redmeansdistortion

This is the first I've read about the brass being of poor quality on new production Abu reels. The only reason I can see gears stripping would be from lack of lubrication or improper assembly. I've serviced quite a few round Abus over the last 20 years, many post '00 models, and I've only encountered one with damaged gears. This wasn't the result of a faulty product, but somebody that incorrectly reassembled the reel and didn't include a couple of small but very important parts. For what it's worth, this was on a late 90s 5500 C3. Where most people will find the limit of the 4xxx/5xxx/6xxx Abu is hooking fish above 100lb. At that point, you should be using a beefier 7000 series or Penn Fathom anyway. For most freshwater fishing, either the Calcutta or the Abu will be fine. It comes down to how deep your wallet is. Both will last a lifetime and then some, but the Calcutta is an over all higher quality product. Chevy Tahoe vs Toyota Land Cruiser

The Calcutta is the pinnacle of round reels. As much as I love my round Abus, the Calcutta is a whole different class of reel. Both are reliable as all get out, but the Calcutta is simply a higher quality piece and far smoother on the retrieve. Smoothness aside, my favorite aspect of the Calcutta is how it sits low on the reel seat. Abus sit a good amount higher as their basic frame design is 60 years old, a time when reel seats were recessed. To my knowledge, you can't purchase a brand new casting rod with a recessed reel seat. Aftermarket frames can be had to make round Abus sit lower, but for the asking prices of them, you may as well buy a Calcutta in the first place.

The Abu C3, C4, and Pro Rocket are still high quality Swedish made reels. It's the Ambassadeur S, SX, and STX that you want to avoid as they are crafted from Chinesium. I have a new production C3 4600 and it's just as quality a piece as my 20 year old 5600. In fact, they share most of the same internal parts. Pinion yoke, clutch arm, clutch linkage, cog wheel, spool pinion gear, spool bearings, drag stack, position holder, driveshaft, and main gear are all the same. The main exception being the pinion gear, as newer Abus have a 6-pin brake and the newer pinion has 4 grooves cut to accommodate it. The only differences are external, the side plates, star wheel, and crank. Newer ('07 and up) Abus also come with Carbontex drags from the factory. The older ones used Teflon drag washers.

I use both hi-vis mono and braid when float and drift fishing steelhead, depending on temp. I've had braid freeze so when the temps drop I switch to Big Game in the Solar Collector color. It makes it much easier to see where my bait is, but I do run 2 to 3ft worth of 6lb fluorocarbon.

They are a hoot to catch on ultralight gear though. When the Michigan DNR loads up our streams, the fish are just barely below keeper size. I don't fish stockers too often unless I take my wife out with me. She likes to catch fish, but she don't have the patience to walk miles of riverbank to catch a big steelhead or two, or even worse, get skunked. If we are out there for an hour without a bite, I get the stink-eye which usually means "take me home" lol. When it's myself or taking a friend or two, we will be out there from dawn to dusk, catching fish or not.

Exactly. A deeper spooled reel, such as an Ambassadeur or Calcutta will many times have more IPT than a low profile reel with a shallow spool of the same ratio. For instance, a 4600 C4 is a 6.3:1 reel but pulls in 30" of line per turn. A 6.3:1 low profile reel will pull in about 25" to 27" per turn. In a shallow spool reel, you'd be looking at 7.3:1 or better to get the same retrieval rate.

I like the 832 on spinning reels and PP on casting reels due to it being a little stiffer. 832 is pretty limp stuff which is what I look for in a line for a spinning reel.

Thanks everybody, great place this is. I'm planning on sticking around awhile and learning a few things

I love my round reels. I do own a few low profiles, but they don't see nearly the usage my rounds get. I have a 4600 C3, 4600 C5, 5600CL Rocket, 5600 AB, and a 6500CS Rocket. The 4600 reels are primarily used for bass while the 5600s and 6500 are used for pike, musky, salmon, and steelhead.

Will do, thanks for the tip!

I didn't know that about Acetone, I'll have to try that next time I break my reels down. Does it evaporate pretty quick?

I've modified quite a few Abu reels so I'll lay out what I use. First and foremost, a cleaning and re-lube will make them cast better than new, even without additional bearings. Abu has a habit of using peanut butter all over everything, even the level wind. This slows them down a great deal and gives them a reputation that they can't cast sub 1oz baits effectively. A correctly lubricated Swedish Abu round reel with an oiled worm gear will be able to cast 1/4oz baits pretty easy, even lighter when paired with the correct rod. A greased worm slows the whole thing down. Picture it like driving your car through a foot of snow versus dry pavement. To begin, soak all parts (except ball bearings and drag washers) in a mix of Dawn and hot water to break up the old lubricants. An hour should be good enough, but in a severely neglected reel, you may wish to let it sit overnight. After soaking, scrub them with an old toothbrush and rinse in cold water, then pat dry. Optionally, you can get a cheap ultrasonic cleaner and run a mix of 50/50 water/Simple Green. That makes the process much faster. For grease, I use Yamaha blue marine grease, marketed as Yamalube. You can get a 12oz tube for ~$10, cheaper and better than the flavor of the month reel grease. It's waterproof, adheres to metal surfaces, and doesn't wear away like the PTFE grease packaged with many reels. The only thing that removes it is your cleaning process. It's simple to remove with Simple Green or Zippo fluid, but under normal working conditions, it stays put. Use this between any areas with metal to metal contact, such as the clutch arm and linkage, a dab in the pinion yoke, and a dab on the pinion gear where it makes contact with the main gear. You should also brush on a light coating on the brake plate where those aforementioned parts and drag stack reside. 2nd, drag grease. I use Cal's tan grease on my bass reels and Cal's purple on my steelhead reels. Cal's purple is for cold weather and I fish steelhead in cold weather, so this helps a good amount. Use this on Carbontex washers. The Teflon washers used in older Abu reels don't benefit, but it's a good idea to upgrade Teflon washers to Carbontex anyway. On the oil end, I use TSI-321. This is a fantastic low viscosity oil that adheres to surfaces and stays put for a long while. Use this in your anti-reverse bearing, ball bearing, level wind. To lube the IAR bearing, moisten a Q-tip with oil and rub it around a few times. Use 1 drop of oil per ball bearing, and two drops in the level wind. You'll want an old pill bottle or two and a bottle of Zippo fluid, use this to clean your bearings. Zippo fluid leaves no residue behind and evaporates quickly. Soak them about 10 minutes and shake from time to time. Let them air dry and give them a spin on the tip of a pencil to check. If they still seem a little sticky, repeat the cleaning process. If they fail the second cleaning, replace them. You can also use Zippo fluid to clean the Teflon/Carbontex drag washers. Just get a cloth damp and wipe the old grime away. Use this same method to clean the brake plate. If you have any other questions, feel free to PM me

Life long fisherman, geek, and gear head. Young(ish), but on the old school side. Round baitcasters, charcoal grills, and manual transmissions are my preferred way of doing things. This is a nice forum, such a huge wealth of info. I don't fish bass as much as I used to years ago, but I still do from time to time. I mostly fish for steelhead, salmon, and pike these days.

It depends. If you have a longer (8ft+) noodle type rod, you'll be fine with 2lb since the rod will be doing most of the work. With a shorter rod, say in the 5ft to 6ft range, you may want to go up to 6lb line.

Get out there ASAP. Stockers will hit anything those first couple of weeks as they are used to being fed pellets. Once they wise up the bites don't come as often.

4600 C5, 4600 C3, 5600CL Rocket, 5600AB. All modified to some degree. 6500CS Rocket