FloridaFishinFool

Nice! One of my favorite line of reels. I use FG to FJ stradics. Your old one looks like an FJ? A lot of stradic fans were never made aware that Shimano made this same reel in a different color and gave it a different name. It did not sell as well as the stradic line did. Today I can buy the stradic wannabes for around $30 or less sometimes, but try buying an old FJ, FI, FH era stradic reel which sold new for around $120, and they are still around $120 now used. So they hold their value. I'm starting the clock on this one!

I disagree with him. His comparison is not an accurate analogy. A guitar is designed to vibrate with taut strings suspended on a resonating device designed to amplify and enhance guitar string vibrations. A fishing line in the water is no where close. First the line is not taut so vibrations do not travel well on loose line, and secondly the water acts as a dampener muting any vibrations. As for any frequency changes remains to be proven. I'm not sure there are any frequencies there in the first place, much less transmitted down the line to the fish. Once my braid hits the water it appears dead silent to me. And with the loose weave of my braid it isn't transmitting scary audio to the fish. My trolling motor, banging around in boat, and cranked up Skynyrd might be cause for alarm, but I tend to catch MORE fish playing some Skynyrd and Allman Brothers cranked up! 😁

I found my recent moth photo. This one was flying around in my garage. It was the largest moth I had ever seen. I estimate it was around 4 inches wing tip to wing tip.

An interesting topic. Thanks for posting! I have one very similar to yours. Later on I may pull out my late father's tackle box. I still have it untouched since he died in 2009. I plan on passing it down to my sons one day. He still had his 1940's reels too. I would like to share with you some Lynyrd Skynyrd tackle box history. The lead singer of Lynyrd Skynyrd Ronnie Van Zant and his childhood frynd Gene Odom who he hired into the band as his personal bodyguard and band security, along with guitarist Gary Rossington were the bass fishermen in that band. While on tour with Lynyrd Skynyrd Ronnie Van Zant, Gene, and Gary would take time off the road to fish where ever they were. So Ronnie carried a small tackle box on the road with him, and when the Lynyrd Skynyrd plane crashed on October 20, 1977 it was found among the wreckage and made its way to band roadie Craig Reed who also survived the plane crash but cracked his skull wide open and has brain damage to this day because of it. Ronnie Van Zant, as the world knows only too well, did not survive the plane crash. But due to the demand of the fans, Craig Reed recently pulled out Ronnie's personal touring tackle box and went through each item found inside of it on camera showing the world what Ronnie himself put inside of it. And here it is... I hope some of you enjoy a look inside this time capsule from 1977. The reason this tackle box survived the plane crash was because it was packed inside of flight cases that took the brunt of crash impact and was stored in the rear of the plane. All of the cargo and band luggage in the plane contributed to the injuries and deaths as it flew forward at 200mph hitting occupants during the crash. Some were buried under it and had to be dug out of the plane crash. Ronnie, being up front in the plane was under all of it. If only history could have been different.

Yep. That's what I do now since I retired! Thank goodness!

High volume repair shops don't work that way. That might be fine for the DIY at home type of thing where its one reel at a time. But in a professional repair shop with more than a dozen warranty contracts with rod and reel brands its a different story. Take the shop I worked at for some years. That shop serves all of Florida basically and beyond. They have all of the central Florida reels coming in from Orlando area daily. They have the entire east coast of Florida saltwater guys. They have some of the South Florida people bring in reels and rods and, that shop has the west coast of Florida coming in there. The bass fishing guides bring in their rods and reels. State of Florida biologists. And then all the reels being mailed in. It gets overwhelming and doing it one reel at a time is just not how it goes. We have had professional football players show up. Law enforcement. FWC. Professional baseball players. You never know who is gonna walk through that front door on any given day. We also serviced trolling motors so that was another huge draw for the shop. If they bring in trolling motors, they are bringing in rods and reels too and vice versa. They turn the reel repair business and trolling motor repair business into a production line. There are 1 or 2 techs who sit at a bench all day long doing nothing more than disassembling and cleaning reels up and cleaning parts up. Once a reel is torn down and cleaned in the ultrasonic cleaner solution, the parts are placed into a box and put at the back of the line on shelves. There could be a 100 reels on that shelf at a time. Sometimes more. Sometimes less. The reel techs - usually 3 or 4- grab the next box or next reel in line and assemble it. I did not like doing it this way myself. I much prefer doing it one reel at a time, and if I disassemble it then I know better how to put it back together. It was extremely difficult being thrown into that scene and handed a box with a reel I never seen before and did not take apart. It sure was a learning curve experience for sure.

Hmmm... shops can't wait on the vinegar to do its job. Too slow for commercial shops who gotta move product. There is nothing wrong with using a stronger acid if it is used for a correct short amount of time and rinsed off and neutralized. Not an issue. Both are corrosive. One faster than the other. Both have to be rinsed off and neutralized. Its kind of nice to get a part back in seconds rather than hours. I get where you are coming from and weaker acid's effects may be more controllable due to the slowness of it, but I see nothing wrong with speed acid either so long as it is thoroughly rinsed and neutralized all is well. Green reels turn shiny silver instantly. High volume repair shops need it that way.

Looks like I am gonna have to start going to church with ya! And LottaBass, I love your quote! "I've spent most of my life fishing, the rest I just wasted."

That's awesome! Memories for a lifetime! Love the Jurassic Park t-shirt he's wearing.

Lots of people prefer to buy brand new rods and reels. I get it, but it also costs a pretty penny too. For guys who can fix stuff, I can't speak for them, but I prefer to buy used and especially broken tackle I know I can fix because I get it so darn cheap. But sometimes I can get it cheap used still in great shape. I'd like to bring your attention to pawn shops in your area. Pawn shops are one of my go to places for tools, rods and reels, toys for kids, video games, and all kinds of used and sometime new things. Lately even fireworks are being sold in my local pawn shop and making some pretty good deals to. So as you drive around your town and you see a pawn shop, stop in and see if they have something worthwhile in there. I did a short round of pawn shops today in the Jacksonville Florida area and scored one rod, have another in my sights when price drops again, and I passed up some rods I bet some of you would have been all over. One pawn shop had a half dozen Falcon rods like new, and all of them were priced with reels under $40 each, and they might haggle and take less. I found two All Star rods with reels for less than $25 each. I found a couple of custom rods not to my liking for cheap. Passed on those too. But point is, some of you might find some really good deals in your local pawn shops. At this same pawn shop a few months ago I scored a GLoomis BCR803 GLX for under $40. Retail it was new $525 to $625. Never know what you will find. The one rod I did not pass up today is a Vexan V7MHX-C inshore rod retails new for $159 to $199. The pawn shop had it marked at $25, but had moved it to a clearance table. So I always ask "What's your best cash price?" And today the bait monkey got me for $5 plus 7% tax for a total of $5.35 out the door for a good condition MH extra fast rod. And I did pass up a second $5 rod. A 7' Lews Speed Stick. Just too whippy for my tastes. I surely like getting tackle at rock bottom prices, but it takes determination and persistence. When I head out to lunch somewhere, I always make it a point to drive past a couple pawn shops to hit on the way to lunch or on way back home. At this same pawn shop a year ago I purchased a really nice 55lb trolling motor with broken tiller headstock for $35. I had a headstock laying around. Fixed it up for a buddy of mine down in Winter Haven. Pawn shops really are a great place to shop. I passed up a nice 40lb trolling motor today for $40. Just don't need it. Good price though. The rod and reel I passed up today is a like new St. Croix rod made in Mexico, and a lefty Curado 210HG. Pawn shop had $279 on it, and it just sits there going nowhere. Today it was marked down to $199. Shop manager said come back next week and if its still there he will pitch me a rock bottom price. I'm thinking $100 or less is where I am at. Another good idea with pawn shops is to keep some junk in the garage you can sell to pawn shop or trade in. So if you find something in there you like but price is too high, you might consider selling them or trading to them some of the stuff you don't want to help cover cost of what you do want. Jewelry and gold is always a favorite at pawn shops. And always haggle with them. Some people might say they can't trust pawn shop rods, but one way to look at it is if a rod survived years to make it into a pawn shop intact, that means it has already been tried and tested. If it was going to break, it would have already done so. So most pawn shops rods if intact you can be fairly certain is going to continue to stay intact. The bait monkey on my back today is small enough to be a keychain monkey. Not big enough to hurt today! I'm giving this one to my 12 year old son. I won't tell him it cost $5. He'll look up the model and find the retail value and give dad credit for that much like he just did with the new sleeping bag I got him. All he cares about is the retail price. I never tell him how cheap I really got it for. I like the full retail credit better.

That's a neat old reel. Nice work! That's an interesting design. I can see why the drag is a little light. I love fishing with vintage reels. Been doing it for decades. I picked up an old Daiwa that is built like a tank and has like what 3 parts inside? A drive gear, oscillation block and that's about it except for spool shaft. And no plastic parts to fail. Some would complain its too heavy, but it never bothers me. This one could use a new handle due to some corrosion, but I'm gonna fish it how it is. A new looking handle would cost 10 to 20 times what I paid for the reel. Like a buck in a thrift store. Plenty of drag, and this one is a bass busting reel that's probably going on 40 years old. Not quite as old as that zebco. I think this one is a 1980's reel made by Daiwa. Be a good one to hand to my sons because they would not be able to break it. Good luck trying! A reel like this one will be working long after I am dead and gone. I wish reel manufacturers still made them to last! Made in Japan.

Nice job! Neat old reel. Don't think I have ever even seen one of those. I bet there aren't many of those around. Should be in a museum. That goes beyond reel maintenance to reel restoration. Just finishing up another ICAST reel, a BPS Rick Clunn reel. Customer had unusual complaint. He said when I crank down on drag it starts making a grinding sound and feels rough. Backing off on the drag removing pressure and it clears up. OK, let's pop the hood and take a look. And I found this: 3 screws hold down to the frame the clutch yoke retainer. Notice anything? 2 out of 3 screws are not tightened down. The two on the left. The one on the right was nice and tight. Could these have backed out on their own? Or did someone get into this reel and forget to tighten them down? Either way, a unique thing I don't recall seeing before. I'm betting someone just forgot to tighten them down. That loose screw closest to drive shaft was grinding on underside of A/R ratchet plate. I could have just tightened them down and put reel back together but went ahead with a cleaning and lube job on it. BTW, that red Doyo yoke in this reel is the same one in a hundred other Doyo reels from Bass Pro to Browning and others.

Vinegar? They don't use that in the shop. Is that brand approved? We have to follow brand protocols or lose warranty contracts. They do have an acid bath for badly corroded parts, but its not vinegar. But I guess that will work slowly. Shops tend to move a little faster. Have to. Very true and the downside to the bizness for sure. We had that same problem as well. For me though, I loved going through the rods customers abandoned- and reels. We got first shot at them so its not all bad. But yeah, not nice when customers tell us to do something and then refuse to pay up. I am with ya on that one. We got a lot of reels across the counter from people saying this belonged to dearly departed granddad or their father. So to them repair costs did not matter on sentimental reels. Can't say to those people its cheaper to replace it. But I get it. I have acquired some nice rods out of the abandoned pile.

Here are a couple of photos from ICAST this year. I am avoiding showing any brand names trying to follow rules. If I am allowed to post all my images I will do so, but for now only showing photos trying to avoid brand names. This is one of the casting tanks. I saw 2 this year. Some new lures. No idea who or what. Don't recall really. This next image was making some waves at ICAST. This is a brand new hull material that saltwater guys were all over. In order for them to make these hulls it requires custom machinery for injection molding. This is some super tough hull material and it floats. This was one busy booth. Ah yes, the old swag buckets they were handing out at the front door this year. This man is looking around wondering which way to go to fill it! This is my old boss and rep for trolling motors about to hit the show floor. I wound up carrying this bucket towards the end of the day when it was full. I thought when I skipped the buckets and bags at the door that I would be exempt from toting one. Not so.... the guy in front of him is carrying one too!

Its not a perfect world for sure. I see lot's of "agains" here myself. Its all designed to share information so we can all benefit from it. All the customer wants is for it to be fixed and working. Corrosion time rates are not relevant to most customers. Just get it working again and see ya next time it fails. Its a lot of labor cleaning them up. Kind of nice seeing them work again. For how long? Who knows. Just how it goes. I just do as told. He says fix it. I say yes sir. Jumping right on it. Reel techs in other states far from saltwater have it made in the shade. That's an interesting take. The customer walked through the front door and put the reel on counter with request to fix it. We do as told and paid to do. But I don't see how it is "theft" in any way? Any reused parts are thoroughly cleaned in an ultrasonic cleaner with chemical solution that cleans back to bare metal, so I don't see how cleaned older parts reused would cause issues with new parts? The problem with corrosion is from the contact with saltwater. It should affect the old reused parts and new parts about the same.

So your buddy's "whine" was louder than the full ceramics! Got it! 😉 Most of my fishing buddies are running full ceramics as well. So our boats are nothing but a bunch whining whiners! Constant whining. That's OK, just crank up the tunes to hide the whine and keep fishin'! Seriously, though I wouldn't change them back for anything now. I love 'em. Heck, I even tried the plastic version bearings. Not going there again. I can't believe they even made plastic retainer bearings.

This is another ICAST reel. A Shimano Curado CU200B. (1994-2003) It has been used in Florida for decades without servicing. When I got it in hand I could spin handle but spool did not turn. I could push cast button but reel would not re-engage from cast mode. Once inside I found the clutch cam retainer had corroded from years of saltwater exposure. It had swollen in size binding up the pinion yoke halfway up the legs. Stuck. Not moving up or down. So that part had to be replaced. Once reel was back together, another very serious problem became apparent. In these older shimano reels, the plastic pin retainer mounted on the spool cracks over time right under the brake shoe pins. On this reel, one of those pins slid out of the retainer and was in direct contact with the brake drum. And it was used like this for years because the user did not know there was even a problem there. So the tip of this pin gouged a groove into the brake drum on every cast and every retrieve. Constant grinding away in there. So on this reel to finish the overhaul job, it is going to need a new spool which are no longer available but other "cracked" old spools can be purchased, but will put user right back into same situation down the road. So I ordered up some new centrifugal brake retainers. These are not a separate part number and is a courtesy thing between Shimano and warranty service centers for special request parts like this. And this old reel will also get a "new" used side plate with acceptable brake drum surface that is not gouged out by a loose brake pin. And all the brake shoes have to be replaced because their braking tips reshaped to the gouge in the drum. So to brake properly, new flat tipped brake shoes matching new flat drum surface is mandatory. I can only imagine how many times this curado user wondered about the screeching pin on brake drum and for how long did they try and use it that way? Its back to fishing again now. It sure would be nice if every reel I get to work on looks shiny and brand spanking new like a lot of reels seen around here. But in the "reel" world this is what I get on the bench with "Can you fix it?"

This old Shimano reel was used for 40 years without any maintenance of any kind. When my buddy handed it to me to overhaul for him, it was falling apart. Handle was worn out as well as some innerds. He ground this reel to a halt before he was willing to "pay" to service it. He had used this reel as his worm reel for 40 years. So he locked the drag down tight and left it that way for 40 years compressing both drag washers slowly over time. When I received this reel it was binding up and no longer had a working anti-reverse. He had worn out the A/R dog and was binding it up between the A/R ratchet plate and main drive gear because the drag washer under main drive gear compressed to the point that the necessary space the A/R dog needed to clear the main drive gear was no longer there. It was metal on metal in this reel. Toast. 40 years of use with zero maintenance right here: So I rebuilt it and put new drag washers in it resetting the missing spacing needed and replaced the A/R dog with a newer version that no longer has brass spring but now a factory replacement with newer steel spring. Not sure if you can see the tips of the A/R dog spring, but it is worn off. Gone. 40 years of no lubrication and metal on metal rubbing constantly. I also had an old Bush Hawg 2 speed handle laying around and he said he wanted it even if its not the right color he don't care. So now this 40 year old reel is a 2 speed reel and he loves it now. He can't believe how much further he can cast it now. Back to operating like new while looking like 40 years old. This reel should outlive him now since he's 66. Don't think he will make it to this reel's next service job when he turns 106 years old! See the difference between 40 year old stock dog above and new and improved version below? On stock dog above the tips of spring are worn off. Gone. It would not even stay on the A/R ratchet plate any longer. No AR on this old reel when I got it. Shimano changed from a softer metal to a stronger, harder, more durable metal. From brass or copper to solid steel below. Huge difference in wear ability now.

Right here on this forum in the show and tell thread are posts showing how some are reducing weight inside of reels by removing heavier parts and replacing with lightweight plastic aftermarket parts. What is interesting to me is that in the show and tell comments this is viewed as some how being a "more wonderful" improvement. So in this comment I will show the opposite. When a reel manufacturer makes this same mistake of trying to make a cheaper plastic part to meet the demand of the consumers for lightweight reels, take a look at the results as found in some round reels- this is the gear that turns the worm gear. What you are seeing are real world results. The people in the show and tell thread maintain their reels to like new daily and represent less than 1% of 1% of real world results that wind up in reel repair shops daily across USA. And, to fix this mistake of a manufacturer, look what their engineers had to do with the factory replacement part "fix" Yep. They had to put metal back into the reels. Lightweight reels is not always the best thing. You won't find this in the aftermarket parts selections.

To me this is a misnomer and I think it leads to ideas that may or may not even be real. When someone says fish are pressured from so many fishermen, does this mean they are now some how educated to humans and wise to us? Does pressured fish mean that now a fish knows what fishing line is and will run from it in fear for their lives? And unpressured fish are opposite and never seen fishing line and will now run to it happy to see it? Or, will pressured fish now be used to line and not afraid of it? What exactly does pressured fish mean in relationship to the fish? I've never really bought into this idea of pressured fish. It has no relevant meaning to me. It would be nice to see objective scientific data on this idea of "pressured fish" and see if there are some differences between pressured and unpressured fish. So when someone says from the standpoint of pressured fish... huh? What does that mean? Do pressured fish run from line from experience? Or do they not care about the line being there because they are now educated to it? Which is it? I'm not seeing a "standpoint." That would mean a definitive definition upon which to rest. And I'm 61 now and fishing for more than 50 years, and to me there is no standpoint on pressured fish. I use straight braid no matter what and could not care less if the fish have been pressured or not. Its not an issue to me. Would be great if someone would actually do some science testing on this and provide objective data. I go to some heavily fished lakes with "pressured" fish and still catch them just fine. I fish spring fed crystal clear waters sometimes with straight braid on pressured fish who swim up to my line and peck at it trying to eat it. I see no fear in any of them. So why should I change what I do based on some idea of pressured fish that does not seem real to me? Its an idea and it sounds good, but are we really improving our fishing based on an idea that may or not even be real? I don't let this idea of pressured fish enter into any of my fishing equations. Not happening. Not picking on ya Bazoo, just pointing out that this idea of pressured fish may not be so black and white. We have these discussions based on a perceived idea and I'm not even sure which way pressured goes? Educated to fear and run? Or educated into no fear from constant contact? And is it the same for every fish in there because this is a generalization term covering all of them which may not be the case. I think we give fish too much credit sometimes. Just how I see it though.... back to regular programming on the "standpoint" and which way to go.

The red one is also a drag washer. If you look how the drag stack is put together, the A/R ratchet is what the drag star is cranking down against to create drag pressure since it is locked in place to the main drive shaft. Drag is created on both sides of the main drive gear. So the main drive gear is sandwiched between those two drag washers. This is why when you go looking for new drag washers for that reel you find this: The washer shown on the right is the replacement for the red washer. Kind of funny the two carbon fiber washers above don't match. They don't have to, but these types of washers are made from whatever sheets of cross weave carbon fiber they can buy cheapest and punch these out of it. Also notice the replacement top drag washer is wider than stock washer meaning more contact surface area if key plate is flat leading to slightly more drag in the replacement washer. From an engineering perspective, the cross weave carbon fiber materials used are not even braking materials. What makes them so "smooth" is because the graphite is a lubricant itself, and then people put grease all over them so they are even smoother. All that smoothness is caused by slippage. Who puts grease on their car brake pads? When you hit the brakes do you want the car to stop or keep going on smooth brakes? Smooth in a reel means the drag is slipping and sliding. It suppose to be a brake. But we can get away with it in reels for small fish because enough drag can be had to battle small fish. Out on the ocean fighting huge marlin and sharks 8 feet long and they will shred cross weave carbon fiber drag washers because it is simply not made for it. Loose fibers held together with a little bit of epoxy don't hold up out there. I used to have some photos of what they look like after a big fish. I'll see if I can find them. One thing to keep in mind and you almost never hear about this, is that the red washer is also an engineered shim of a specific thickness. That red washer is a gear alignment washer that dictates precisely how the main gear fits to the pinion gear. Change the thickness of that washer and your gear alignment changes. So if someone removes the red washer and puts in another type of washer, it should be the same thickness. If not, the gears that wore into each other one way will now change placement. Is that a good thing or bad thing? One will find out real fast. In some older reels with an A/R dog, it would bind up if a thinner washer was used on backside of gear. The thickness of that washer was critical to not only gear alignment, but also providing enough space for the A/R dog on those A/R ratchet plates. I ran into this recently on a 40 year old Shimano the guy used without maintenance for 40 years and cranked it down super tight and always left it that way. He compressed both of the drag washers and caused noise and binding because now metal parts were coming into contact with each other inside, and that washer was no longer keeping the proper spacing to keep those parts from touching as he turned the handle to retrieve. Those cross weave carbon fiber so called washers compress very easily since at the surface on both sides they are nothing more than loose fibers held together internally by epoxy. The above Tatula CT reel shows Daiwa has pulled a fast one on consumers. Probably advertised as having carbon fiber drag washer which it does, but only half of the drag. The other half is the red washer Daiwa probably does not want the consumer to replace. Who knows, maybe Daiwa is telling us by keeping a non-carbon fiber drag washer in there that they want more drag than two of them would provide? Or, maybe they are telling us the alignment is more important? Change at your own risk.

Send it to DVT! He'll fix it up for ya.

Wouldn't he be able to feel or hear bad bearings in the handle without reeling the reel at all? This reel has only 2 bearings in handle, not 4. I am curious how loading a reel would change the handle bearings? A click, click, click does not sound like handle bearings to me. Its possible, but I was thinking something along these lines...... Schematic: https://onlinetools.sodapdf.com/document/81b54266-0de8-4b43-9db5-4dcf3998048a?ref=sodapdf.com%2Fsodalite&uid=1019209&venid=web-opera&wid=7773 How does it feel with the pawl taken out? If you could remove the pawl and cast it and retrieve it, if it is the relationship between pawl and worm gear it should go away once the pawl is removed. If it does then maybe you need a new worm gear? Shimano used to make them out of good steel. Now they are mostly aluminum I think but OP said his is plastic? A lot of dirt and debris can get in there and cause issues. Check pawl condition carefully too. The gears driving the worm gear could be damaged? The only thing I can think of would be the plastic gears BNT5785 and BNT5109. If one of those cracked or something happened to the gear teeth might cause something like this. I've seen cracked plastic gears in other reels, but if one were damaged the part about only appearing under load may not apply. Could be some debris in there? But be very careful if you try and disassemble to 5785 gear because there are tiny spring loaded parts underneath it held in place inside the main drive shaft (BNT4639 spring and 2 BNT5310 pins) and if those spring out of there you may never find them again. Same with the drag star clicker. Super small parts easy to lose. Other places I have seen similar issues would be a spool pin BNT5803 moving off center in spool axle. This would cause the pin to rub up against reel frame. Its the reel frame that holds it in place from coming out all together. Casting it might be OK, but load the reel and pull on the spool and the rubbing intensifies. One look at spool pin would clear that up. It should be centered. And on the centrifugal brakes I have seen issues but since this is a newer reel that is less likely. In cast mode does spool spin quietly? Turn off all brakes and see if that makes a difference. Another bearing could cause issues is the pinion bearing. It sits behind the spool and can be exposed to water and begin to rust. BNT3927. Is reel still under warranty? Great! Another reel thread to follow!

What he said below. VVVVV VVVV VV V

I hear downtown Los Angeles has some killer bass fishing! (kidding of course) This is actually a thing down in South Florida.