Cannot get my Curado 71XG dialed in AT ALL

[curls]

I picked up a Curado 71XG over the off-season and it came spooled with 50# power pro. (I absolutely hate power pro... feels like steel cable IMO).
In the 4 outings I've been using this reel, on a DX743 rod, I have casted without backlash exactly zero times. All my other reels are 201E series (curado, citica) and one crap curado from the generation between these. All of them have the centrifugal braking pins and none of them backlash on me unless I really try to make 'em do it (in other words, I space out LOL).

I've messed with the cast control tension, and the dial brakes on this 71XG (from about 1 to 8 so far). No change.
Lure has always been a weightless 6" gambler fat ace, wacky, and under 3mph winds (glass calm).

What's going on? Is there really any trick to these newer Shimano's vs the E-series?

I am respooling with 40# Daiwa J-Braid X8 tonight and will test it on Saturday, but at this pace I'm more confident in selling this and finding a new reel, than this one ever working properly!

[cndbasshunter]

i set mine with 1 brake on the svs and then outside dial set at 3. Works perfect, smooth and long casting. I use 50lb maxcuatro and the braid is very round and smooth.

[curls]

Crap I just realized that since I bought it 'lightly used' that the internal SVS are probably set to 0 on! I'll switch that up tonight to 2 or 3 and see how it goes in the yard.

[Bootytrain]

Start at 4 inside and 6 outside work your way down. Dont overfill the spool and make sure the brake pipe is not overly oiled.

[curls]

Ok so NONE of the brakes were on. I turned on 2 and exterior dial to 5/6. Will test it out this weekend.

[Bootytrain]

Ok so NONE of the brakes were on. I turned on 2 and exterior dial to 5/6. Will test it out this weekend.

LOL well that will ruin a spool full of line. The spool is still fast so Id advise you start out with 4 on inside

[mrpao]

Brakes is usually one of the first things I check when i get a reel.
That and the cast control knob.

[Jayce]

Ok so NONE of the brakes were on. I turned on 2 and exterior dial to 5/6. Will test it out this weekend.

THIS !

[accodn2ryan]

Ok so NONE of the brakes were on. I turned on 2 and exterior dial to 5/6. Will test it out this weekend.

That would be a pretty decent place to start with. I ended up going with 3 brakes on, and external dial to 2. I've just had the reel for less than a month, so once I get used to it, I'll try going to 2 brakes on. Really like this reel though.

[mark poulson]

Ok so NONE of the brakes were on. I turned on 2 and exterior dial to 5/6. Will test it out this weekend.

I did the same thing with a Revo MGX extreme reel.
The brake adjustment dial increased brake pressure in a clockwise direction, opposite of all my previous Abu reels, so I kept trying to adjust the spool tension to stop the massive backlashes I kept getting.
Finally, I put on my glasses and saw that the dial max indicator was on the clockwise end of the adjustment. I had been casting with the brakes off the whole time.
Doh!!

[curls]

Ok, so 2 internal brakes 'on' and dial set at 3.5...was slinging 5" weightless senkos a country mile on a Dobyns DX743! Amazing smooth reel! Completely in love with it.

[brownhl]

I finally realized that the cast control cap required more tension than I would normally use and that solved the problem. Surprising that it did not effect casting distance being tighter than usual.