Old school baitcasters hold their own

[ssaamm]

I was out the other day enjoying some pretty good smallie action on the river when I realized something: my two favorite reels to use are an old Shimano Calcutta 250 (about 9 yrs old) and a very small Shimano Cardiff. I have Citicas and Curados, but the round reeels seem to cast the smoothest and the furthest. I decided I needed to move some of the plastic tabs on the brake w/ the spokes. These newer reels should be better I would think. Last winter I lubed 'em all up one day and breathed new life into the older round reels. Would moving the plastic tabs on the brakes on the newer reels possibly help? Kind of a strange question, but thanks. Sam

[BTL]

Pushing the brakes in will speed up the rotation of your spool. It makes for longer casts but also will be harder to avoid backlashes. On my reels I almost always have one brake pulled out and the rest of them pushed in. I find that having more than one brake in the "out" position significantly reduces my casting distance with most lures.

Those Shimanos do last a while. I have a Calcutta 251 that's over 15 years old, and I still use it regularly. I also have a mid-90s model Citica that performs as well as any of my newer reels. I'm sure some guys on here use even older ones. If you keep the bearings in good shape the reels seem to last indefinitely.

[RK]

Hiya -

Several of the reels I use all the time are old models. I still use my Chronarch 100As all the time, and I absolutely love my Scorpion 1000s. The 4x4 braking system (a combination of magnetic and VBS) is unbelievable for light lures - I can sling a 1/4 oz swim jig a mile. I even use some old Garcia round reels from time to time - a 5500C is a great spinnerbait reel.

One thing you can do to really improve reel performance on older reels (and new ones too for that matter) is do some upgrades and a little tuning. I replace the stock bearings with ABEC 5 or ABEC 7 bearings, and upgrade the drag washers to Carbontex. Stock bearings are ABEC 3s usually, even on high end reels, so upgrading the bearings can really make a difference.

If you really want to geek out, you can polish key parts like the cast control shims (little metal plates under the cast control knobs that the spool shaft rests on) and the friction ring the centrifugal brakes run against. Brakes actually perform a lot better when you polish off the little groves that develop over time. None of it is hard to do if you're the least bit mechanically inclined. Plus it gives you something to do in the offseason. A little tuning and thorough cleaning can really bring an old reel back to life. Performance-wise, I'd put an old Scorpion that's been tuned up against anything on the market right now... Just be careful - tuning reels can get to be an obsession all its own.

Cheers,

Rob Kimm