Inspired by Sal

Maxed Out · March 29, 2024, 05:09:51 PM

A while back I built an all black jigmaster, but it seemed like it was missing personality, so I went thru my stash of parts and made some changes. Held it in my hand and said to myself out loud, "Sal would be smiling" !!

Also a special shout out to Tom at CortezConversions for his amazing talent and the custom parts he creates

ExcessiveAngler · March 29, 2024, 05:28:53 PM

Absolutely beautiful as usual Ted. I'm normally a blue guy lol! But really liking that color combo.

broadway · March 29, 2024, 06:00:38 PM

The Black Widow! Sweet reel and couldn't agree more... Sal would love it! He was a huge fan of upgrades, custom parts, and all around cool stuff. She sure fits the bill, Ted.
Thanks for sharing and for remembering our pal, Sal.
Best,
Dom
PS- Sal thought Ted and I would make good friends many years ago, so he put us together and we still communicate on the regular. Miss that guy... Thanks Sal.

Maxed Out · March 29, 2024, 07:11:54 PM

To those of you that didn't get to know Sal, or meet him here, there is a video of Sal partaking as a moderator in a contest we had back in 2020. You'll find it as a pinned thread in this same section(Max out with maxed out). Title of thread is "ohana contest" and you'll find Sal's video towards the bottom of page 4

alantani · March 29, 2024, 08:21:38 PM

indeed, he would be......

oldmanjoe · March 29, 2024, 11:35:50 PM

https://alantani.com/index.php/topic,31026.45.html
Link For the new guy`s

I liked the thinking out of the box approach that Sal had . Think inside the box , you soon ran into a corner .

ExcessiveAngler · March 30, 2024, 12:54:20 AM

Quote from: oldmanjoe on March 29, 2024, 11:35:50 PMhttps://alantani.com/index.php/topic,31026.45.html
Link For the new guy`s

I liked the thinking out of the box approach that Sal had . Think inside the box , you soon ran into a corner .
Hey, thanks for doing that Joe!
I really enjoyed that video and seeing Sal. Definitely looked like a happy humble fella.
I could only see half the darn screen for some reason? But it was enough to see what was going on and see him gawking at the box.
Oh, I counted way wrong! I was just busting up, as he was countin them one at a time!
Oh, Maybe we better dump the whole box lol! I

MarkT · March 30, 2024, 01:35:06 AM

I think you're right. A cheesesteak would go good with it!

Brewcrafter · March 30, 2024, 05:05:04 AM

Ted - I know you well enough to know that reel is not boasting stock internals...it's absolutely beautiful on the outside, but what jewelry is hidden? - john

Maxed Out · March 30, 2024, 05:22:37 AM

Hi John, nothing special, but it does have ht-100 drag stack with Delrin washer under gear and on top of last metal, with another metal on top of the Delrin for super smooth drag thru whole drag range, steel sleeve, steel gears, steel bridge, steel yoke, jack, and even steel eccentric. The steel eccentric comes from early surfmasters. Looking good is not as important as good function, but form and function is always my goal

MarkT · March 30, 2024, 05:38:54 AM

Ted, I'd call that special! A long way from stock guts/internals.

thorhammer · April 01, 2024, 02:07:00 AM

RIP, Sal, my friend and mentor, and a most selfless individual. On of the greatest days of my fishing life didn't even see water- we were gonna tour Penn, and Sal picked me up at Philly airport. Met Tony, Sid, Dan and his pop, and Broadway gave me a lift all the way back to Manhattan, which is a good two hours. For me at least, you'd thought we'd known each other years instead of hours on that car ride. Dan has slipped away into his family life and home remodel, and Sid is, I believe still around ORCA. Extremely knowledegable guy, to the point, and had a couple dealings with him where he no doubt helped me more than I helped him. Sidetrack to Ted's excellent build, but I have the privelege of corresponding with the gent about daily on all sorts of matters, and on occasion get a sneak preview from the mad scientist himself.

dislaminer: dont have specs on and not going back out in pollen to get them, so my text is what it is; I can't see shitake mushrooms.

Flowers also to Tom on this one.

Bryan Young · April 01, 2024, 11:15:40 PM

Love that black and red combo. I'm sure it's as tough as it looks. I noticed that you mentioned that you have a HT-100 drag stack. I transferred my drag kit business to Ken Reaber but I do have parts to contribute to convert that beasty 3-stack to a 5-stack with thinner stainless steel washers and thinner Carbontex. May I send you the parts for your build Ted?

By the way, are you using that reel for your upcoming albacore fishing trip?

broadway · April 02, 2024, 12:14:00 AM

John,
The day we met I felt like we were pals for a long time... Same with Sal. You guys are top notch, and Sal was, well, pretty damn special as you described. Glad we had those D'Alessandro Cheesesteaks after a hard day of talking and enjoying each others time.
You're a good man, John.
You take care of those Shiitake eyes of yours, pal... tis' the sneezin'
Best,
Dom

Maxed Out · April 02, 2024, 12:45:35 AM

Quote from: Bryan Young on April 01, 2024, 11:15:40 PMLove that black and red combo. I'm sure it's as tough as it looks. I noticed that you mentioned that you have a HT-100 drag stack. I transferred my drag kit business to Ken Reaber but I do have parts to contribute to convert that beasty 3-stack to a 5-stack with thinner stainless steel washers and thinner Carbontex. May I send you the parts for your build Ted?

By the way, are you using that reel for your upcoming albacore fishing trip?

Quote from: Bryan Young on April 01, 2024, 11:15:40 PMLove that black and red combo. I'm sure it's as tough as it looks. I noticed that you mentioned that you have a HT-100 drag stack. I transferred my drag kit business to Ken Reaber but I do have parts to contribute to convert that beasty 3-stack to a 5-stack with thinner stainless steel washers and thinner Carbontex. May I send you the parts for your build Ted?

By the way, are you using that reel for your upcoming albacore fishing trip?
[/quot
Quote from: Bryan Young on April 01, 2024, 11:15:40 PMLove that black and red combo. I'm sure it's as tough as it looks. I noticed that you mentioned that you have a HT-100 drag stack. I transferred my drag kit business to Ken Reaber but I do have parts to contribute to convert that beasty 3-stack to a 5-stack with thinner stainless steel washers and thinner Carbontex. May I send you the parts for your build Ted?

By the way, are you using that reel for your upcoming albacore fishing trip?

Hi Bryan, I truly appreciate your kind offer, but I am no longer building custom reels because my right hand fingers can't do the dance anymore. It's very frustrating when I attempt to service my reels. What used to take 20 minutes, now takes 90 minutes. I have 4 full Cortez 99 reels that I built exclusively for albacore, and the 3 stack ht-100's are perfect for our albacore that rarely exceed 25#.

The black/red jigmaster was one I built 3-4 years ago, and I recently did just cosmetic upgrades that my hand can do fairly easy. I recently put new drag stack in a pg454 and it took me 5 tries to get it back together, and my blood pressure was likely thru the roof. Oh, and so far I'm not signed up for any albacore charter for this coming summer. One way or another I hope to fix that and chase Westport alby's in August or Sept. Might even take my boat out to chase them, depending how close the biomass is. My fuel capacity might allow me to go out 50 miles, but some years they only come into 70 miles out. Some years 35. Keeping fingers crossed it's the latter.