Steve1357

Thanks. Maybe someone else will drop in. Once I changed the bushings to bearings on my old red Abu5000 reels, use oil instead of grease on the bearings, the difference was amazing. If you haven't already, you might check and make sure you don't have any grease slowing the spool down. I've seen others post soaking the spool bearings overnight to make sure there is no grease left inside. Also use an oil that doesn't get thick when it's cold.

Which reel? Whether two or six or more, you should be able to turn them all off on a centrifugal brake system.

Abu Garcia. Always go back to my old Ambassadeur 5000s made in Sweden, 1984-1989. Upgraded bushings to bearings, easy to disassemble, clean, and maintain. Slow crank at 4.7-1. Tried a new 5600BCX, made in China, gave it away.

Great idea. I couldn't imagine how much difference just replacing the two spool bushings with two bearings made. I use vxb bearings, vxb.com, but you'll have to know what size(s) you need. I'd like to try some new higher speed gears (mine are 4.7-1) from Mike's but $$$.

Came across this if you want to try to clean it yourself. www.realsreels.com/servicing/Ambassadeur%205000%20service.pdf

Thanks. Watch your prices. The .47/.97 price ending stuff has been half or 75% of that for a few weeks now here. I stopped by to check on your mention of buy five and get five free, they've eliminated the 1/2 off, returning the prices back up before you get your 5 for 5 effectively being 1/2 again. All stores are different though. Academy had All Star rods all last year for $50 each, putting them on sale before Christmas for $25. Stopped by the other day, they've put on stickers saying was $70, now! $50. "Marketing" Edit:Walmart has a few things marked down, found a few $35 AbuGarcia Ambassadeur baitcast rods for $17. Same rod at other stores, still full price. Hit or miss.

Maybe the Reel Mechanic will chime in. I see a lot of parts on the Internet available. Start by getting a schematic and go from there. If you don't know where to start, the Reel Mechanic can probably handle it and BassPro has a repair center you mail it to and they'll contact you with an estimate. I believe age isn't a problem.

Never paid much attention to the spool bushings on each end, had some bearings I used on other projects. I replaced both bushings with bearings, amazing difference. I'm surprised.

RW and I had a heated discussion a while back about Tru Turns. I like 'em, he doesn't. I'll be the first to admit that they're made of cheap crap, but man do I stick fish with them. If they would make them out of quality wire and charge a little more, they would have the market nailed. I was there... That was TruTurn's idea when I first used them some 25 years ago, they were twisted and would grab anything nearby, logs, fish, rocks, clothing, tackle bag, boat, anchor rope... Thinking about it, maybe things have changed in 25 years. I still have some old 5/0 TruTurns, I wouldn't call these things cheap. They are bronzed and you sure wouldn't straighten one out or it fail with you. Guess I'll buy a pack of new TruTurns and try them out. Edit: TruTurn still running the 50th Anniversary special, Cabelas has the link to the rebate coupon.

So you should be using TruTurn worm hooks after all... Interesting. I'll keep using my EagleClaw L095s....

Once you do it a few times, it will be second nature.

So if there is one on the inside that means I have to take off the left side plate first? Correct. On my inexpensive Shakespeares, Pfluegers, Pinnacles, take off the sideplate opposite the handle. Remove the spool. Take out the screw that you see going into the handle sideplate. Set the reel on the side with the handle shaft pointing up. Remove the handle and the drag stuff. Remove the three chassis screws and the handle sideplate should lift up. Careful, there are a couple of springs that will stay in place if you lift slowly.

fwiw, beware! Did you try rotating the sideplate opposite the crank about 1/8 turn counter clockwise? Lot of your lower cost reels work this way. Daiwa uses a screw all the way from one side to another on the chassis to keep the sideplate from coming off. Edit: I see you want the handle side plate off. Yes, there are usually three screws on the outside, and once you remove the spool you'll see one more on the inside on a lot of reels.

My 2c, switching to spinning to baitcaster, instead of throwing it, letting it go completely at release, I tend to describe a baitcasting cast as slinging it, like you throwing someone off a merry-go-round. You need to accelerate the rod tip and lure and gradually ease off your thumb pressure before you get to the release point, allowing the lure to start leaving out and the spool to start accelerating. The trick being to never allow the spool to spin faster than the lure is pulling line off. At first you'll throw it a few feet, took me a few months, now it's second nature to throw it a mile with little effort. Never lose contact between the thumb and spool, you'll get use to having the thumb barely touching it, it at all, but sense when the spool is out running the line... I guess I'm saying start by keeping things snug and gradually build your distance with the confidence and technique you learn as you go. Don't try 1/8 jigs yet, seems light jigs and spinnerbaits catch a lot of air slowing down quicker than other baits. Most of my failures (birdnests) are when I grab another rod with a jig and trailer or spinnerbait after chunking a plug or carolina rig for a while. You may notice you can tension the spool tension knob tighter to where the lure will not even fall to the ground and still throw it a long way. I regularly go trout fishing now with 4 and 6 lb test and light rigs on baitcasters. You'll pick it up quickly. As we've suggested on other threads, get some BigGame line, a quality line, good quantity, at a good price, so when you mess up, cutting it off isn't so bad. Also I've seen it suggested to make a cast, add some extra, then put tape on the spool there, so next time it won't birdnest beyond your tape stop. Oh, one more thing, rotate your rod and reel so the thumb is not part of casting the rod, you need your thumb free for spool tension, I was using my thumb at first to "push" the rod forward, and trying to work spool tension with the thumb at the same time. Instead of the reel being top dead center, I rotate mine 45 or 90 degrees off to one side. I remember starting out baitcasting using a "backhand", it was the only way I could get any results until I discovered a technique that worked for me. It's like golf, it's the score that counts. You've seen pros have some funning looking golf swings making millions...

Reminded me of a show, I think Candid Camera, where a store set up a table with some item on it, said 25c each or on sale today only at 3 for a dollar. The camera caught people counting out 3 at a time... Wish I had picked up a few too, but we live to buy another day....

Stopped by Academy Sports today, a few months ago they had run an ad for $50 AllStar rods for 1/2 off, $25. Now they all have stickers on them that say was $69.99, now $49.99. i guess you can fool some of the people some of the time...

X3, get another Lightning rod. Or two Berkely Cherrywoods, that way you'll have to get another reel.

Agreed roadwarrior. Where I was coming from, golf has gotten ridiculous. Green fees are a days' pay and where the best golf balls use to be a dollar each, are now $4 and $5 each. I go into the fishing stores and see individual hooks at a buck each, spinnerbaits for $6, and shake my head at Rapalas for ten bucks. I was looking at the BassPro catalog, there are plugs in there for $16 each. To each his own, but I couldn't fish if I was slinging a $10 lure among the rock jetties on the Arkansas River or even a $3 jig. If you aren't getting hung up, you aren't catching fish.

TruTurn hooks are fine. Of course my fishing enjoyment doesn't require hooks that cost a buck each or throwing them with a reel that cost more than my first pickup truck. Playing golf has become cost prohibitive, I see fishing approaching the same environment... Walmart still carries TruTurn hooks, run down and try a package before investing money in the rebate to see if they are good enough if you have doubts. Merry Christmas

Just a guess, what kind of lube? You said they were new. From what I've seen, the factories put grease in the spool bearings, fine when it's warm. When it hits 50 or lower here, you're wasting your time trying to throw any distance. I'm guessing when you're lubing them, you ain't moving any of their factory grease out, so I'm guessing it's cold, your profile says Oregon, it's in the 40s there.... You said the Asaro casted good 4-5 times, was that before it got cold? I clean my bearings and use a good oil that stays good even in low temps.

Could be anything without seeing his reels. Maybe it's what you're use to. I use mono all the time, tried fluorocarbon, too stiff, backlashes all the time, feels like it wants to unreel itself. Braid eats your line guides in dirty water, soaks up the dirt... I use 10lb BigGame almost all of the time. When he casts, how does he use his thumb? Does he rest it on the line or the edge of the spool? You'll do much better long term if you take the time to practice using the edge of the spool instead of the line on it. I did it wrong for years. jmho

fwiw Little Rock, AR Gander Mountain store has their 1.97 and 2.97 plastics for 1/2 of that. Picked up some odd 5", 4", 3" trick sticks, 6" lizards, 4" creatures, and some jig trailers. Only certain colors are marked down, but worth the trip I think.

I agree with the Academy hook suggestion. With that said, I'm old school, I still use offset worm hooks. Best deal is BassPro, the Eagle Claw L095JL Southern sproat worm hook, Z-bend, wide gap, Light wire, like 12c each. Yes, I do sharpen them before I use them. Like another said, too many rocks where I fish, I lose them faster than they can rust. I also feel with the point not inline with the eye, I think I catch more fish and that counts a lot in the game.

I think the BlackMax is magnetic brakes. They may use fancy names for the braking system to where you can't tell what they are, but if you're in the store and pick one up, most reels with only centrifugal brakes will not have the dial on the side to adjust them, they'll have a smooth side plate. I recently bought a few last year's model Shakespeare Criterions on clearance which are centrifugal, the new model switched to magnetic brakes. I'm not against magnetic brakes, just grew up with centrifugal and can't teach my thumb the magnetic brakes.

The new Extremes are magnetic brakes only, they removed the centrifugal brakes. You have to get the Rick Clunn model now to get both. Do you want magnetic or centrifugal brakes?