I use all my curados free spool, but all my others have the external control (Diawas) and I keep them bumped up just a little from free.

When you were explaining what you did and how free it was to cast, pitching with that reel was the first thing that came to mind. If you do the Curado that way....my suggestion is to start out with a very light lob cast and work your way up

Get well soon, IB!(Did anybody stop and ask if you had caught anything, lol!!)

I usually have some sort of brake on, I tried before, and it was not pretty, I just adjust the cast control knob most of mthe time.
  My Diawas only have the external adjustment, my tdz is an animal, I actually have to keep the spool tenison knob rather tighter than I like with the mag brakes on 10. If I loosen the spool tension  to where I would like it for reeling comfortability sake, it's backlash city

The zillion cast a friggin mile and really doesn't backlash unless you do something stupid, like push the thumb bar down when setting the hook on a fish did that last week, I still caught the fish but that was it for the reel, I had to cut that line off for the first time in years

UPDATE

With a Curado 101D

I don't know about you all, but I thought that I "had it down" if you know what I mean. I was quite confident I could handle my Curado 101D in the same fashion.

El wrongo!! The first cast the spool spun so fast it was not even controllable but luckily my thumb stopped it cold. Whew! Did I mention how fast it was spinning?  I thought the abu g was free, but the Curado D was a completely different animal.

A few more casts were about the same, even with "wussy" casts. May 30-50' before it becomes too difficult to manage.  The cast has to be super smooth, no muscling at all. Overpower=backlash. It is the epitomy of smooth and easy and even then you might overrun. It was amazing though how fast the 101D goes with no brakes. I still can't compute it.

Then on the last cast some wind comes up out of nowhere and I did the "deer in the headlights" thing. I didn't even bother untangling it. Just glad I was at home to remove the spool and add new line. 

Going zero with a curado d is going to take some adjustment. It ought to work fine for short casts and pitches, but with distance casts, no wind had better sneak up on you. It's a disaster waiting to happen.

Oh no. 10# Trilene Big Game that I bought about 4 years ago. I wasn't going to be wasting any PPro of Invizx on my experiment. I learned the hard way.

When I bought my first curado, the bsf, I bought my first spool of braid. I was a newbie then to both bc reels and braid. I had no clue.

On my first cast, I gave it too much juice because I didn't know any better. Let's just say that it was the fastest $12.50 I ever spent. The entire spool gone with just one cast.   I put some of the same 10# Big Game that I put on my Curado D. 

You sure are right. My 101D is the sweetest reel in my arsenal.

I do look forward to the new Citicas though. I need I mean want a 6.x:1 reel and it will fit the bill. Unfortunately, the Curado E will come only in a burner mode, which is something I don't need. And for $119 price tag, the Citica will be easier on the wallet.