I've never used any of the Cabela's reels :-( The main reason for going to the round style reel is 1)line capacity 2) drag/durability. I tried throwing a 9" Osprey on my Curado (against everyone's advice) and it just didn't feel like the reel was going to hold up over time if I kept using it for that purpose.

The whole point of throwing the BIG baits is to catch big fish :-) Sure you'll catch smaller fish, but if you do land that teener, you risk being spooled on a smaller reel.

The Cardiff is 5.8:1 and the Induron is 5.1:1

Don't worry too much about backlashes. Unlike most baits, most of the time you'll find yourself just kind of lobbing the swimbaits out there. I cast swimbaits sidearm 10X more than overhead. At least for me, it's hard to control a bait that heavy when I launch it overhead.

One more thing. I can't say for sure, but part of the problem you're having might be due to the fact that the round reels you're using don't have level winds on them. If don't know how to properly lay the line on the spool without a level wind it can cause you a lot of headaches! The round reels might not be as big as you think. I can easily place the palm of my hand over the sidecaps of my Induron 250 and Cardiff 301 and I have fairly small hands.