I already know what everybody is gonna say...... Curado am I right. Smooth long cast, not real high priced, easy to use.

I use shimamos most of the time, but ive notticed they cant take a ton of abuse, they require a good deal of maintinence if you put in alot of time on the river and hook alot of fish. I use them because of the smoothness and long cast.

I have to say though that Ambasadur is really the best reel. They are a work horse and dependable. They may not cast as far and not nearly as smoothly but you can depend on them. And they can take 100 times the abuse of any shimano.

Shimanos are nice untill they sease up or the drag washer goes out but I never leave home without my spare which is always an ambasadur.