Everol Lever Drag Reels

[TangoDelta1981]

I have 3 Everol Lever drag reels left to me many years ago by my father's Godfather who was a Charter Fisherman out of Mombassa in Kenya in the 1960s through the early 1990's.

Not sure on the ages or the sizes - but can check.

Are these reels sought after at all these days?

They are pretty heavy but seem very well made.

[Reeltyme]

Are you looking to sell them or just get information on them? To get started, what color are the faceplates? They will be either black, gold, green, red or blue.

[TangoDelta1981]

Are you looking to sell them or just get information on them? To get started, what color are the faceplates? They will be either black, gold, green, red or blue.

Black faceplate. 2 are about the size of a Tiagra 50W and 1 is like a 130 size.

I would probably sell as they are simply too heavy for stand-up on a small boat.

[UKChris1]

I'm one of those who love Everol reels. They've been around since 1958 and yet you can still get parts for pretty much any of them from Everol in Italy. Not that you are likely to need replacements and they are well-built and built to last.

Everol.com (the US site) is worth a look as it has some pictures of older reels. Everolreels.com is the Italian (in English) site and shows pretty much the complete range.

There are also a few sites for others who are Everol fans and which have interesting information on these reels.

I've used the 6/0 'The Best' reel stand-up without any trouble, though the boat is about 28' so reasonably steady - about 50W in size.

Over the years the sideplates have changed colour to indicate various series, but black is certainly one of the older models I believe.

[TangoDelta1981]

I'm one of those who love Everol reels. They've been around since 1958 and yet you can still get parts for pretty much any of them from Everol in Italy. Not that you are likely to need replacements and they are well-built and built to last.

Everol.com (the US site) is worth a look as it has some pictures of older reels. Everolreels.com is the Italian (in English) site and shows pretty much the complete range.

There are also a few sites for others who are Everol fans and which have interesting information on these reels.

I've used the 6/0 'The Best' reel stand-up without any trouble, though the boat is about 28' so reasonably steady - about 50W in size.

Over the years the sideplates have changed colour to indicate various series, but black is certainly one of the older models I believe.

Is it sacrilege to admit that I have the 9/0 on my boat as a teaser reel - and it has worked flawlessly and without any maintenance since I inherited it 20 years ago!!

They certainly seem robust and strong!

[redsetta]

A black drag scale indicates 1960s production, moving to red from 1972.
Everols are fantastic - have worked on a number over the years.
Their build quality is sublime.
Did a 12/0 tutorial a few years back, if of interest - https://alantani.com/index.php/topic,5042.0.html
I'm sure you'll have no problem 're-homing' them if you so choose.
Cheers, Justin

[Robert Janssen]

Are you and the reels still in Mombasa?
Got any pics of the reels?

[TangoDelta1981]

Are you and the reels still in Mombasa?
Got any pics of the reels?

They are in Watamu now. I will try and get some pics

[JasonGotaProblem]

I'd love to see pics of just fishing in general where you are. I'm always fascinated by how people fish in other parts of the world. There's always something for me to learn.

[redsetta]

Watamu looks amazing - those reefs must be prime GT country.

[TangoDelta1981]

I'd love to see pics of just fishing in general where you are. I'm always fascinated by how people fish in other parts of the world. There's always something for me to learn.

I will try post a few pics when I put some of the reel. We have a pretty fun and interesting fishery - you can see from the charts that there is some good structure not far from shore. It is one of relatively few places in the world when one can catch a "Fantasy Slam" - it's been done in 24 hrs a few times. Sailfish, blue marlin, black marlin, striped marlin and broadbill. Historically the sailfish fishing was pretty well known - and I think had people known about pitch baiting and bait and switch there would have been some unbelievably high numbers caught. Same with the striped marlin back in the day.

Unfortunately, like in many places one is somewhat at the whim of what other people are doing to the ocean and the sailfish run isn't quite what it used to be - but techniques have improved too.

Traditionally live baiting on the Watamu banks was the go to technique for black marlin, and one could also catch some very big tiger sharks.

The sport fishery as slightly switched to trolling lures further off shore - mostly for blue marlin and striped marlin in the deeper water.

There is also now a pretty good daytime swordfishery that is nice and close to shore!

Growing pressure on the fishing has probably forced one to go further afield and be a bit more imaginative with new and different techniques.

The inshore fishing is getting quite crowded - part of this is the result of a growing "dingy" fleet - basically what others would call Pangas - the Yamaha skiff with a 15 hp outboard - now heavily focused on fishing the banks.

These guys do lots of  live bait fishing for wahoo and Spanish mackeral (kingfish), and will also catch black marlin, sailfish and yellowfin like this. This is all for keeps - and they fish day in day out in all weathers - so the banks isn't quite what it used to be.

These guys will also venture further off shore trolling halcos if the yellowfin are around and also bottom fish overnight on the undersea mountains where they will share a long anchor line between a few boats.

Then you still have the traditional "dhows" - the Arab style lateen rigged wooden sailing boats and the lateen rigged "ngalawas" - (outrigger log canoes mostly carved from mango trees). These guys often come up season from Pemba in Tanzania on the monsoon winds and will combine trolling handlines, and the bottom fishing and others lay a lot of fish traps.

When the tuna are around it's pretty impressive to see how quickly the can turn a ngalawa to troll back over the fish.

Finally, there are the real scourge of the oceans - the netters. You have the "jariffa" nets - big drifting gill nets and ring-netters - who are basically a boat load of guys who will put a net around school of fish and then swim it shut.

In theory this is meant to only happen 5 miles away from a reef (ie pelagic fish) - but in practice they have a huge negative impact on smaller reef/ baitfish.

Long story short - there is an awful lot of different fishing styles/ boats and techniques. Good in many ways - as ideas can be borrowed and transferred - but bad in other ways as I fear it has not yet fully dawned on everyone that the ocean is not a bottomless pit and we really could do with some sensible management measures.

All that being said - it's still a pretty rich ocean.

Watamu looks amazing - those reefs must be prime GT country.

We still have some good GT fishing - but again - it's not what it once was.

I can only imagine how amazing the fishing would have been hear if one had the boats, the tackle and the know how of today and the resource of 50 years ago!!