Presentation

[CarolinaCustomReels]

I have been invited to speak at an upcoming meeting of the Raleigh Saltwater Fishing Club. My topic will be reel maintenance, repair and customization since those are what my shop does.

The club is composed of lots of king mackerel fisherman (this is what fish was specifically mentioned by the person who contacted me) plus plenty of guys who surf cast for stripers and drum (bait fishing, not plugging).

I will have 30-60 minutes to present, of which I plan to use 10-15 for questions.

I've drawn up a tentative list of topics but I'd like you guys to weigh in with additions, subtractions or any suggestions. I plan on covering:

- Step-by-step tear-downs of Senators and TLDs (the primary king reels)
- Tools and tips for basic reel maintenance
- Protecting reels against salt intrusion (grease, bearing upkeep, etc)
- The benefits of greased carbon fiber drags
- Tuning conventional casting reels for distance (my speciality)

I'll have access to PowerPoint for pictures and limited text. I'm working up an Alan-stlye series of pictures of a Senator 4/0 and a TLD 20.

Any other topics you guys (or girls) think I should hit?

Evan

[Bryan Young]

Evan,

I'm not sure how much you are going to share or cover on the tear-downs, but tips when tearing down and putting back the reel together would be beneficial to all doing their own mainenance (i.e. getting dog springs back in during the build up of a senator).

I personally would be interested in your custom tuning topic if you don't mind sharing your techniques.  I have a lot of friends that still surf cast in Hawaii, and they are always looking for more distance esp. when casting 60 or 80 lb maxima.  Still trying to convice the guys to use greased carbon drags and setting drags with a scale instead of pulling at the reel with their hand.

Bryan

[slip tip]

You might mention getting a larger handle for the reels; the one size fits all does not work for me as I have large hands and the stock handles are almost always too small....  The larer handles besides being more comfortable also offer more "cranking power". I picked up a few of the Kolekar handles from Alan and they work great!.. Just a thought.

[alantani]

feel free to pull any photos from the site for your presentation!

[Marlinmate]

Don't forget the TLD20 is also a favorite among White Marlin chasers out of OBX. Not too far from Raleigh.

While in Isla Mujeres this year, 2 TLD's went south due to many sailfish runs. Mate had backup drags in the cabin and the next day, worked like new! So after cleaning the boat, rigging 100+ baits, he then changed some drags on some TLD's. Multi-talented.

I think reel tuning would be beneficial due to location again to OBX, The Point and Hatteras. Lost of 8 and bait chuckers out there that make the trip from Raleigh and its surrounding areas.

[akfish]

If you replace the Shimano canvas drags in the TLD 20 with a Carbontex drag, you'll likely never have to change the drag washer. Why Shimano continues to use canvas drags on their Charter Specials and single speed TLDs is beyond me.

[Norcal Pescador]

CarolinaCustom,

With all of the good replies, I can only think of two things to add: utilize quality forum/web sites like this one, and use quality materials, including lubricants!

Good luck.

[CarolinaCustomReels]

Thanks for all the tips! I had completely forgotten to add in use of online resources. That will definitely go into the talk. I installed a drilled aluminum T-Bar handle and lengthened handle arm on my personal Senator, so that will be in the slideshow. Actually, Alan's dog spring trick is featured prominently! If I can figure out online file hosting, I'll provide a link to my PowerPoint when I get it finished.

Keep the great suggestions coming, guys!

Evan

[conchydong]

Is anyone going to video the presentation? If so, you can post it for us all to see!

[CarolinaCustomReels]

That's not a bad idea at all. I'll have to look into getting a tape made.

[alantani]

stephen had set up a way to paste in video to this website.  i'll dig up the info and post it up. 

[wallacewt]

stephen had set up a way to paste in video to this website.  i'll dig up the info and post it up. 

this site is just getting better all the time.videos OH BOY

[Thubert57]

CCR,

How did the presentation go?  I was a member of that orginization when I lived in Cary, it is a great club.

Where are you located, I am now a member of the Norfolk Anglers Club and if you are not too far away that presentation would be good for us as well.

Thanks,
Tom

[CarolinaCustomReels]

The presentation is on June 16th. I'm getting my Powerpoint together and working on a post for this board showing some of what I do in the custom shop. There seems to be a fair amount of interest about some of that stuff.

I'm in Raleigh, about 3.5 hours south of Richmond. I may be interested in making the drive up there for a presentation, but it would need to wait until the fall. My summer schedule is pretty packed. Have someone from your club shoot me an email and we'll see about possible dates. CarolinaCustomReels@gmail.com

Evan

[CarolinaCustomReels]

Well the presentation was delayed until last night, but it went off without a hitch. About 40 people attended the meeting and I covered basic reel maintenance tools, goals and procedures; a little of what I do in the custom arena; online resources for reel repair (this site was #1 on the list); and then finished off with a step-by-step breakdown of an Ambassadeur 6500. I hope to have video available for upload soon and I will post it on here when I do.