19 hours ago, Catt said:

Calcutta: solid as an anvil, versatile as a pair of Channellocks®, & dependable as a 30/30 ?

 

 

Came to post the same thing.

Calcutta Conquest 50 series.

Old school here...4600c3 and curado 100d....if i was down to 2 rods and reels 4600c3 for big topwaters and spinnerbaits curado for manns jelly worms c rigged and a plain jig both on 6 ft 6 rods ...im good keeping it simple for over 45 yrs now ..

This is a toughie for me but I will say the ABU 2500C, 4500C, and 5500C.  They strike a near perfect balance of performance, simplicity, and reliability.  By modern standards, they aren't the fastest, smoothest, nor the lightest, but will do whatever you ask of them.

Curado 200B

Curado 200B

Curado 200B

On 7/15/2023 at 7:57 AM, redmeansdistortion said:

ABU 2500C

I've had a a slew of Abu's including a 2500c that was purchased from J.C.  Penny's when they sold sporting goods. I must have got a bad one . It was the worse casting reel I ever used. 

Love the Core 51 and 101! 

factor in value, and those might fall off the list, no? 

 

i dont poop cold hard cash, so i like upper, middlling of the road kinda stuff.

On 7/15/2023 at 7:36 PM, Columbia Craw said:

Curado 200B

Curado 200B

Curado 200B

I remember the days when the Shimano Green Curado B/C could be bought for 115.00 dollars. Today some reels going for 500.00 dollars and up. The Curado's in the above class caught a ton of quality bass -- no doubt about it. They were immensely popular. 

I got a Daiwa PMF100 for Christmas when I was 13 in 1983. I retired it after 30+ years. The only maintenance it got was 2 replaced worm gear pawls and the occasional cleaning. I fished hard a long time with that reel. It was my only BC reel for the longest time.

2 hours ago, greentrout said:

I remember the days when the Shimano Green Curado B/C could be bought for 115.00 dollars. Today some reels going for 500.00 dollars and up. The Curado's in the above class caught a ton of quality bass -- no doubt about it. They were immensely popular. 

Captain Shane Procell takes them to The Amazon for some peacock action. He has a fleet of them he keeps serviced.

 

Curado 200 and 50 Es for me (along with their JDM Scorpion counterparts). These reels have served me well for decades. You can still see new Es fetch over $300 on ebay when they are offered. They are truly a "set and forget" reel that perform consistently and reliably. The only maintenance I have encountered is the occasional bearing lubrication and cleaning. i still have around 10 of these in routine service with no parts failures. Most of the 50 size reels have been converted to BFS with Avail spools and they perform flawlessly. Routinely throw down to 2 grams.

For me that would be the Ch50 mg’s and the curado/citica 100D’s. I own 7 50 mg’s and 5 D’s. I’ve also got aldebaran 15’s, metanium 20’s and I fish the others a lot more. Adjust tension knob from spool rocking back and forth, set centrifugal brakes and forget em, no outside wheels to adjust and also ain’t gotta worry about dropping side plates in the water. Buddy of mine dropped his side plate in the water adjusting brakes on his aldebaran mgl and it was $115 to replace. 

Lots of good ones But still love the old Abu. Still rock the round reels 

2 hours ago, shackman said:

For me that would be the Ch50 mg’s and the curado/citica 100D’s. I own 7 50 mg’s and 5 D’s. I’ve also got aldebaran 15’s, metanium 20’s and I fish the others a lot more. Adjust tension knob from spool rocking back and forth, set centrifugal brakes and forget em, no outside wheels to adjust and also ain’t gotta worry about dropping side plates in the water. Buddy of mine dropped his side plate in the water adjusting brakes on his aldebaran mgl and it was $115 to replace. 

Your buddy got snookered. I ordered a side plate for a Core 51 and it was less than $30 with shipping. 

 

Here is the part (BNT5879) for the Aldebaran MGL RH left side plate. It's $19.22.

 

https://fishshop.shimano.com/products/bnt5879?_pos=1&_sid=054abc135&_ss=r

 

Edit.....I am going to go ahead and call my self out. Getting old I guess.... That is just the side plate, not including every other part he would need to have a complete assembly. So the $120 is correct. My mistake.....

 

https://fishshop.shimano.com/products/bnt5880?_pos=1&_sid=9e3c5e589&_ss=r 

5 minutes ago, FishTank said:

Your buddy got snookered. I ordered a side plate for a Core 51 and it was less than $30 with shipping. 

 

Here is the part (BNT5879) for the Aldebaran MGL RH left side plate. It's $19.22.

 

https://fishshop.shimano.com/products/bnt5879?_pos=1&_sid=054abc135&_ss=r

That’s where I ordered it from for him,Was it a fully assembled side plate? Just slap it in and go? I think that price is without all the guts 

2 minutes ago, shackman said:

That’s where I ordered it from for him,Was it a fully assembled side plate? Just slap it in and go? 

 

All good. I edited my post above. You are correct. 

The daiwa td-x 103