Author Topic: Old baitcasting reels (Read 1233 times)

Ranger99 · « **on:** April 23, 2021, 12:44:21 PM »

Some years ago, a relative lost their
dad and cleaned out his old house.
There was a whole lot of accumulated
stuff, and since he had no interest in
them, he gave me 2 Zebco 33 reels in
their old boxes. I never looked at them,
and I don't guess he did either. I had the
occasion to take the boxes down from
where I sat them years back when he
gave them to me, and I was surprised
to find 2 old baitcasting reels (1940s-1950s?)
that were in the Zebco boxes.
One says Bronson Fleetwing No. 2475,
and the other says South Bend Perfectoreno.
(I tried to post a picture, but I kept getting a
message of too many something-something, etc.)
I guess you never know what's in that box of chocolates

Dee · « **Reply #1 on:** April 23, 2021, 12:49:04 PM »

I occasionally hit pawn shops and pick up the older Swedish Ambassador reels.
They make excellent catfishing rigs.

Ranger99 · « **Reply #2 on:** April 23, 2021, 12:59:00 PM »

That's where 90% of my reels
came from. The scratched up
ones are a great bargain. Usually
spent about an hour disassembling
and douching and re-greasing
everything. I've got a few Shimanos
that were over $100.00 if bought NIB.
Most of the rods were junk, but
I have a couple that were very
expensive new that came from the
p. shop for next to nothing

Dee · « **Reply #3 on:** April 23, 2021, 01:16:52 PM »

They still make parts for the Ambassadors, and aren't that hard to overhaul if necessary.

Ranger99 · « **Reply #4 on:** April 23, 2021, 03:57:29 PM »

Quote from: Dee on April 23, 2021, 01:16:52 PM

They still make parts for the Ambassadors, and aren't that hard to overhaul if necessary.

Not much ever goes wrong with any
of the old Ambassadors, maybe the
the level wind pawl or the brake blocks.
The little end shims can usually be
flipped over ( or that's what I've done)
Most just need a major douche and
re- lube with proper oil

Dee · « **Reply #5 on:** April 23, 2021, 04:12:55 PM »

Quote from: Ranger99 on April 23, 2021, 03:57:29 PM

Quote from: Dee on April 23, 2021, 01:16:52 PM
They still make parts for the Ambassadors, and aren't that hard to overhaul if necessary.

Not much ever goes wrong with any
of the old Ambassadors, maybe the
the level wind pawl or the brake blocks.
The little end shims can usually be
flipped over ( or that's what I've done)
Most just need a major douche and
re- lube with proper oil

Yep!

Ranger99 · « **Reply #6 on:** April 23, 2021, 05:07:03 PM »

I have 6 of the Garcia, 3 of the old red old
school, 1 of the black with ball bearings,
and 2 of the green direct drive. You could
pull a gravel barge with one of those.
I have those on the old 7.5 foot heavy action
bass flipping rods. Used those for catfishing
then fishing with bait in s. Louisiana.
Big redfish were a good matchup for that
combo

I started all this mess trying to find my old
5 section ultra light spinning pack rod.
Found everything but so far
Didn't remember having a new ultra light
spinning rig I'd bought new on clearance
and put up in the garage rafters. Had to
have been there for at least 20 years.

DEACONLLB · « **Reply #7 on:** April 26, 2021, 11:58:17 AM »

One thing I found out many years ago that is you will put a drop of oil on the level wind and pall several times a day when plug casting they will last for years I found that Garcia lube was best. another thing I always do when through fishing for the day remove reel from rod and put in the case and rod in the cloth bag. I have rods and reel that I bought back in the late fifties that are almost like new. I spent almost 15 years working for a large sporting good store in San Pablo Calif. and part of my job when not catching the counter was repairing rods and reels as well as building custom Rods for customers. Real sad to see how some treat their fishing equipment

Deaconllb

Ranger99 · « **Reply #8 on:** April 26, 2021, 01:28:18 PM »

Most people don't take care of their
fishing tackle any better than they
take care of their other possessions.
I've seen I don't know how many
cars and guns and lawn equipment
and everything else I've seen that just
the tiniest bit of maintenance would
have saved lots of dollars.
Most all of the Garcia reels and Penn
reels I've bought used needed a level
wind pawl or a gear or both. The
Ambassadors sometimes needed
the brake blocks too.
They're all easy enough to maintain

Dee · « **Reply #9 on:** April 26, 2021, 01:35:26 PM »

I've got an ambassador that I guess needs a brake lock. I know just enough to take'em apart and clean'em.

Ranger99 · « **Reply #10 on:** April 26, 2021, 01:47:06 PM »

Easy enough
just unscrew the right side where
the crank is with the thumb screws
and pull off the whole thing.
The little blocks fit on the wires on
the spool. I always wipe all the excess
oil out of all that area with a clean
cloth with alcohol
put it back together

Lloyd Smale · « **Reply #11 on:** April 26, 2021, 11:43:41 PM »

33s were the reals we all wanted as kids but could only afford 202s.

DEACONLLB · « **Reply #12 on:** April 27, 2021, 04:40:14 AM »

Zebco Had a big plant here in Tulsa Oklahoma for years but the China stuff really hurt them. One of my bait casting reals that I really loved was the old black J A Cox It was very lite well made had a shaft that went all the way through the left side then the spool and screwed into the right side plate. easy to take apart and clean. To cast you just flipped the handle back a little and you were in free spool your Thumb was the break as well as the drag. Have not seen one in years they also made a maroon colored one that was the same as the black one but a narrow spool model.I looked on ebay and there was one like mine that got stolen for 59.95 plus shipping.

Deaconllb

Bob Riebe · « **Reply #13 on:** April 27, 2021, 07:39:48 AM »

I was on a old fishing reel forum ten years back or so and found out some old baitcasting reels are , if in good shape, worth a few bucks ; I almost forked out 40 bucks for a 1970s, new-old-stock Heddon Mk IV casting reel, but figured it would only be worth money if I never used it and I already had enough reels not used for years.

https://www.orcaonline.org ---- Old Reel Collectors Association

Ten years ago this site was less in love with its self and had on the forum a page where you could look up reels by brand name and see values but it is totally different now and old reel collecting has gone big time.
It does still have a page listing good fishing reel repair sites if you want them fixed to last, i.e. parts replaced.

DEACONLLB · « **Reply #14 on:** April 27, 2021, 09:57:49 AM »

Back when I started working at the sporting goods store in 1958 the popular closed face spinning reels was the Zebco 33 and the Johnson Century. open face was the Mitchel 300 and in 1960 a company in Germany came out with a Dam Quick in 3 sizes all had ball bearings in place of brass bushings. in the bait casting reels the only one to own was the Garcia 5000 there was the old Pflueger supreme but very few used them. In the star drag bay and ocean fishing there was the Ocean City and then Penn had the 9 ,109, 209 and then 1/0 2/0 4/0 5/0 and 9/0 the last bunch there in the o series was for deep sea fishing off the coast. I always used the number 9 for my bay fishing. Thinking about all these reals sure bring back memories Garcia had a narrow spool bait casting reel which I used I need to find the modal I think it was a 2600 not sure

Deaconllb

Ranger99 · « **Reply #15 on:** April 27, 2021, 03:48:35 PM »

I had one of the old green narrow
Ambassadors that I traded off for
something. I think it was a 4600.
It was all ball bearing if I remember
rightly. I didn't care for the button.
I prefer the button on the side. A
girlfriend bought me (woops- I almost
wrote wife) a Pinnacle combo that
was really nice, but it had the bar
instead of the button. Didn't matter
anyway, first trip to south Louisiana
it scattered internally with a nice redfish
stripping line

Sandhillbilly · « **Reply #16 on:** May 05, 2021, 03:33:16 PM »

I am a pflueger fan, the old guy that taught me how to fish used them and gave me an Akron to learn to use. Then one day I went into a hardware store here in my home town and saw an Akron model 95, which had a Freestone casting feature, it was awesome. So now I go on ebay and find Freestone models of the pflueger Supreme, the 1576, model 510 and 511. I clean them up and use them, I love em

Muskie Hunter · « **Reply #17 on:** May 05, 2021, 10:21:23 PM »

I can't even begin to tell you how many Northerns and small mouth I caught with a Zebco 33 on my trips up to Northern Ontario back in the day.

darkgael · « **Reply #18 on:** May 12, 2021, 10:07:26 AM »

I am happy that this thread caught my eye. I just bought a Bronson Fleetwing. Don’t have it yet; it is in the mail. I should have it by next Monday.
What is the line capacity? Will it stand modern mono or do I have to use Dacron?
Pete

Ranger99 · « **Reply #19 on:** May 13, 2021, 12:27:53 PM »

The one I have here still has some
old stiff braid of some kind on it.
Might even be cotton or linen instead
of dacron. I know nothing else about
it, and didn't even know I had it until
I'd opened the box expecting a
Zebco 33 to be inside.
Don't know for sure, but I would imagine
these would be better used as
trolling reels instead of for casting
repeatedly

darkgael · « **Reply #20 on:** May 19, 2021, 12:23:29 AM »

The Bronson that I bought showed up. Whoever had it before me either did not use it much or at all....or took very good care of it. It is in great shape.
It is smaller than I expected. Here it ia next to a small Avet:

Ranger99 · « **Reply #21 on:** May 19, 2021, 03:31:48 PM »

Was probably put on a shelf
and forgotten about like what
these were, except these started
out on this end well used.
Still functional though.

I don't think I'd want to use one
casting a lure for hours on end
I'd think it'd be more suited as a
trolling or boat reel

The one pictured is in pretty
good shape. What I ended up
with has obvious use