I have a 1 year old curado giving me all kind of problems. Spool bearings went out and the brakes are horrible. Makes a loud screeching noise when the brakes engage. Tried oiling them and it quit making noise but now I only get about a 25 yard cast. Turned the brakes off and still the same. I am about done with shimano baitcasters in that price range. The daiwa tatula is worth looking into. Mine have been great so far.

I heard enough about the new Shimanos and decided to try Lews for trout fishing. Very happy with my decision. Also had a chance to buy a Shimano Core for cheap and it's a dream. Still have my old Curados for snapper and bulls and sight fishing redfish with braid.

Marktrahan
 

New curado I s are trouble concept 13 s prone to corrosian if not serviced lews hard to get parts plenty of shimanos of old on flea bay chronarchs curado scorpions cores I own scorpions curados chronarchs all bought on flea bay altough parts for older shimanos getting harder to find.

I've only replace a Pawl on one of my Lews and another part I lost. That being said, I called lews and had parts in 3 days. Very friendly and curious staff.

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What model Lews are y'all using?

I have 3 tournament pros, 2 inshore, and 3 plain speed spools. Been strictly Lews for 5 or so years now.

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2 tourney pros, 1 tourney g, 2 inshores, 1 lews lite, 2 bb2s, and some cheaper models, all are great reels. I do bearing upgrades in mine right off the shelf, but that's personal preferance

Same with me. Very helpful, parts were here before I knew it.

I had a Tatula that my brother gave me for Christmas this year. First day I took it out we got into that school of redfish that was terrorizing the East bank of Big Lake last winter. It was done after the 4th fish. It didn't have the drag to deal with those things. I got fed up having to mess around with a fish for 10 min and tightened up the drag all the way. They were still pealing it like an apple. Blew the gusts out of it on the first day. I think I had 40 lb suffix on it because I had been on some big reds. I'll admit it was nice and smooth and cast a mile it just didn't have enough nuts. I am sure that kind of abuse would do the same things to a lot of reels but it hasn't done it to my 13's, Old Curado's, and Chronarch's.

I have had some corrosion problems with my Concept A but not with the C or the Inception. Have you heard anything bad about the Inceptions Mr. Mark? That Chronarch 50 you fixed for me works better than it did when it was new. Thanks.

Hope my tatula last...the tactical model have bigger gears and aluminum frame and side plate.http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Daiwa...cpage-DTT.html I wish shimano still made the chronarch e series and curado. One of the best reels for the money ever made.

Marque I don't remember the model numbers of the concepts I serviced but they belonged to kayak fisherman 2 were about a year 1 was brand new if concept would lube them better from the factory would not be as bad kayak reels always in water . The older ones had bad corrosian and the new one starting to corrode the owner was disappointed most of the corrosian was in right side bearing housing he really liked the way they cast and they have awsome Carbon fiber drags and a very strong drags several washers in the drag stack

Look into the ardent apex magnum. Bigger spool, saltwater approved, 3 year warranty $150.

It was my Concept A that Mark brought back to life. It was corroding pretty quickly from Kayak fishing and wade fishing. It casts a country mile now and i have zero issues.

Mark has been a "God Sent" for me and my friends reels. We had used other reel cleaners that were recommended on this site and had lots of issues with them. They were dishonest and sold me parts I didn't need. As of now, I have personally brought 38 reels to Mark over the last 18 months. 7 of my own and 31 of friends. We are ALL happier with the reels then when they were new. Mark does an amazing job. All my other reels are Core 50's and Curado E50 and 200E7's. I refuse to buy the newer shimano's in those price ranges because they are not made as well. I have bought them and sold them.
If you want a WELL MADE SHIMANO, get on Japantackle.com and get one that will last. The JDM's are far better then the domestics we get. I have a Scorpion 1500 and its by far my best reel.

With all that being said, I'd find a curado on Ebay and have Mark fine tune it. That the most economical and is a tried and true reel

Looked back on records but I only wrote down concept 13 s but I think they were the lower end ones if they would have been properly lubed would not have happened but that being said if they were shimanos of old lubed or not that would not have happened .

My brother had one that he really liked, I don't know if he still has it. He's used it more for fresh water fishing though. After throwing Shimano's forever the Diawa was a little hard to get used to. Its almost rectangular. I think what did it in was the little bat wings that open up on the level wind. On the reel that I had they just didn't seem to close properly. I was trying to stop one of those bulls from getting in the trolling motor and was cranking the hell out of hit. I guess there was too much tension on the level wind and it bent and got off track. When I kept cranking it blew it all to hell. Whatever happened it don't work no more. I go full retard when I am in a bunch of BIG Redfish. I either destroy my equipment or the fish. All three of the Lew's I had anti reverse went out, one broke on a hook set. If I keep a reel a year its tough. If you don't spool you reel with parachute chord and pick a fight with a 30lb redfish, I am sure it will last a lot longer than mine.

Grey ones are Incptions, Black are Concept A, the White ones are the Concept C.

Thanks to my kayak friend went back and wrote A next to your concept 13 best to all.

Mark, how do we get a reel to you?

There are several Curados for sale on eBay for $200 - $300. Thanks for the tips guys. We got way off the OP' s topic...lol.

Here is his card. He lives in Cow Island but I am sure you could meet him somewhere closer to civilization or mail it to him.