While not as fun as @A-Jay's new truck day, or even new boat day...

 

New rod-n-reel day is pretty cool!

 

Fenwick HMG-W72ML-FS -- 7'-2", medium light, 4-10lb, 1/8-5/8 oz.

Shimano Miravel 2500HG

 

 

Wanted something longer as most all of my spinning rods are 6'-6" (they fit well in my boat's rod locker).

 

This makes my third medium-light rod in the spinning rod stable...to go with three medium rods and one medium-heavy.

 

 

My 4500CS came in along with some parts.  Now I'm just waiting on my frame and gears then I can get this show on the road.  

 

I'm going to be using this for pier fishing the area near me.  There are plenty on Lake Erie, Lake St Clair, the Detroit River, and St Clair River plus all the way up into the thumb, all within a reasonable driving distance.  They're all good fisheries with a mix of smallmouth, pike, musky, burbot, lake trout, steelhead, Atlantic salmon, and walleye.  In the slack sections along the rivers is where you find some really nice smallies.  

Cool Ambassadeur! What kind of frame are you getting for it?

32 minutes ago, AlgonquinFan said:

Cool Ambassadeur! What kind of frame are you getting for it?

It's an aluminum 4500CB frame.  The one that is on it now is brass, so I should be losing considerable weight.  https://www.dadsoletackle.com/811527-frame-black-aluminum-abu-garcia-4500c.html

Tuned Scorpion Mg 1000/OG 843 GLX

I fish mostly Daiwa but love me some old school shimano/loomis pairings, brings back memories.

 

 

12 minutes ago, 4g63power said:

Tuned Scorpion Mg 1000/OG 843 GLX

I fish mostly Daiwa but love me some old school shimano/loomis pairings, brings back memories.

 

 

 

 

I love a good period correct pairing like that.  Especially when the rod and reel are immaculate and the reel is tuned up a bit with period parts.  The closest I have this this thing.  An old Megabass Destroyer with a lefty flipping frame TD-X.  A keen eye will notice the Tatula spool tension cap but it looks like a period acorn style clicking knob and that's good enough for me.

Got another SLP Zillion 7.1.  Didn't have any reels with orange accents, so that is what I went with.  85mm Handle.  Rod is a 13 Fishing Envy 3 7'4" MH/Mod fast.

 

Backlash Tackle sent the reel in a little SLP cardboard box and they included an SLP shopping bag like I would get if I walked into the shop and bought it.  Pretty cool.

 

 

@KP Duty - congrats, friend - my favorite Zillion - it arrives missing all the right parts.  

orange is cool - I wish they made spools and trim in green.  

 

here's the color, on Ale toe clips

On 7/7/2025 at 4:13 PM, bulldog1935 said:

@KP Duty - congrats, friend - my favorite Zillion - it arrives missing all the right parts.  

orange is cool - I wish they made spools and trim in green.  

 

here's the color, on Ale toe clips

I have a couple of Tat 80's with lime green drag stars.  I actually just put those on...bought them like 6 years ago and wasn't a fan of the color at all.  

 

I have been curious about Abu's new offering of their top tier low-profile casters, and finally got a JDM version of Zenon MG7 with a good price.

 

This thing is super lightweight for sure, but the magnesium frame feels pretty sturdy. It doesn't have that usual hollow sense, and it's quite smooth out of the box.

 

It's a general purpose reels with a 100 size spool, but the spool weigh only 9 gram with the bearing. Impressive, and a bit confusing to be honest. 

 

Haven't got inside of it yet, but I can see the pinion gear is finally dual supported with a bushing and a bearing, similar to Lew's so called P2 design. 

 

For $200 or below, I think this is a very solid reel, but for $300~350, it's a little overpriced.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2 hours ago, newapti5 said:

I have been curious about Abu's new offering of their top tier low-profile casters, and finally got a JDM version of Zenon MG7 with a good price.

 

This thing is super lightweight for sure, but the magnesium frame feels pretty sturdy. It doesn't have that usual hollow sense, and it's quite smooth out of the box.

 

It's a general purpose reels with a 100 size spool, but the spool weigh only 9 gram with the bearing. Impressive, and a bit confusing to be honest. 

 

Haven't got inside of it yet, but I can see the pinion gear is finally dual supported with a bushing and a bearing, similar to Lew's so called P2 design. 

 

For $200 or below, I think this is a very solid reel, but for $300~350, it's a little overpriced.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I've almost bought an Abu from Digitaka several times, but they were always out of the model/gear ratio I wanted.  Maybe this fall...

Finally got a rod with the right color scheme and pedigree to go with this reel. Time to spool it up and take it out this weekend, I think.

 

On 6/29/2025 at 9:08 AM, redmeansdistortion said:

This thing is super tiny, 2500C for scale.  I dialed it in with a Rapala CD1, virtually zero fluff.  It's first mission will be in the mountain streams of Colorado next week on a Graywolf 4'10" 2-6lb.  Small enough to stash in my carry-on luggage.

Gorgeous!

On 7/4/2025 at 3:13 PM, redmeansdistortion said:

My 4500CS came in along with some parts.  Now I'm just waiting on my frame and gears then I can get this show on the road.  

 

I'm going to be using this for pier fishing the area near me.  There are plenty on Lake Erie, Lake St Clair, the Detroit River, and St Clair River plus all the way up into the thumb, all within a reasonable driving distance.  They're all good fisheries with a mix of smallmouth, pike, musky, burbot, lake trout, steelhead, Atlantic salmon, and walleye.  In the slack sections along the rivers is where you find some really nice smallies.  

This is going to be great!  I can attest to his work as an owner of one of his tuned 2500CIAR reels.

I cannibalized the wood-grasp Haneda Craft titanium handle from my red Smith Plugger for my Ambassadeur 5000D project.  It's ok, I replaced the Plugger handle with red alloy from Bright River.

also matched the red thumb rest on Plugger.
5000D Avail 5-mm spool with YGK pentagram let me finish the braid charge in green. 

The rod grip is hen's teeth Headhunters 10th Anniversary King Fisher grip made by Bright River.  (good Yahoo search using ideograms and unopposed snipe)

5000D combo with Glaflex 3-power S-glass blade is a joy to cast and crank in my 1/4- to 1/2-oz river kayak niche.  I set the Avail mag brake casting 1/8-oz loaded jighead, and added the small centrifugal shoes from 2500 for the heavy end.  

Abu already made 5000D light-in-hand, and it's both lighter and slicker with full-Avail-alloy+BB level wind, including alloy pawl with oil reservoir.  Also has the GoldWorks skeleton spool bushings, and they cut the bushing friction in half.  NOS Abu parts in my reel include new brass main gear and pinion, new A/R dog. (frame No. is '73 first run)

 

I used carbontex drag washers on both sides of the ratchet plate + the lower, worn bronze washer (flipped the worn side down against mainshaft flange).  Couldn't ask for smoother drag, and it maxed-out at 2-1/2 lbs, which is right for the 5000D.  I also put the 3915 bronze washer against my new brass main gear, and moved the concave spring washer between the two stainless flat washers.  (the old steel main gear was brinnelled by hard contact with the concave spring washer)

And I'm already paying for this by adding mag brake to OP's Langleys - one of my Target mods is entered in ACA casting competition this week...

The Great Lakes pier finesse monster.  I'm going to spool her up with some #1.0 Seaguar GrandMax, going to be fun for smallies, coho, and steelies.  I made it an aesthetic match to my 2500CIAR as well.  My RCN 5600 6.8:1 gears aren't going to be here awhile and the bug bit me to build, so I'll just throw them in whenever they get here.

My Loomis IMX Pro SJR 901S gets an upgraded spinning reel to a Stradic 1000 FM! Super sweet reel!

Bought these at the height of the pandemic in '21and never did post them. The OG '17 Tat SV is like the Curado B to me...a classic, so I wanted the Megabass version- the Rhodium.  When the Yen dropped, they were what I went for first.  Megabass went all out on these and changed the frame, paint, thumb bar, cast control cap, drag star, and spool.  I put ZPI PG spools in these, and used the stock spools in another build.  I have more and will post tomorrow.

 

 

 

 

These are the 6.3 gear Rhodiums...the first were 8.1's.  

 

 

 

 

1 hour ago, Hulkster said:

What line and baits are you tossing on that and your 901?

All my reels get a cover.

For round reels, it can be a logo or inexpensive neoprene beer-can-type.

I really like Tailwalk wrap-around, comes in both M and S, and most every reel project gets one.   

For my 5000D project, decided to spring for a spendier cover made by Tsunami Lures.  Unfortunately, it doesn't fit small frames, but it's perfect for all medium-frame round reels.  

The shell is nylon, with cut-outs for both Ambassadeur and Isuzu clutch button, and the front doesn't interfere with line from the spool.   The sides and flaps are leather, handle cut-outs, and closes with a classy brass clogball.

Also couldn't come up with a way to attach my favorite G-nius hook keeper to the reel frame, so I bought KDW saddle bracket for G-nius, which is made to attach to a spinning reel stem or rod-blank butt (comes w/ 2 screw sets for either job).

'17 Tat SV's with MB Rhodium spools (3g's lighter than stock), Rhodium CC cap, MB knobs, and SLP star drag (blue).

 

Burned the midnight oil and redid this new old stock Ambassadeur Black Max 1600C last night, even shot a video from start to finish.  This baby is smooth!  I'm still waiting on the spool.  It should've been here a month ago but as of right now USPS has a stop on packages from Vietnam to the USA.  My spool has been sitting at the Detroit post office since June 24th, no idea when it will show up.

 

A little rundown; NMB spool bearings, ultralight blue brake blocks, carbon drag, Haneda Craft 70mm handle, Avail star wheel, Avail tension knob, and a Pro Max titanium nitride line guide to round it out.  I'm going to fish it on a Major Craft Days 6'5" 3/16-1/2, should be right at home.

 

Doing some cleaning and organizing in the garage today. First time the rods have all been in one place for a while.

One I finished a couple months ago. Revo5 SX Boca Abec 7 bearings AMO clutch bar and Gomexus drag star and handle.