1 hour ago, PhishLI said:

• 11-BEARING SYSTEM with stainless steel double shielded bearings provides exceptionally smooth reeling and enhanced corrosion protection
• ONE-PIECE ALUMINUM FRAME promotes lightweight durability and eliminates flex
• DOUBLE ANODIZED ALUMINUM 34mm SPOOL is tough, lightweight, machined, and braid-ready with a large line capacity

• SPEED GEARS® with P2 SUPER PINION® are cut on the finest Hamai CNC machines to provide smooth cranking power with less wear
• FLIPPING SWITCH on all models make this reel a shallow water bass angler's dream

I stand corrected. My guess was wrong. I made an assumption based on his lingo. I wish he just would have said it was a metal frame. His lingo kind of chased me off. If I was in the market for a reel and assumed it was plastic I would have moved on. A sale lost possibly.

2 hours ago, FloridaFishinFool said:

 

 

Santa, or in my case Santa the mailman delivered another "take a chance" reel yesterday. I had this one saved for a couple of weeks and it never sold so the seller pitched me an offer of $8 plus $7 in shipping. I passed it up again because I was looking for newer reels with more bells and whistles for my 12 year old son. I was just looking for decent quality "beater" reels he could learn on and I would not have to worry about if he dropped it to the bottom of the intracoastal waterway.

 

So I passed on the $8. And the seller came back with an offer for $5 plus the $7 in shipping. I said what the heck. Looked like a solid reel. I put it on my saved list because it had a metal frame. My reels have to have a metal frame or I will not purchase it no matter what the brand.

 

I kept passing it up because it needed a few parts and I was looking for whole reels.

 

This one I am not sure of the age, but guessing 1990's? It is an old Bass Pro BSM1000HL made in Korea by Doyo I am assuming? Called the "BassMaster."

 

It does not have bells or whistles. A pretty simple standard reel, but solid. Nice metal frame. Handle comes with 2 bearings and 2 bushings I may change out to bearings if I keep it. It has the same AR Shimano used in their Curados and Chronarch reels during same time period. The AR also kind of dates this reel. It does have plastic side plates, but sturdy. And its brakes are also very similar to what Shimano was doing back then. Heck, even the Shimano brake shoes fit this reel. So almost a rip off of Shimano and this would not be the first time.

 

I have a Doyo Browning round type of reel that is a direct copy cat rip off of a Shimano Calcutta, but oddly, the Browning is the only one I kept as it is also very well built. My frankenstein reel because it keeps getting parts from all over put into it. I've played around with 6 sets of gears in it tweaking it along.

 

But this reel when delivered was filthy dirty inside. I wonder if this one had been dunked at some point in the past.

 

 

I did a complete tear down and cleaning or so I thought. All the regular cleaning methods failed to clean the gears fully. Nothing worked.

 

So when I began reassembling the reel I noticed the gears were still dirty and clogged up way down inside of each gear tooth. Both pinion and main drive gear.

 

I had to sit at the bench wearing those funny looking microscope goggles and clean each tooth of both gears. A brass wire brush would not clean them. Solvents would not clean them. Nothing touched whatever was on those gears. Could be an old grease someone used combined with mud and dirt? I am not sure. So I had to come up with a probe that would fit to the bottom of the gear but not something that could damage the gears. I finally settled on a plastic toothpick.

 

I was able to start at one side of a gear tooth and push the solidified debris out the other side like squeezing toothpaste out. Then back for scraping off anything left behind. This is not something any tech commonly has to do for sure. It was a slow tedious job cleaning each gear tooth out.

 

I bring this up because how many of us examine those gear teeth that closely? I didn't at first because I expected normal cleaning methods to take care of it. But upon reassembly I noticed it first on the pinion gear. They often have hardened old grease still on them in hidden spots and before I put new grease on them I want to make sure they are clean. Then I noticed the main drive gear was even worse. But fortunately the normal cleaning methods had softened up whatever it was in those gear teeth.

 

 

 

Once I was able to remove 99% of whatever was clogging up the gears, I then ran them back through normal cleaning methods to finish them off back to clean brass before installing back into reel. This job took the most time.

 

I wondered about the reel having been dunked before because the main drive shaft bearing was rusted up and solidified to the frame. It was not easy to remove because this frame did not have any rear access to push it out. I had to use a penetrating oil and then find a drill bit that fit it perfectly and wobble it to break it free and begin to try and lift it out of the frame.

 

So when a new bearing was installed I like to use a little grease on the frame where the bearing is installed so the grease acts like a barrier to more corrosion and as an anti-seizing agent that will make removal next time far more easy for sure. And all bearings treated with corrosion X as well. Even the AR had similar gunk in it I don't normally see in reels.

 

But adding in some new parts like cast control cap, shims, 1 bearing, and new handle nut cover and she's back up and running again. I may swap out drag washers down the road if I keep it and go with 4 bearings in the handle as well just because.

 

And I am not sure my 12 year will be able to learn baitcasting reels on a reel like this one because it does not have much in the way of brake controls. But we shall see.

 

This is another one of those reels you never hear about online. And I mean never! I did a search for this reel and could not find not one single mention of it on any forums. I did find a couple of sales pages, but that's about it for this reel. Guess it was not a big seller. Regardless, it is a solid reel. Well built using many standard common Doyo tooling parts found all across the Bass Pro & Browning lines of reels. Its amazing to see how many of their reels use the same parts over and over and over. Makes my job of finding parts much easier. Need a part for an Abu? Grab a Bass Pro reel. Need a part for a Bass Pro reel? Grab a Browning. Gears, yokes, springs, clutch parts. I like it this way too.

 

It would be far worse for techs hunting parts if every reel had its own unique tooling and parts exclusive to just that one reel. I see the same thing in other brands. Shimano did it too. Its cheaper for them to cut production costs.

 

Kind of funny to see all these different reels with same internal parts. Same reel. Different size, shape and color. Makes techs jobs easier for sure.

 

So now I have another $5 reel that is probably close to 25 or maybe even 30 years old that is back to like new again and will fish just fine now for another 30 years. How can you beat 60 years of fishing for $5? This is how I roll on reels. No need to spend hundreds for the shiniest new thing not made anywhere near as solid since so many of today's reels avoid metal like the plague! I love MORE metal in my reels!

 

I still have to clean or replace these brake shoes. A few that were used are still dirty here. Looks by eye to be exactly the same as Shimano. If so, I have a box of them in all colors and different materials weights.

 

 

All finished. Back to smooth again! No more crunchy grinding noises or weird feeling gears. No way those gears could mesh together correctly with both pinion and main gears clogged up with solidified material stuck deep inside of each gear tooth. Done and over with now. Time to try this one out. I love older vintage heavy metal reels! And I love it that fishermen are dumping them for cheap! Thanks!

 

 

I wish I could find out more info on this old reel. Nothing to be found out there really.

I'm pretty sure those old BP reels were silstar/pinnacle.  I used to buy the pinnacles at walmart and they all had that same VBS knockoff brake.  I really liked the models with the light weight ported "wiffle spools" like the ycz10.  I would run braid and little to no spool tension throwing 1/4 oz baits in the 90s.  They were the 1st reels to open my mind to concepts like spool weight, high spool speed casting performance and that spool tension was a lie.  

That's awesome information! That red reel looks identical to the one I just purchased. Are these Doyo?

 

How is their brake for spool control? Do you think a 12 year old kid with zero baitcast experience can handle one of those to learn on?

 

Now I know some more reels I can plunder parts from! Thanks! 😉

 

Do you still use these old reels? And can you date it more precisely? I appreciate this type of response greatly!

 

I just checked ebay and found one just like yours for $34 plus tax plus $12 in shipping. And it shows the same photo as yours. Are you selling yours?

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/286742918783

 

This one would interest me if it were a lefty. Not a single Pinnacle lefty on ebay that I saw in a quick look.

 

This one looks like my Doyo made Browning Citori. This may be yet another Calcutta copy cat reel.

 

 

 

17 minutes ago, FloridaFishinFool said:

That's awesome information! That red reel looks identical to the one I just purchased. Are these Doyo?

 

How is their brake for spool control? Do you think a 12 year old kid with zero baitcast experience can handle one of those to learn on?

 

Now I know some more reels I can plunder parts from! Thanks! 😉

 

Do you still use these old reels? And can you date it more precisely? I appreciate this type of response greatly!

I think they are silstars.  I'm prettty sure silstar made pinnacles of that era and the same year BPS reels are identical to pinnacles from then.  BPS didn't switch to Doyo until the 2000s.  

https://www.silstar.eu/main/about-us/#:~:text=However in early 1996 the,brand in Europe virtually disappeared.

AI says:

 

"Silstar did not manufacture its own reels; instead, they were a brand created by a consortium of distributors and were contract manufactured by trade shops, most likely in Korea, such as Doyo or Daywan, who made the reels for Silstar to sell. The brand was prominent in the European market before the company went out of business around 2009"

 

In my opinion it has got to be Doyo because the internal parts match identically to other Doyo reels under other brands.

12 minutes ago, FloridaFishinFool said:

AI says:

 

"Silstar did not manufacture its own reels; instead, they were a brand created by a consortium of distributors and were contract manufactured by trade shops, most likely in Korea, such as Doyo or Daywan, who made the reels for Silstar to sell. The brand was prominent in the European market before the company went out of business around 2009"

 

It has got to Doyo because the internal parts match identically to other Doyo reels under other brands.

 

This guy has some history on the brand.  They were around in the 90s and went bankrupt in 1999 only to return in 2009 and probably go bankrupt again.  I don't know what their association with pinnacle is.  I don't know if pinnacle was a client or a brand name they owned.  It's very possible that what remained of their manufacturing in Korea spawned doyo.

 

 

I'm going to embrace my inner boomer as a 40 year old millennial and collect hobby equipment I liked and used from the 90s.  I'm already doing this with my paintball stuff in that i never got rid of it.  I just need a some pinnacle reels from this time period.  I regret trading in my YCZ10 to bass pro.

They might just be old Doyos.  Silstar handled all the manufacturering for Pinnacle back then and Silstar was using Korean reels so it's highly likely that the reels were just rebranded Doyo reels.  The fact that BPS had reels that looked identical confirms it for me.  In the pre-internet days Doyo was unknown outside of Korea so it looked like Pinnacles were Silstars we, in fact, they were both early Doyos

Guess what I found! And there is only one. You just missed one sold on ebay 4 days ago, but there is still one up there for sale!

 

Pinnacle Bait Casting Reel YCZ 10

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/187393332634

 

$19.95 plus tax plus $7 in shipping. Cheap!

 

2 minutes ago, FloridaFishinFool said:

Guess what I found! And there is only one. You just missed one sold on ebay 4 days ago, but there is still one up there for sale!

 

Pinnacle Bait Casting Reel YCZ 10

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/187393332634

 

$19.95 plus tax plus $7 in shipping. Cheap!

 

I saw that earlier.  It's s little rough but otherwise tempting.

Avail pinion on the left, Simon's on the right.  She's beefy and rated to 11lb of drag.  OEM is rated to 6lb and Avail to 2lb.

2 hours ago, bulldog1935 said:

NOS by individual Abu p/n, 

or aftermarket gear sets to improve MOC and drive ratio.  

You have to be careful with small frames, because high-ratio gears may brinnell the pinion on big fish - that's why Simon Shimomura's 6.3 brass gears with boss pinion is on my 2500CIT.  (sorry, no gear photo - I think @redmeansdistortion posted a photo of Simon's gearset)

In the case of C3-CT surf reels, I bought loaded brake plates from RocketReelCo, because it was the same price as buying the gears/BB-mainshaft-stack individually.  

Gear run-in is noticeable on Simon's brass gear set, as well as stainless pinions on C3, but they all smooth-out soon enough.  

 

Stainless is the only gear MOC that improves with (normal) use and never wears out - FCC stainless work-hardenes more than any other MOC, and gear teeth reach knife-blade hardness.  

Zzeta also makes a carboloy spool spindle for C3, which is on all my surf C3's - more wear impervium.  

 

1 hour ago, FloridaFishinFool said:

I just checked ebay and found one just like yours for $34 plus tax plus $12 in shipping. And it shows the same photo as yours. Are you selling yours?

 

No, that's just a very nice example I saw on ebay.  Most pictures of these reels are horror shows so I grabbed the nice picture.

1 hour ago, Bigbox99 said:

I would run braid and little to no spool tension throwing 1/4 oz baits in the 90s.  They were the 1st reels to open my mind to concepts like spool weight, high spool speed casting performance and that spool tension was a lie.

Mine was an Ambassadeur Black Max 1600.  Released in 1992, spool only weighs 10g which was a feather 33 years ago.  I picked up this new old stock Black Max 1600C a few months ago and did my thing to it.  It casts 1/8 easily on my Major Craft Days 65ML.  NMB spool bearings and lighter brake blocks with a little lateral play in the spool.

 

 

https://youtu.be/mrsfyHwbFXQ?si=HAAWFlkqSJpcU683

 

 

On 9/1/2025 at 7:53 PM, F14A-B said:

wish Edge rods could produce blanks at the rate and quality that GLoomis

From my experience and the rod building community comments, it very much seems the quality is absolutely there. The rate... not so much haha

 

But I'm sure the difference has a number of factors, including being a small company that does everything on US soil. I'm pretty sure the employees all get full health insurance coverage provided, pretty sweet benefit and respectable move

 

Fun seeing all this reel talk

 

I almost bought one of these a while back, Abu with a flipping switch

 

 

 

15 minutes ago, Banned User said:

I almost bought one of these a while back, Abu with a flipping switch

One of the best reels for walleye jigging.  That flipping switch makes it super easy to adjust for the correct depth.  With spinners, especially newer ones with no anti reverse override, you have to flip the bail, let line out, and reel it back to the depth you're fishing.  With a flipping switch, blip the thumb bar and you're good.

Not as unique as much of what is posted here but this is my Calcutta 200gtb.  It’s a sentimental reel I received as a gift a number of years ago.  I have newer, lighter, typical reels but this one is still tough to beat and I love fishing it.  Such a solid and versatile reels, they are amazing.   It’s mounted on a GLoomis MBR784C as a versatile set up for heavy bass and pike.  
 

recently it was due for a refresh so I completely disassembled, deep cleaned, lubricated added a new pawl, new carbon drag washers, boca bearings.  Works as good as ever.  
 

I’d would like to update the handle to a longer one with larger knobs and overall just freshen up the look of the reel a bit.  In the pic I tested the handle from my Curado 150 MGL HG on it thinking I’ll order a complete OEM handle if it works. I think I like the look of it mounted on there.   The Curado handle is more of a gunmetal and I’d like one more of a chrome to match the Calcutta accents better, so I’ll have to do some more looking on that.  
 

because the new handle is swept and the drag start of the Calcutta is not, the handle just and I mean just clears the drag star. I don’t think it contacts but it isn’t by much.   I think it should work ok. I think some of the XG modern reels have a longer handle, a bit more length might help it clear the drag star better. This reel could for sure use an even longer handle.  

 

couple questions for you reel experts here. 
 

First, yes or no on the handle does it look ok ?   I’m thinking  it makes it a bit more modern and functional than the old short straight brass handle while not totally ruining the classic look.  Also matches my modern reels which is nice. But Id welcome suggestions if it looks silly or wrong on there. 
 

second, in one pic I have put a plastic washer under the handle to act as a shim and give a bit more clearance from the drag start just to be sure it doesn't contact.  Does that seem logical or could that cause problems?   
 

any suggestions welcomed.  On my low profile standard reels I don’t worry so much about looks etc.  But this one I am enjoying tinkering with as a reel that means something a little extra to me.  

 

@Jaybert My only thought is swept handle works better with a swept drag star - see @redmeansdistortion's red SW103:  

 

On 9/1/2025 at 9:27 AM, redmeansdistortion said:

Custom Millionaire SW103.  Alphas Air handle, spool cap, and handle nut retainer, PX68 star wheel, Duralumin Alphas Ito gear set, drag clicker, Alphas pinion shaft, 1012 SV G1 spool.  It absolutely bombs from 3g on up.

I like the OS ZPI star I found for my '18 Ryoga - also on my '21 Zillion

 

A couple of nice straight handle choices, 

NS Craft available in 70- and 80-mm length, and swaps for Shimano-A/Daiwa-S knobs

Avail Power Handle 4TS, in 100- and 110-mm lengths, also swaps Shimano-A/Daiwa-S knobs.   When I built this 6.3-geared Zzeta custom 4500CT, I was shooting for Conquest look.  

3 hours ago, bulldog1935 said:

 

@Jaybert My only thought is swept handle works better with a swept drag star - see @redmeansdistortion's red SW103:  

 

I like the OS ZPI star I found for my '18 Ryoga

A couple of nice straight handle choices, 

NS Craft available in 80-mm length, and swaps for Shimano-A/Daiwa-S knobs

Avail Power Handle 4TS, in 100- and 110-mm lengths, also swaps Shimano-A/Daiwa-S knobs.   When I built this Zzeta custom 4500CT, I was shooting for Conquest look.  

Thank you much appreciated.  I will have to do some experimenting and research on drag star options for Calcutta B. Seems to be more custom parts like swept stars for conquest reels on first look.  I had thought a lot of shimano stuff was somewhat interchangeable.  But will need to check it out.  I think I’m on the right track here with this handle though

@Jaybert

ZPI made their mark with customized flipped reels, which incuded Ambassadeur Morrum, and '13 Metanium - they made a wide range of tuning spools + mag brakes, handles, and trim for Revo, Daiwa, and Shimano, including Conquest.  

At one time, they made this Conquest star drag, PSD-06.  

Unfortunately, Yahoo search turned up more examples of PDS-15 for my Daiwas, but no PSD-06.  

 

17 hours ago, Jaybert said:

 

 

 

 

Some beautiful reels being posted around here! ALL of them! And some nice looking drag stars too!

 

As for looks suggestions, I can't go there. That is in the eye of the beholder as to whether it looks great or not.

 

But as I looked at your images one thing jumped out at me. BNT799, now part number 107QJ friction washer.

 

The schematic seems to show it installed same as how you have it here, but this could cause a wear ring on the drag star 360 degrees all the way around. A wear ring would be the gold anodized coating worn off by friction of those tips wearing down and exposing the silver aluminum underneath. The friction washer is long enough that if a wear ring began to appear on the drag star it would spin out from under the handle and become fully visible at some point down the road.

 

If you turn that friction washer around the other way and put the outside tips towards the handle, that way any wear from it will stay hidden under the handle right around the drive shaft. Anyone with mint condition display reels might consider this to keep them looking perfect. And if you do turn it around the other way, an extremely thin small washer between friction washer and drag star might prevent any noticeable wear.

 

The plastic washer could be an issue if it allows the handle to work loose from compression of the plastic. Maybe consider a metal washer in that location if this is your only solution.

 

Otherwise, replace drag star as mentioned by others, and you can play around with shims under the drag star to create a little more distance between handle and drag star. The schematic shows 1 washer between drag star and #15 drag spring washers. Remove it and the drag star will now be closer to the reel than handle.

 

If you want a little more distance, leave the washer mentioned above in there and simply remove 1 #15 spring washer. You will not notice any noticeable effect doing this. There are plenty of reels made that use only one spring.

 

What you don't want is to make it so the drag star bottoms out touching the reel's side plate when drag is cranked down tight and you can't get enough drag. Then you know you've gone to far and have to change it back. Playing around in there can get you a little more distance without bottoming out.

 

If keeping it looking stock is important, an extreme possible alterative solution could be to locate and purchase another spare stock drag star and bend the arms of it back towards reel a little bit. The anodized coating could crack and expose silver metal underneath if bent too far, but these are cheap. About $13. Cheap enough to experiment on.

 

https://shop.fishingreelparts.com/star-drag-41721478.html

 

Put it in a vise and use a large crescent wrench or similar and tape off the arms to prevent scratching and slowly bend them all the way down deep closest to center as you can get, and bend just a little bit at a time out of the way but not enough to cause harm to anodized coating. If the spare part turns out well, you still have a stock drag star look, and a like new untouched spare in stock if you decide to change the handle out again down the road. This is just a last resort extreme alternative to aftermarket replacements.

16 hours ago, Jaybert said:

Not as unique as much of what is posted here but this is my Calcutta 200gtb.  It’s a sentimental reel I received as a gift a number of years ago.  I have newer, lighter, typical reels but this one is still tough to beat and I love fishing it.  Such a solid and versatile reels, they are amazing.   It’s mounted on a GLoomis MBR784C as a versatile set up for heavy bass and pike.  
 

recently it was due for a refresh so I completely disassembled, deep cleaned, lubricated added a new pawl, new carbon drag washers, boca bearings.  Works as good as ever.  
 

I’d would like to update the handle to a longer one with larger knobs and overall just freshen up the look of the reel a bit.  In the pic I tested the handle from my Curado 150 MGL HG on it thinking I’ll order a complete OEM handle if it works. I think I like the look of it mounted on there.   The Curado handle is more of a gunmetal and I’d like one more of a chrome to match the Calcutta accents better, so I’ll have to do some more looking on that.  
 

because the new handle is swept and the drag start of the Calcutta is not, the handle just and I mean just clears the drag star. I don’t think it contacts but it isn’t by much.   I think it should work ok. I think some of the XG modern reels have a longer handle, a bit more length might help it clear the drag star better. This reel could for sure use an even longer handle.  

 

couple questions for you reel experts here. 
 

First, yes or no on the handle does it look ok ?   I’m thinking  it makes it a bit more modern and functional than the old short straight brass handle while not totally ruining the classic look.  Also matches my modern reels which is nice. But Id welcome suggestions if it looks silly or wrong on there. 
 

second, in one pic I have put a plastic washer under the handle to act as a shim and give a bit more clearance from the drag start just to be sure it doesn't contact.  Does that seem logical or could that cause problems?   
 

any suggestions welcomed.  On my low profile standard reels I don’t worry so much about looks etc.  But this one I am enjoying tinkering with as a reel that means something a little extra to me.  

You could bend the star with a crecent wrench to match the handle bend.

4 hours ago, FloridaFishinFool said:

 

Some beautiful reels being posted around here! ALL of them! And some nice looking drag stars too!

 

As for looks suggestions, I can't go there. That is in the eye of the beholder as to whether it looks great or not.

 

But as I looked at your images one thing jumped out at me. BNT799, now part number 107QJ friction washer.

 

The schematic seems to show it installed same as how you have it here, but this could cause a wear ring on the drag star 360 degrees all the way around. A wear ring would be the gold anodized coating worn off by friction of those tips wearing down and exposing the silver aluminum underneath. The friction washer is long enough that if a wear ring began to appear on the drag star it would spin out from under the handle and become fully visible at some point down the road.

 

If you turn that friction washer around the other way and put the outside tips towards the handle, that way any wear from it will stay hidden under the handle right around the drive shaft. Anyone with mint condition display reels might consider this to keep them looking perfect. And you do turn it around the other way, an extremely thin small washer between friction washer and drag star might prevent any noticeable wear.

 

The plastic washer could be an issue if it allows the handle to work loose from compression of the plastic. Maybe consider a metal washer in that location if this is your only solution.

 

Otherwise, replace drag star as mentioned by others, and you can play around with shims under the drag star to create a little more distance between handle and drag star. The schematic shows 1 washer between drag star and #15 drag spring washers. Remove it and the drag star will now be closer to the reel than handle.

 

If you want a little more distance, leave the washer mentioned above in there and simply remove 1 #15 spring washer. You will not notice any noticeable effect doing this. There are plenty of reels made that use only one spring.

 

What you don't want is to make it so the drag star bottoms out touching the reel's side plate when drag is cranked down tight and you can't get enough drag. Then you know you've gone to far and have to change it back. Playing around in there can get you a little more distance without bottoming out.

 

If keeping it looking stock is important, an extreme possible alterative solution could be to locate and purchase another spare stock drag star and bend the arms of it back towards reel a little bit. The anodized coating could crack and expose silver metal underneath if bent too far, but these are cheap. About $13. Cheap enough to experiment on.

 

https://shop.fishingreelparts.com/star-drag-41721478.html

 

Put it in a vise and use a large crescent wrench or similar and tape off the arms to prevent scratching and slowly bend them all the way down deep closest to center as you can get, and bend just a little bit at a time out of the way but not enough to cause harm to anodized coating. If the spare part turns out well, you still have a stock drag star look, and a like new untouched spare in stock if you decide to change the handle out again down the road. This is just a last resort extreme alternative to aftermarket replacements.

Such great info!  I think I’ll play with those washers behind the star and flip the friction washer as a stray.  See if I can get the clearance with the stock star.  Like I say it’s not really touching now but a little more clears me would be ideal.   Enjoying learning and tinkering here for sure.  Thanks again 

9 hours ago, bulldog1935 said:

@Jaybert

ZPI made their mark with customized flipped reels, which incuded an Ambassadeur Morrum, and a '13 Metanium - they made a wide range of tuning spools + mag brakes, handles, and trim for Revo, Daiwa, and Shimano, including Conquest.  

At one time, they made this Conquest star drag, PSD-06.  

Unfortunately, Yahoo search turned up more examples of PDS-15 for my Daiwas, but no PSD-06.  

 

That star looks sharp, I’ll have to do some searching for my model.  Thanks again 

Today was going in new territory on a 1992 Zebco/Quantum hypercast HC3 spinning reel. A kind of bizarre reel I purchased at a pawn shop the other day for cheap. My son needs some saltwater tackle and this reel came on a Berkley CherryWood 7' MH rod all for $10.

 

This reel is one I have never seen before and never worked on one. No one ever brought one of these into the shop that I ever saw. Kind of glad they didn't too. This one had 3 or 4 times as many springs as other reels. There were at least 7 springs in the rotor because of its unique casting mechanism.

 

This reel was one of the dirtiest reels I have seen in a long time. That old brown petroleum grease had dried and hardened up to cement. The side plate was glued on. I spent 90% of my time scraping, brushing and trying to clean each part. Taking it apart and putting it back together again was the easy part. Mineral spirits almost did not work. I was almost considering using some gasoline to try and dissolve that old cement grease.

 

The body of the reel and rotor are plastic. And this presented the obvious age problem I'll show shortly.

 

But to shorten this comment I'll head straight for the rotor since it was the most difficult and had me checking the schematic several times to double check some things.

 

When I opened up one side of the rotor to remove the bail, I noticed a part just kind of floating around in there. I was looking at it wondering where did that come from? Did I miss something? I did not see it fall out of anywhere. The part seemed to fit kind of where I found it. I had wondered why the cover plate to this side was loose and not fit on well and now I know.

 

That part in there had obvious wear marks on it, but it did not match anything within the area of the rotor I found it. This first image shows exactly how and where I found it under a lever.

 

 

So I figured maybe it just slid out of place? It seems to fit this lever where I found it. But those wear marks on it do not fit this at all.

 

 

So I tried the other lever on it to see how it fit.

 

 

Not going to work like this. It pushes that lever too far up and cover will not fit on correctly. The top lever is supposed to be flush with the one it fits on. Shown here it is raised up. This can't be right.

 

 

So I tried it in the only other place it seemed to fit, but it does not go there either.

 

 

The wear on this loose part floating around in there does not match anything in there.

 

 

So I downloaded a schematic for it, and low and behold, the schematic does not even show this part. I accounted for every single part in this side of the rotor except this one. It does not belong in this reel. It was throwing me for a loop until I got a schematic and with the wear marks not matching and it not fitting anywhere and now the schematic not showing it. This part is coming out and leaving me wondering why it was even put in there in the first place.

 

Due to the cheap plastic rotor, a screw hole stem or whatever they call it had split down the middle.

 

 

Glue is not going to fix this and hold. Something else might.

 

 

So I pulled out a capacitor and cut off one of the leads and twisted it around this stem to help hold it together to hopefully prevent any further splitting. And I did not even have to glue it in place. It can't move down and it can't come off because the top of this screw stem touches the cover and is screwed down tight so it will stay in place no problem.

 

 

As is common with a lot of spinning reels, when reassembling the bail I always check to see how far off it is from aligning with the bail arm screw hole. Always bend these back aligned so there is no side pressure on the bail hinges.

 

 

I removed one part that did not belong and replaced the handle screw with a shimano that fit right in there. And now this 33 year old strange little reel is back up in smooth fully operating condition.

 

I plan on trying this one out myself before possibly let my son have it, but I am still thinking about what BigBox99 said about this reel today:

 

"I had a hypercast my dad would use.  He hated it.  You had to check the line at the bail on every cast.  Braid would wrap around the bail arm instead of falling into the line roller and then fail to release on the cast.  I think it would work fine with stiffer plastic lines but braid would catch."

 

Well I plan on putting that comment to the test. This reel came with some braid line I thought I would put right back on it, and try it out and test your comment.

 

She's back... And this one has a worm gear to oscillate the spool almost identical to a shimano stradic. The main drive gear showed almost no wear. And this reel comes with those white teflon drag washers that seem to last forever. 33 years old and they looked like brand new.

 

And on old spools always feel around the edge where line flows off and reeled onto the spool to see if there are any knicks or burrs. This one had to be sanded some to smooth it out. They can catch line and damage line.

 

Still smooth after 33 years!

 

 

I have a couple of those.  I always enjoyed them

On 9/5/2025 at 6:35 PM, FloridaFishinFool said:

Shimano created their own version of a reel like this one called the Castaic. But in my opinion, this one is easier to use and works better.

 

The Shimano Castaic was reviewed years ago and the author had this to say about the Castaic's instant reset ability:

 

"If you’re familiar with a standard casting reel, then you should easily identify the difference on this Castaic.  Instead of a single directional clutch bar, Shimano designed in a bi-directional one.  So rather than stopping the spool with your thumb after completing a cast, you can stop the spool from spinning simply by flipping the clutch bar back to the ‘lock’ position.  More accurately, there is a thumb switch that is located above the clutch bar in which you move your thumb forward to engage the spool to the drive gear.  Shimano calls this “INSTAGAGE”.  With the “instagage” switch, actually stopping the spool instantly is much easier than on a standard casting reel.  For me, I thought this feature would be sort of like training-wheels, getting me ready for a “real” casting reel.

 

It's still bizarre to me that Shimano would use the Castaic name for a flipping reel. Almost every other lake I have been to in my life has better flipping opportunities than Castaic.

Added a drag clicker to my Tatula CT, has a really nice zing to it. Already has a Salamandura SV tw150 spool in it and hybrid bearings, freakin love this thing.