In the world of big bait fishing, there are plenty of options when it comes to reels. The Shimano Tranx has been a popular option amongst swimbait anglers for awhile now. This reel gives you the opportunity to fish a low profile reel rather than the typical round reel for big baits. I’m personally a huge fan of low profile reels. It’s hard for me to fish a round reel comfortably with baby hands. Last year Shimano released the 200 size in the Tranx. Being a fan of the larger counterpart, I knew this was a reel I needed to try out. The size of the new Tranx had a lot of people question why it was even worth using over the Curado K that has the same line capacity and is $20 cheaper. I love the Curado K’s. In my opinion, it’s Shimano’s best reel they have released since the old green E Series. They are flat out workhorses but I don’t feel comfortable using them for bigger baits. Thats why I feel the size of the new Tranx is such a great option. You get the same feel in your hand of the Curado K with the added beef behind the Tranx series. As far as weight, the K is about a half ounce lighter but it’s not all that noticeable. The Tranx 200 comes with a bigger handle than the K but not quite as big as the 300. I’ve been fishing the Tranx 200 for awhile now and I gotta say it’s lived up to the hype. Right out of the box it is smooth as butter but it does go through a break in process. After a few times out, the reel felt like it needed to be lubed up. It wasn’t grinding in any way just felt like the gears were dry. I added some lube to it and fished a few more trips with it feeling good but not great. That had me questioning whether or not it was a good purchase. I wasn’t ready to give up on it quite yet and I am glad that I didn’t because it seemed to just need to be broke in. I know some people don’t wanna deal with a break in period with a reel and that will steer them away but if you have the patience for it you’ll really be a fan of the Tranx 200. The $200 price tag isn’t overly pricey and if you’re looking for less line capacity than the bigger models you won’t be disappointed in this purchase.