Reel Repair by Alan Tani

After the Ponderosa Tree die-off, dropping and removing 200 large trees, Covid adjustments, fire evacuation for 19 days, the heaviest Winter in 50 years, plus many other life challenges —- I finally have the hallway outside my upstairs reel shop cleared of the backlog of 65 boxes of reels nearly completed and cleared.  Only (6) boxes left.

Decided to also get rid of around 300 reels I pulled out of the inside shop —- along with 700, or so reels in the outside upstairs shop storage.

Penn, Mitchell, DAM Quick, Cardinals, baitcasters, fly reels, older antiques, about 200 vintage baitcasters, and a bunch of assorted reels like Shimano, Daiwa, and many others.  And many vintage conventionals and off brands.

Probably sell everything for around $7.50 per reel.

Either here, a yard sale, or the dump.

Thinning out the herd..

Best, Fred

Wow Fred - that's genuinely amazing!
I hope they all find new homes and none end up in the landfill!
I'd love to own one of your 'herd', just for posterity's sake, so if you happen to have an Abu 4600 or 5500 in there somewhere, I'd be happy to help you out   
Good luck with what looks like a big task!
All the best, Justin

Fred in the 16th photo from top of page are the 2 baitcasters on the green tray, bottom left one silver with wood knobs and the black one with line capacity ratings showing. They look like Shimanos, are they in working condition?

Would be interested in any Penn Squidders and spare spools, aluminum preferably.

Is the $7.50/reel price for a bulk purchase only?

Quote from: nelz on October 22, 2024, 12:48:34 AMIs the $7.50/reel price for a bulk purchase only?

Yeah, all in one lot.  Best, Fred

I hear you, Fred.  You and I ain't that far apart age-wise, and when you start to look ahead a few years, you begin to realize that matters of lesser priority have to be looked at clear-eyed, and some things just don't make the cut.  You have your business, you personal angling desires and certain reels you just want to keep (whether collector items or not), and that's just the fishing end of life's business. I'm sure you'd be willing to send out a few reels here, there and wherever, but with the quantity of stuff you have, you'd probably need a personal shipping manager to move what you have 1, 2 or 3 at a time.  It probably also goes against your philosophy to take everything to the junkyard, where all that history and such will be gone forever; a bit difficult, I suppose.

Frank

My two comments,Over-whelming 

That's probably going to take somebody that lives in the area/region. That many reels in one shot is quite a load.   

Surprised me to see how many decent quality spinning reels, Penns, etc., are in a couple of those crates. 

I know that would be quite an undertaking just to make a spreadsheet of all those reels.

Quote from: sabaman1 on October 22, 2024, 12:32:38 AMFred in the 16th photo from top of page are the 2 baitcasters on the green tray, bottom left one silver with wood knobs and the black one with line capacity ratings showing. They look like Shimanos, are they in working condition?

The Bantam 100 is brand new, and goes with a new matched-engraved 5.5' rod as a combo.  $125 for both.

The black Bantam 10XSG is also new and never mounted.  $75.

Both are made in Japan.

Best, Fred

Quote from: redsetta on October 21, 2024, 11:35:23 PMWow Fred - that's genuinely amazing!
I hope they all find new homes and none end up in the landfill!
I'd love to own one of your 'herd', just for posterity's sake, so if you happen to have an Abu 4600 or 5500 in there somewhere, I'd be happy to help you out   
Good luck with what looks like a big task!
All the best, Justin

Send me your full mailing information for New Zealand, please Justin.  Thanks, Fred

Ambassadeur 4600 sold, Mitchell 408 sold, DQ 1001 sold, Shimano Bantam 10XSG sold, Shimano Bantam 100 with matching rod sold, DQ 1401 sold.

Thank You All.

LOTS & LOTS more to go.

High quality at good pricing sells pretty quickly to knowledgeable anglers.

Best, Fred

I'm confused? 🤔 I thought it was a lot dispersal thing?  🫤

Quote from: Midway Tommy on October 23, 2024, 02:36:20 PMI'm confused? 🤔 I thought it was a lot dispersal thing?  🫤

It is, Tom —- at $7.50 each for a lot of 800 to 1000 reels —- and there are some reels in here that are worth $100 to $200, maybe more.  Many in the $50 to $125 range.  Many from $15 to $30.

Likely, none of our members would buy 900 reels —- so reels will be offered to those who request one or a few reels —- at fair prices.

As in the past, with large lots of this nature —- I have always offered them to our members first, before going out to the rest of the world.  That has always been my first loyalty.

The goals here are pretty simple —-

Reduce reel inventory by about half —- I will still have 800 to 1000 reels left.

Get quality reels into the hands of those who want them at low prices.

Continue to work towards primarily specializing in, and restoring, servicing, and repairing (4) brands of quality spinning reels from the 50's through the late 80's —- DAM Quick, Mitchell, Penn, and Cardinals.  I do have close to a half million parts for these brands.

Not to be the "AMAZON" storage facility for reels.

Make life easier.

And to not be the "guy" with the most reels in the cemetary.

After 45+ years of amassing these reels —- it is time to let others have some of these reels that have meant a lot to me.

Quite frankly, we all know that any reel is worth at least $10 - $15.  And Yes, we all want to get the bargain of a lifetime —- but generally, we all also recognize value and quality.

These will be gone —- folks will get high quality reels at fair prices —- and life will be a little easier.

As the backlog of reels mounted up to near 70 boxes of reels to work on —- and there was so much going on —- it was not fun being way behind on reels for folks.  So I went to a system that accountants and inventory professionals use —- LIFO (last in —- first out).  This may not have been fair to those waiting —- but it was the only way to get reels completed in a professional manner, while cutting down the backlog a little at a time to the point that there are only 4 boxes of reels left to complete now.  Sometimes I bite off more than I can chew —- and this is addressing that while continuing to specialize in a few brands of high quality spinning reels.  And new clients got their reels back within a week or two.

Time is one thing that is more precious than reels.

Most of you will understand this, some won't —- but for me, it is working.

Whether I am around for another 30 years, or 30 days, makes no difference.  When I am gone, or can no longer work on reels —- all inventory, parts, tools, etc. —- will be donated to our site at no charge.  That is set up in our wills and living trusts already.

In the meantime —- those who want a certain reel/reels —- just let me know!

Best, Fred