my chr. mg and will prob. purchase another before the new 50e. I used to use mine for cranks, but now I flip w/ it. IMO I don't think theres anything it doesn't excell at.

The hot sauce is reel oil right? Who makes that stuff? I've heard it mentioned a few times on some fishing shows and B.R.

Well, I fished the xt almost exclusively yesterday in the wind. Because of the amount of wind and current lack of trolling motor power we didn't spend much time casting. Before long we ended up going to the calmer portion of the lake where we were flipping and short casting at docks and in & around pads. The xt definitely excells at all casting situations. Light and heavy lures. It will distance cast with a core easily. As far as flipping goes, it did OK to good I would say. My chronarch 50mg is still my go to reel for flipping. I turn the cast controll way down it flip baits w/ the greatest of ease. The casting ability and the retrieve are excellent w/ the xt. Also, I adjusted the drag around after a couple fish and it has a vast amount of adjustment(20# max), which is more than enough. Although I've read others posts saying the dual drag isn't needed, I found it to be helpfull. Like my shimano's I put 2 of the centrifugal brakes on. The magnetic on 0. In the wind w/ a light tube jig I noticed it was beneficial to move the mag. br. up to 2 and sometimes 4. The mag. br., drag, and cast controll are all click adjustments, which I thought was nice. So far, still very pleased. I like to compare it to the core 50mg7 because they are of similar size. After fishing w/ the xt more, I'd probably give the edge to the core, but the xt is still VERY close and $130 less retail!

X2

no, i think he is referring to the reg. patriarch.

That's why I got it from Cabela's and not Ebay. I knew I could get it online cheaper, but Cabela's is less than 2 miles from my house. They are pretty good on returning things also. The next one I get will be online. It's going to be windy today around here and I plan on going fishing later. I'm going to try and use just that reel so I can put it to the test w/ wind and some lighter lures.

Besides crossing the wake at full throttle, doesn't it look like he had his motor trimmed up a little too much for the conditions?

I put a drop on each bearing and one on the spool shaft. There hasn't been many views on this post or replies. That's a shame but I understand. In the past I might not have read the post. If it wasn't for my friend at Cabela's(whose opinion on anything to do w/ fishing) I respect, I wouldn't even have considered this reel. Now, I'm not afraid to say I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!

I just picked up this reel and have used it twice now. This reel is awesome! I've been using a core 50mg7, supertuned chr. 50mg, curado e7 and a citica 200e all season so far. Recently, I purchased a revo sx and returned it to get the patriarch xt. The pflueger is easily as good as the core IMO and better than all the others. I put 2 of the centrifugal brakes on and put the mag. braking to 0. It casts a mile and is hard to backlash. The retrieve is smooth and the carbon fiber handle makes the retrieve feel effortless. I still love my shimano's but just wanted to give due credit to this reel. The only other critique would be if it holds up over time like I know the shimano's will.

when your throwing baits that weigh up to 2 lbs. , you need a rod that is stiff as 1/2" re-bar !!!! If I threw a bait that big in MN I think I would scare 90% of the Bass. I wish we had Bass as big as they grow in CA and a lot of the southern states! However, there is quality lg. and sm. mouth fishing up here. Good # of pike to bite your line off too!!

Mike did some work on my chr. 50mg and I was very pleased

I've never used a muskie rod, but some of the ones I've seen are as stiff as 3/8" re-bar.

been using a e7 all summer and got a revo sx last week. I've used the sx a lot in the last week. 1st off, I like both those reels. Definitely 2 different reels however. Personally I liked the revo's retrieve and drag a little better. As far as casting goes, the curado wins hands down. This might be because I'm more used to the shimano braking system. The more I used the revo the better at casting it I got. I'd probably give the nod to the curado because its smaller, lighter and casts better. It's a close contest though. Very close. I was wishing that I would have bought the premier instead of the sx. When I went back to cabelas a lifelong friend that works there told me to look at the new pflueger patriarch xt. I bought it and love it. I need to use it a little more to be completely convinced though. i think pflueger scored on this reel.

Hammer is right. Don't look so much at the bearing count. In baitcasters and spinning reels shimano seems to get beat in bearing count often. However, more often than not, shimano's reels are just as good and usually better than the rest.

I've owned 3 of the 4 also. Have not fished a zillion(after reading this post I want one of those to try now!). I've used a e7 extensively, a revo sx a lot as of recently and just purchased a patriarch xt. IMO the curado and the sx run a tight race. Retrieve and drag go to the sx and all around casting ability and ease goes to the curado. Like both reels very much. Only have casted the xt a few times at the dam by my house. I'm really itching to get this thing on a real outing. So far this thing is the bomb My initial impressions were that it feels like a core 50mg7, but has a 20# drag system. This is a awesome reel!!! Hopefully upon extensive use my feelings will be the same.

I'm normally a shimano guy, but have been trying some different brands recently. I just picked up a revo sx. At first I hated the magnetic brake but I got more used to it over the weekend and felt a lot better about the reel. I've decided I'm going to bring it back in exchange for a premier or patriarch xt. I'm starting to lean towards the xt. I'll be getting it today so I'll try to post my initial impressions after a few dozen casts w/ different lures.

Going to use my new revo sx today. Have been using the e7 all year so far. My unbiased opinion will be posted tonight. Untill now all my current reels were shimano

Have or have had every shimano from citica to core. No complaints. Just picked up my 1st revo (2010 sx 6.4 to 1) yesterday. Excited to use it, will post opinions. I'm die hard shimano, but wanted to try a revo. I'm not afraid to try anything once. Might get a premier in the future.