Reel Repair by Alan Tani

Imagine you had a natural disaster coming with the potential of losing everything except what you packed to carry. Now imagine you had room for exactly a dozen reels. What couldn't you live without?

I found myself in exactly this situation. Thankfully I didn't lose anything much less everything. That's another story. But I had to decide what I had to keep. And this is my list.

Keith's blue Cortez 501 jigmaster
Keith's red jigmaster
Everol 12/20 w/ one piece frame
Calcutta 250
Penn Baja
Accurate 270 magnum (first Gen)
Abu 6500 CT conversion built to the gills
Okuma KDS-463
Daiwa SS700
Daiwa SS1300 (my son's)
DAM Quick 1000
Shimano spheros 4000XGSW

What's your list? 12 reels only. Clocks ticking. C'mon it'll be fun.

1) Cortez Classic heavily modified 501
2) Penn Modified 6/0
3) Abu 60 size Revo Toro Beast
4) Ambassadeur 5000(1973 version)
5) Penn Mag tuned 10
6) Daiwa Sealine 30SH modified
7) Ultegra 14000, XTD
DAM Quick Microlite
9) Zebco Cardinal 7X
10) Zebco Cardinal 4
11) Okuma Cavala 5 II
12) Accurate Extreme Boss Dawg Pound 600

12-ain't enough!

If I was limited to only a dozen I would take my chances and have to stay with the whole lot! 

Abumatic 290(Dad's)
Penn 714
Penn 716
Penn 712
ABU/Cardinal 3
Zebco/Cardinal 4
DQ Microlite 265
Zebco 33 (1st reel)68'
Bantam 10xSG(1st Baitcaster)
Jigmaster 500(narrowed)
Mitchell 402 w/PUM(Keith's)
Mitchell 300(63')version 6

I have several of some models ,but only 12 allowed. I wanna see Fred's list, or will he join Tom at the hurricane party?

Team Daiwa TD2 Pi
Daiwa PMF1000
Daiwa PMF 1500
Dam 1001
Dam 1201
Dam 1401
Dam 2001
Dam 5001
Dam 220
Dam 220S
Daiwa SS1300
Daiwa SS1600

Daiwa AS 1350 (my Dad's--a keepsake)
Mitchell 320 (my first legit reel from the '70s)
All my Mitchell 300/301s (reg., "A"s & "C"s) (except that this alone uses up my 12 reel allotment)

If I left out the Mitchell 300/301s, or only took one of each, then I'd have room for a DAM Quick 110 & 220, Berkley 540 fly reel (Hardy clone), Shakespeare 2071 and maybe a couple others.

These would not necessarily be my most valuable (from a cash standpoint) reels, but the ones I enjoy the most or have a special connection with.

Frank

I don't know about a dozen, but if my flat was burning down the first reel I'd try to save would be my old Penn 50W, two-speeded by Cal.  Not the best reel I own, though good enough; but the only reel that has real sentimental value attached to it - it came from a (now deceased) very good friend, and was on one of the first boats I fished on regularly.

If I could dash in safely for another reel I guess it would be my Tiagra 50W, my best performing and most useful (for what I do) reel.  Beyond that there is nothing that I can't replace reasonably easily (if I wanted to) or that has value to me beyond its utility. I think I would probably attempt to save my favourite lures and paraphernalia for lure-making. 

It's funny, this thread has inspired some soul searching.

I've encountered a few good deals on reels in the past few days. But each time I ask myself which one on the leaderboard would be knocked off to be replaced by the potential new one. And so far in all cases I couldn't come up with an answer. Which, to me, means I must not need it.

Dangerous mentality around here.

1. Penn VISX 30 (two speed)
2. Komodo SS 463
3. Tranx 400
4. Tiburon framed Penn 4/0
5. Penn 505 (modified)
6. Penn 501 (modified)
7. Avet JX6.0:1 (single speed)
8. Avet SXJ6/4-MC (two speed)
9. Okuma Metaloid 1211 (two speed)
10. Avet MXK55.8:1 (single speed)
11. Penn Battle 6000
12. DAM Quick 270

And I'd leave a note with my Classic Senator collection telling them I'm sorry...

My reel bag will hold at least 20 reels so a dozen isn't enough unless I'm going to put a few handles of Crown in there too.

Well I did a little count checking and decided that it would have to be a dozen dozen since I have over 150 various ABU, Zebco, ABU Garcia Cardinals & American Classics. No way I could leave any of them behind.

I guess the Dams, Penns, Shakes, Pfluegers & Mitchells, etc. would just have to stay behind and be on their own.   

Quote from: MarkT on October 14, 2024, 06:19:49 PMMy reel bag will hold at least 20 reels so a dozen isn't enough unless I'm going to put a few handles of Crown in there too.

I'd say "I don't write the rules..." But in this case I definitely wrote the rules of this game. 12 reels or bust.

In my case I didn't have a week to pack for a long range trip, I was planning to hit the road, was delayed an hour, and made some hasty decisions about which ones were really important to me and/or difficult to replace.

Having actually been through this scenario exactly 4 years ago during our 19 day mandatory evacuation due to the 385K acre Creek Fire —- I bagged the 10 Penn Senator set of reels since they were mostly given to me by members of our site.

And in respecting and keeping with the rules set by the original poster —- I would add a Cardinal 54 & a DAM Quick 1001 —- for a total of (12).

We did not know if we would return to an ashy moonscape with puddles of molten aluminum (formerly quality reels) —- or lesser damage.

We got very clear about the qualities of "home" —- and as long as we had each other, our cats & dog —- everything else was only material.

We had no damage except for the food we lost in the outer freezer.

Best, Fred

Makes you think. Important papers can a serious pain to replace. Paper work and time waiting for replacements(especially from the Government) would make life more difficult for a-while.

in not particular order

* Abu Toro beast 60
* Penn Baja Special
* Van Staal VS275 (gift from a good fellow)
* Penn 113hxn t4n1 with lots of goodies
* makaira 15 my small 2-speed tank
* Shimano trinidad 30DC  traded unicorn
* Newell 533 with XN tib frame from Dwight the NewellNut
* ProGear 545 from to Bryan Young
* Penn 114HXN with lots of goodies from Gfish
* Zebco Cardinal 4
* Shimano Stradic 6000FJ from Keith the OCD reelhead
* Accurate Boss Xtreme BX400


this list will auto-destroy itself in 3 days, hopefully before my wife could see it