It isnt necessarily a matter of whether or not the reel will perform. It has more to do with line capacity and how heavy a line you need to fish. If you use braid you may well be ok. Personally I would opt for a bit larger reel for kings. Like a 300 curado or a calcutta. A lot of that has to do with my chosen fishing methods with is fishing from the bank drift fishing bait or throwing spinners.

You mentioned casting. I can cast pretty far with an abu garcia,are you freedrifting eggs or something?

 

I use mine to plunk with every year for steelhead at the start of the season and every year we get quite a few springers. Some are in the larger range and my curado holds up just fine. if your not looking to empty your spool in one cast you'll be just fine.

 

For the fish mentioned, you'll be just fine. If line capacity is a concern, spool up with 40lb or 50lb braid.

 

Hi folks,

I have an "old style" green curado (bantam CU 200) that I am considering using for drift fishing for kings (from the bank). I would normally use an abu 5500c3 for salmon, but I want a little better casting performance.

Is the Bantam CU 200 "undergunned" for kings while bank fishing (we're talking about fish that will range from jacks of a few pounds to bigger fish in the 12-18 pound range)?

Yes, It will work just fine...I kept mine spooled up with 14# suffix or 15# Izorline...both are small diameter mono, and the reel had no problem landing silvers and nooks...never had a problem with the reel or performance.

I used 30# braid for bobber jig, mono for drifting corkies, casting plugs and spinners, plunkin spinglos on the tribs....might need something with more line capacity depending on your location for plunkin.

 

Will work great - you'll love it. I have been fishing Kings with Curado 200 series for 10+ years and never had a problem. Started with the bantam CU200 like you are talking about and (due to being a tackle junkie) traded in for the 200E7. I fish 12 -15 lb test and it's always been plenty. I am fishing Kings of the same size that you mention - jacks to 20 lbs mostly but have landed fish up to 40 lbs. on the Curados. The only thing I would suggest is upgrading the drag washers...if I remember correctly the old Bantam 200's did not have a very powerful drag and required a lot of thumbing when it came to Kings. Have fun!

 

It will work especialy if you run braid and install some carbon drag washers from Smooth Drag and grease them lightly with Cals drag grease.
The braid is important because as a bank fisherman if you hook a hot salmon over thirty pounds you might have to chase downstream with a lot of line out and you will need the extra capacity.

 

Thanks folks for all the replies. Keep 'em coming.

I intend to use the Curado when I want a more delicate/lighter presentation with a drift rig. My abu 5500c3 is usually what I use for salmon drift fishing, but it gives me headaches when I use more subtle/lighter presentations.

 

There are things you can do to make the ABU a much better caster.

 

you'll be fine no problems at all. unless for some reason you get one with a wild hair and takes off for the ocean and you for some reason don't follow it. even with 20# main line you should get over 100+ yards of line. can't imagine not being able to horse a salmon with that heavy of line, i can turn them pretty easy with 8.