I went digging through the old stuff last night and came across an Ambassador 4500 reel in pretty good shape.  I cleaned it, reel oiled it and loaded some 12 pound mono on it.  I put it on an old cheapy medium action baitcaster rod I had, also back in the "old stuff" storage.

My question is this.  Is this reel worth using today?  It seems to function well enough but my baitcasting skills are something like taking a third grade girl's.  Can I learn on this thing?  Can I use it for real fishing?

I have read some if not most of the "baitcaster How to's" but three out of four cast is a backlash and the lure lands 20 to 60 feet from my aim point.  It's really frustrating and has kept me on spincasters for the last few years.  How much of an advantage is baitcast outfits?  Especially as most of my fishing is smaller ones.  That being said, my dream is an 8+ pounder and my hope is a 6+er.

What do y'all think?

SammyLee

ps, GOOD GRIEF!  I just looked on ebay.  Some guy wants $450 for one in mint condition with box and oil.  Mine aint' that good but wow.

Just out of curiosity, what are the numbers on the bottom of the reel seat?

Not sure about the numbers right now.  It's at home and I'm not.  I'll look tonight.  It's the red one as I know there is a blue and a gold.  I noticed that there is a small rust through spot on the right red plate about the size of a large pin head.

I may want to send it or take it to a reel repair place and see what they can do.  At least clean and lubricate it better than I did last night.

Any idea about it's current usefullness in today's fising?  Is it a really hard one to cast?  Never had much luck with it in the past.

SammyLee

You got a nice reel there.  Have it cleaned and lubed by a reel tech and fish it.  I looked at the one you saw one E-bay, that's insane.  He'll never get that.  Just from your description, I would say if you wanted, you may get anywhere's from $75-$125 depending on who wanted it.

As far as getting accustomed to baitcasters, yes I think there are better suited reels to learn on, but people have been learning to fish on the Ambassadeur round reels for years.  Check out this link, it should help you get your reel set up a little better:

http://www.***/education/baitcaster-setup-101.html

Since this is a bushing reel,and does not have bearings,it would work better with heavier baits.I've found that using Hot Sauce reel oil,my bushing reels cast better.Also keep the bushings oiled,as dry bushings will affect casting distance.

I have a 4600C, first year I am using it have it on my frog rod to get em out of the weeds

The old ambassadeurs had their own internal, centrifugal, 2 pin braking system which was on all the time.  You adjusted it by changing the size of the brake pin sleeves.  Unless you still have those, the reel probably has the original size that came with it.  Adjusting that reel now comes down to the spool tension adjustment.

Plenty of us learned on those old Garcia's.  If you can learn to throw one of those todays reels will be a snap.  

BTW, mint vintage ambassadeurs do demand a high price among collectors.  $450 for a 4500 seems a bit steep though.