I was fishing this past weekend in a small lake that had hydrilla (or at least some kind of plant species) everywhere--literally.  I caught a bunch of fish but there were two large fish that I hooked with a rattle trap that dove down into that thick matted stuff.  I was fishing with a Curado 200DHSV but couldn't keep them from entangling me in it.  Make a long story short after a 10 minute tug-a-war with both fish I lost them.  Do you think this tug-of-war could have caused too much stress on the reel?  Don't get me wrong--afterwards the reel didn't seem like anything was wrong....I am just paranoid that I am going to screw some gears or something up.

Lastly, is there anything else I could have done to prevent this?

i don't think it would hurt it unless you have your drag tightened down all the way where it can't give any.  even if so as long as you don't do it all of the time it will be fine

Largemouth bass cannot stress a Shimano Curado. 50 lb braid, 10 ton boulders and a locked down drag might be another story: something's gotta give. You have a great reel, don't worry about it, fish can't hurt that equipment.

Yea--but what about all that hard tugging on all that grass?

No.

A lesser reel might wear or break, the Curado will hold up just fine. Set your drag properly and service the reel annually. Unless you go out of your way to abuse this equipment, bass fishing just doesn't put that much stress on a high quality reel.

BTW,

Several years ago when I was fishing "another brand" of reel, I went through two reels in less than six months fishing for striper. I was fishing braid at the time and floating the Tennessee River. These reels locked up (broke) when I got hung up and could not break the line. This had nothing to do with stress from the fight with big stripers, but hanging up and then working against maximum drag destroyed the reels. That is an example of what I would consider abuse.

I agree with them not a chance that would screw up the gears in a curado. And  curados have a max drag between 10 and 15lbs so even tightened drag and heavy line it would do no damage.

thanks for the input guys--I appreciate it!

Curado reel? No problem. As Muddy and Avid would say " Faaaget about it ". Curados are great reels, and can take the beating. I might suggest, this is a suggestion only mind you, that if you are  going to be fishing the hardcore venues you are describing try some 20 or 25lb test XT or Big Game on a Abu Garcia 5600 C3.

Curado reel? No problem. As Muddy and Avid would say " Faaaget about it ".quote]

I'm with Avid.... ;D