Hello !
I got a question about repair on an old flyreel. The owner knows that its a cheap budgetreel, but its a memory given to him and he have in mind to put it on a splitcanerod and use it if its possible to fix it ? But I don't know the name of the reel so I can try to help him finding a sparepart reel. I don't even know whats missing yet, since I don't flyfish or do repairs on flyreels. But I want to try and help him.
Hardy clone. Made in Japan by Olympic and maybe later Daiwa. Sold under a bunch of different brand names. Parts are supposed to be mostly interchangeable, even some with the original Hardy. If you measure the spool diameter you can verify which model you have with a bit of web sleuthing. Heddon and Roddy have 310 model BTW.
It is a click and pawl reel. No true drag, just an adjustable clicker that sort of works as a light drag. You get more "drag" by tightening the knob on the frame to increase the spring load on the clickers. And no palming rim if you need a substantial amount of drag. The idea was that with a fine tippet, you don't really want any more drag than is necessary to prevent a spool backlash on a run. This was the basic design for most fly reels from the 1930s through somewhere around the 1960s.
Not much to go wrong, but you can wear out the clicker pawls. Wouldn't be surprised if the pawls were interchangeable across multiple sizes. But for most folk, the reel will last a more than a lifetime.
It looks like all the parts are present for this reel, but the pawl springs are set wrong. If you web search for "Hardy clone fly reel" you will see some photos with the proper setup.
-J
Here is one with the springs set up correctly.
Thank you very much for the great info jurelometer. Very appreciated 🙂
I guess that the clicking pawls are right mounted ? But I get a bit confused when looking on different pictures ?
As a saltwater guy, I don't mess much with freshwater gear, especially vintage stuff. Hopefully one of the freshwater guys can clue us in.
In the interim, I think that it works something like this:
1. To change between left hand and right hand, remove the dogs and flip them around. Looking at the frame, the slot should be pointing toward the spindle, on the right side for left hand retrieve, and left side for right hand retrieve.
2. I am speculating here, but I think that if you turn the dog to point to the side, you get the shorter end pointing toward the ratchet on the spool. This will either turn off one of the clickers, or make it engage with less force. If you play with it, you should figure it out pretty quickly.
Hopefully someone with more vintage fly reel experience with chime in. The only click and pawl reels that I have played with are single dog.
-J
Thanks again jurelometer. Your info really helped me out 🙂. Now I know how to help the man with his reel.