February 13, 2012
At one point, perhaps a decade ago, I had a dozen or so original green Curados. Now I’m down to three. Some have been sold at flea markets, others traded away, and a few scrapped for parts. I have braced myself for the day when I will be down to one, then none.
Has there ever been a product so universally respected? I won’t say “loved,” because allegiances to Daiwa or Quantum or other brands keep some anglers away from Shimano, but the green Curado was an unparalleled workhorse. Weekend guys loved them because they were smooth as silk. Pros loved them because they were affordable and stood up to abuse. The only ones who didn’t love them were the reel repair guys, because except for the occasional cleaning they could make it for years without the need for a meaningful overhaul. A Chronarch or Core or Calais is nice, but when you need to have 10 or 12 reels ready to go at all times, for most of us it becomes a bit financially prohibitive to invest that kind of green money, so we turned to green reels.
I’m not going to accuse any manufacturer of building eventual obsolescence into any of their products. I don’t think they consciously create reels that will fail after three or four or five years. Nevertheless, as they strive to make things lighter and sleeker, something has to give. I have reels that are lighter than my three greenies along with reels that are smoother than them, but I don’t have the same sort of faith that any of them will hold up to the rigors of fishing as long as the three battle-scarred reels that still get a regular ride in the boat. When they’re gone, they’re gone, and I won’t get sentimental about a machine, but if I could have that kind of faith in everything I buy I’d be a much happier consumer and probably catch more fish, too.
