What is it that makes you interested in reel repair or hot-rodding?

[BMITCH]

All of the above mentioned..for sure. The act of beating a decent fish on a reel you modified/rebuilt...PRICELESS.

Bob

[Tile]

I got into reel repair and modding because I was not happy with my Arges 3 spinner's pinion gear and at that time good quality spinners were rare as hen's teeth. From the very beginning of my fishing career I was fascinated by multipliers and I didn't realize back then that I would be owning and modding several of them. Alan's forum served me very well in understanding the mechanics of different types of multipliers. The mods that I do on my reels are done to increase their durability.
Then is the satisfaction of doing it yourself and setting up your reel the way you want. My Fathom 25LW hasn't seen line yet and already has the security spring installed and a full metal levelwind guide taken from a busted out cheap generic multiplier.

[AlasKen]

I am new to this but got interested because I hate to let someone else do something I could do.  I was raised on the farm and I was in HS before I knew it was possible to hire someone to come to your house and fix something.  If it broke you fixed it.  This was for everything from a car to a relationship.  You didn't throw anything away because materials and money were scarce.

I fished with my grandfather, crappie on NM lakes.  I don't remember him ever buying a new rod or reel.  He didn't have expensive stuff but it was what he could afford and he took care of it.  My grandmother would sew rod sacks out of old sheets or blankets that would protect each rod and reel.  We cleaned them after each trip.  They always seemed to work.

I have done a lot of things, built and remodeled houses.  I do it all myself and don't remember the last time I hired someone to fix something.  I think the most challenging and rewarding was building my own boat.  It just stands to reason that I would want to have the pride of being able to say, Yea, I picked this up from a garage sale and rebuilt it so it works like new.  I just like to do it myself.  Now the problem I is have 3 projects in the works.  Trying to build a set of Penn Senators.  I have a 112H, 113H, and 114H with new frames and some stuff.  I am likely to have more money invested in them than I should, but it beats hanging out at the bars, unless I am telling fish stories at the bar then that is OK.    Ken

[swill88]

Agree with lots of the sentiments here.

For me it's a meditation.

Focus on what I'm doing with my hands and the noise between my ears goes away.

Thirty years as a carpenter it was hard to work until I put the bags on.

Have been giving away my hot rod reels to fishing buddies on our trips and that's a bonus.

Of course they buy me breakfast!

Getting ready to build rods.

steve

[SoCalAngler]

Well it started out as somewhat of a necessity for me. The large reel manufactures were not offering the type of reels or reels with the features I was looking for at the time. Mainly I was looking for smaller reels that offer the stopping and cranking power to handle bigger fish. Furthermore being in southern California and seeing that we have a huge live bait fishery reels with better freespool tend to keep a bait fresher longer and offer a better chance to get picked up by a fish. So we started piecing reels together, and when say we I mean people looking for something better than out of the box that what the top manufactures were offering at the time. We also did drag upgrades including drag plates, frames, cleaning spool bearings and such.

What really got me hooked (pun intended) was when I was on a trip I charter mastered and this was around the mid 1990's. We were in a great BFT bite. The fish were mainly the 65-75 lb grade fish with some larger models mixed in. The largest on this trip went 107 lbs. Anyway, I have just landed my third fish for the morning and go to get a cold drink and rest a bit. After that I go to get my rod and reel and I don't see it. I think to myself maybe I racked my rod on the wrong side of the boat? So I walk around the boat looking for my setup and I can't find it. WTF? So I think what the heck is going on when I see the captain at the stern fishing my setup. I'm not mad and after he lands a fish I ask how he likes my gear? He then says to me "oh do you want to fish it? I just wanted to catch a couple of fish." I say no go for it and he tells me he just wants one more fish and he will put it back. After he catches another fish he says "thanks Mark I put your rod back". Later I ask him again what he thought of the setup and he told me he could of chosen any of the boats rods or fished with any of the 100 or so setups others brought but he thought that was the right gear for the fish we were catching and he liked it a lot.

Was he just blowing smoke or was he trying to make a young man feel good? I don't know. In any case this was the first reel I did major mods to and if it was good enough for a man who makes his living fishing maybe it should be something I keep doing.

[gstours]

   Just cause i,m different.    Ha ha!   no kiddin!

[Rothmar2]

   Just cause i,m different.    Ha ha!   no kiddin!

And I like what you do Gary, as in being different that is. Big fan of your work here, how you are resourceful, and tweak things to get what you want, Respect.

Pretty much all been said by others with the "want it done properly, learn to do it yourself" angle. It ticks me off constantly seeing so called "serviced" reels come across my desk, that people have paid to have done previously.
The other stuff I do? It's a good time waster.

[gstours]

Oh yea,  I almost forgot to tell the truth.   My wife says I just like to F---k with Stuff.   I have to agree cause she,s usually right.

[bobka2]

Oh yea,  I almost forgot to tell the truth.   My wife says I just like to F---k with Stuff.   I have to agree cause she,s usually right.

This. The nearest shop I trust to work on reels is a two hour drive, or a ten dollar flat rate box each way. I figure that with the cost of postage, parts and labor. I can buy the parts, spend an hour, and come out considerably ahead, this is figuring in upgrading bearings and drag washers. My work schedule is such that I can fish pretty much whenever I want, if a reel goes TU during the course of a day, I can have it back on the water the next, besides I just like to F---k with Stuff