stock hook works great for rivers.
http://www.3boutdoors.com/StreamingVideos.html
6th link up from the bottom. video on mission fish in the river. gotta check out 14:00 into it.

what model curado and chronarch are you comparing?

I'm a newbie at cleaning my own reels, but i found that a Q-tip stripped of most its cotton on one end makes for a great tool to pull out and clean spool bearings on Shimano reels (200e serries and 50 chronarch)

I'm installed some tonight that are dry, i will post as soon as i get to test them, the intial spin test was awesome. Don't they come already with a dry lube applied like tungsten disulfide?

I may be able to tell you if the e series handles fit when my reel comes in. What size carbontex's fit your chronarch?