Shimano Curado Reels: 150M, 200 M, DC, 70, BFS and 300 K

The Shimano Curado is seven casting reels, from $225 to $315. For most bass anglers the one to buy is the $235 Curado 150M in 7.4:1 (HG). Pay $80 more for the Curado DC 150A only if backlashes are your real problem. The prices and specs here are Shimano’s own, and the owner scores are Tackle Warehouse’s, all as of Nov. 14, 2026. No reel was fished for this page: the opinions come from published reviews and owners.

Bass anglers have fished the Curado since 1991. The current 150M weighs 6.7 oz and is rated for 13 lb of drag, 2 lb more than the $395 Bantam A.

Which Shimano Curado should you buy?

Pick the reel by the fishing you do most. All of them are baitcasters, and most are built for bass.

Each Curado comes for the right hand or the left. In the model code an even size (150, 200, 300) winds right and an odd one (151, 201, 301) winds left. The BFS just says R or L.

Every Curado reel side by side

Where a cell shows a range, it depends on the gear ratio, and the fastest models carry the least drag. Each reel also brakes in its own way.

Every Curado has the metal Hagane body, which Shimano says resists flex under pressure. So the money goes on the spool, the brake and the size, not on the frame. All but the BFS and the 300 K also have Shimano’s MicroModule gears, with smaller teeth for a smoother retrieve.

The family has an older model too. Shimano still lists the first Curado DC, without the A, at $304.99. At 6.2:1 and 7.4:1 the A is rated for 13 lb of drag, against 11 lb on the older DC. It also takes up 1 in more line per turn at each ratio.

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Is the Curado 150M worth it?

Yes, if you fish often enough to feel a reel. It’s the reel to buy when the SLX feels like the thing holding you back. The $90 between the SLX XT A and the 150M buys four things, by Shimano’s spec tables:

• Less weight: 6.7 oz against 7.2 oz.
• More drag: 13 lb against 11 lb at the HG ratio.
• Two more bearings: 6+1 against 4+1.
• A better drag: Cross Carbon washers against felt.

Both have the SVS Infinity brake with a knob on the outside, so you change it without opening the reel. GearJunkie’s Morgan Nowels picks the 150M as his best overall baitcaster.

Owners on Tackle Warehouse give it 4.3 out of 5. The low scores are about the brake. One owner who has fished for more than 30 years calls it “incredibly finicky.” If it isn’t tuned just right it backlashes, he says, and forget a windy day. He also finds the brake wheel tiny, with black numbers that are hard to read. A spinning angler tried a baitcaster again after decades. He had to brake so hard that “50-60 feet is as far as you can cast.”

Others never get one: an owner with the 6.2:1 on a crankbait rod says his hasn’t backlashed once. So set the brake at home, on a lawn, before you take it fishing. The baitcaster page walks through spool tension and the brake step by step.

Curado or Curado DC?

Buy the DC only if backlashes cost you real fishing time. The DC 150A costs $80 more than the 150M and weighs 1.1 to 1.2 oz more. In return you get a brake that thinks for you. Shimano says a microcomputer reads the spool speed 1,000 times a second and sets the brake to cut backlashes without costing distance.

You pick one of four modes on a dial outside the reel. Tackle Warehouse lists them:

1. Maximum casting distance.
2. Braid or mono.
3. Fluorocarbon.
4. Maximum braking, for skipping or casting into a hard wind.

Mode 4 is the one for skipping a lure under docks. The DC 150 was ICAST 2026’s Best Freshwater Reel.

Owners of the older Curado DC give it 4.4 out of 5. One owner who hasn’t fished a baitcaster for long says “It doesn’t completely eliminate backlashes,” but the rare ones are easier to pick out. Another thinks the DC costs him casting distance and would rather tune a plain Curado. A third found his 7.8 oz DC heavy on a light rod, and says its 11 lb drag slips with braid now and then. The new A is rated for 13 lb at 7.4:1.

Curado DC or SLX DC?

Buy the SLX DC unless you want more drag and the finer gears. Both have Shimano’s I-DC4 brake with the same four modes. Shimano says the new Curado’s is “enhanced” and doesn’t say how. The Curado DC costs $90 more.

The extra money goes on the gears, the drag and the bearings, not on the brake. The SLX page has what reviewers found when they set the two DC reels side by side.

Which Curado gear ratio should you get?

Get 7.4:1 (HG) for one reel. It’s the speed for jigs, Texas rigs and topwater, which is most of bass fishing. Get 6.2:1 (MG) if you mostly wind crankbaits and spinnerbaits. The gear ratio is how many times the spool turns for one turn of the handle.

What you feel is the line that comes back per turn, and that depends on the spool too.

The XG is 8.1:1 on the 150M and 8.5:1 on the DC 150A and 200 M. So an XG 150M picks up the same 32 in a turn as an HG DC. If you want the fastest Curado, that’s an XG on the DC or the 200 M.

The model code tells you the rest. Take CU151HGM. CU is Curado, 151 is the 150 size for the left hand, HG is 7.4:1, and the M marks the current model. The 200 M carries the same M. On the DC, the A at the end marks the new one: CUDC150HGA. A code with no MG, HG or XG, like the CU300K, is the slowest ratio of that reel.

150 or 200: how much line does a Curado hold?

Get the 150 for most bass fishing. Get a 200 when you fish heavy braid or big lures, or need more line on the spool.

The 150 numbers hold for the 150M and the DC 150A, the 200 numbers for the 200 M and the DC 200. Shimano says the DC 200 holds up to 40% more line. The 200 M also costs $10 less than the 150M. You pay in weight: 7.4 to 7.6 oz against 6.7 oz.

Owners use the 200 for the heavy stuff. One fishes his 200 M “specifically for punching mats and fishing a frog,” with the HG. A DC 200 owner calls it his frog reel for 65 lb braid in the wind. One 200 M owner with average-size hands finds it “a little tiring” after an hour, next to a 150-size SLX. Spool PowerPro braid on a 200 if frogs are the reason you bought it.

For the DC, the same rule holds. Get the DC 150A for most bass fishing and the DC 200 for frogs and heavy braid. The DC 200 comes only in 7.4:1 and 8.5:1 and weighs 8.1 oz.

Curado 70 or BFS for light lures?

Neither as a first light-lure reel. Start with the SLX 70 A, which matches the Curado 70 on the numbers that count for $110 less.

The extra money on the 70 K buys four more bearings and MicroModule gears. The SLX 70 A has the newer spool, though: Shimano lists MGL Spool III on it and MGL Spool II on the Curado. Owners are cooler on the 70 K than on any other Curado: 4.0 out of 5. One owner says it “feels and performs no different than the slx70,” and he’s disappointed. Another says two of his went rough after one season.

The Curado BFS is a different tool. BFS means bait finesse system: a shallow, light spool for thin line and small lures. Shimano built it for finesse bass fishing, to cast the lightest baits with ease. It comes only in 8.2:1, and its drag stops at 8 lb. Most anglers won’t need one.

What is the Curado 300 K for?

It’s the big one, for heavy line and big baits. Shimano says it has “the power to fish big baits for big fish,” with a deep spool for heavy line. It holds 230 yd of 12 lb mono or 190 yd of 50 lb braid, and it’s the heaviest Curado, at 10.6 to 10.8 ounces. The 4.7:1 model is rated for 22 lb of drag. The 6.6:1 is rated for 18 lb.

Owners rate it 4.9 out of 5. One uses it on 7 to 10 lb hybrid stripers after his Tranx fell off the boat. Others throw swimbaits and the Alabama rig with it, or fish it for pike and muskie. The 4.7:1 takes up 25 in a turn and the 6.6:1 takes up 35 in.

Curado or Bantam?

Stay with the Curado unless you want Shimano’s power reel. The Bantam A costs $394.99, $160 more than the 150M. Shimano built it “for the power game,” with Infinity Drive and 8+1 bearings. On paper the 150M is still lighter, at 6.7 oz against 7.6 to 7.9 ounces. It’s also rated for more drag, 13 against 11 pounds. One owner who replaced an older Metanium with a 150M calls the price gap between the Curado and the Metanium “a big jump.” The Bantam is the reel in that gap.

Can a Curado go in salt water?

Treat it as a freshwater reel. None of Shimano’s Curado pages lists CoreProtect, its water protection. Every Curado does have shielded bearings, which Shimano says “reduce the possibility of salt or sand inhibiting rotation” of the bearing. That helps after a splash. It doesn’t make the reel sealed.

Owners split on it. One took an older DC into salt and fresh water for two years and says it held up, apart from paint that chips. Another says his handle went stiff after three trips, rinsed each time. After any salt, Shimano says to rinse the reel lightly under a faucet or hose, never at high pressure, then wipe it dry. Shimano’s low-profile reel for the salt is the $255 Tranx 150, which does list CoreProtect. The saltwater reels page has it.

What do owners complain about?

Four things come up on Tackle Warehouse.

• A fussy brake on the 150M. Owners say it backlashes until tuned, and the brake wheel is small and hard to read.
• Rough gears on the 70. Two owners say theirs went rough within a season or two.
• Drag slipping on the older DC. One owner says his slips with braid.
• Paint. One owner of an older DC says it chips easily.

Shimano’s warranty covers a reel for one year against manufacturing defects, so keep the receipt.

The reels hub sets casting reels beside spinning ones. The Shimano reels page shows where the Curado sits in the whole line, and the Daiwa Tatula page puts Daiwa’s rival beside it.

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Stop guessing hook sizes. Lay any hook on this page and read it

A jar of loose hooks and no packet in sight. Guess wrong and you find out with a fish on.

The True-Size Hook Chart. Print it at actual size, lay a hook on the outlines, and the one its bend fills is its size. One sheet, front and back, for the tackle box.

• 14 hooks from 9/0 to #8 at true size, plus a ladder from #32 to 12/0
• The size for 17 fish and 16 baits, from bluegill to tuna
• A 2/0 circle that gapes less than a #4: why a 2/0 is not always a 2/0

Every outline drawn from Mustad's published dimensions; every size from the 25 sources on the page, Maryland DNR and Idaho Fish and Game among them.

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