Reel Repair by Alan Tani

I have a thing for Langley reels, specifically the 330 Lurecast and Target 340.  It was a dream of mine to combine the two so I could have a level wind plus the free spooling capabilities of the Target.  With the Target, the handle can be pulled outwards, disengaging it from the spool and level wind.  My problem, finding a cheap Target to harvest the parts I needed.  I put that in the back of my mind until I could stumble upon a Target for a price I was willing to pay.

Let's rewind back to early summer.  I'm browsing Facebook Marketplace and see a nice looking Langley 330, asking price of $80.  I looked at the photos, thought it was nice, but no way would I pay that much.  As the months went by, it kept showing up in my feed and nope, not a taker.  Fast forward to last Thursday, and I see it again, with the price lowered to $35.  I bring up the ad and read through it, this happened to be a special reel.  Mind you, I didn't read the ad previously but this time I did.  This is one of six Langley 330s built by a gentleman named John Ceroszynski for the Chicago Casting Club some time ago.  It has exactly what I was wanting to do, a Target drive gear and disengaging driveshaft, along with a cork arbor on the spool.  This reel was built to cast in the 1/8, 1/4, and 3/8 tournament matches.  I messaged the seller without hesitation and he told me that he and John work together at a Bass Pro in Indiana and that John is now 83 years old. When I got it, it didn't spin the greatest, but after I got down to it, this thing is a speedy little rocket.  I'm going to spool it with some 10lb Mason braided nylon and take it to the trout streams.  It's once wicked little knuckle buster.  If it proves to be too speedy for me, I'm going to mill the palm side plates to accept a small array of neodymium magnets to keep it manageable.  Such a sweet little reel.

Here's the before video.

And after.

Reel was cleaned in mineral spirits, all bushings polished with Simichrome, residue cleaned up, and lubed with TSI 301.  I'm very happy with how this one came out.

That is slick!I am not familiar with those,but looks like it has ball bearings

Quote from: jgp12000 on December 23, 2025, 05:47:51 PMThat is slick!I am not familiar with those,but looks like it has ball bearings

Not a single bearing, this one is all bushings.

Very nice Rob.  If you need to add magnets it may be easier to put them on the head plate side.  There is room for three tall stacks of 1/4 inch diameter wafers opposite the bridge.  On the tail plate side, the height of the stack is very limited.  You can get five or six short stacks in there without interfering with the clicker but it is still barely enough magnetism.

Quote from: oc1 on December 23, 2025, 05:57:52 PMVery nice Rob.  If you need to add magnets it may be easier to put them on the head plate side.  There is room for three tall stacks of 1/4 inch diameter wafers opposite the bridge.  On the tail plate side, the height of the stack is very limited.  You can get five or six short stacks in there without interfering with the clicker but it is still barely enough magnetism.

Thanks!  What my plan is, mill 4 1mm deep by 4mm holes and epoxy some steel M2 washers into the head plate, then I can experiment with different thicknesses and amounts of magnets.  I saw a guy do this on another forum to both a Target 340 and Lurecast 330.  He is able to cast from 2g on up with no end tension. 

Sweet!

A lot of tournament guys still use Langleys.  I have tuned up a couple. Luckily for me (and them ) their reel performance requirements are pretty minimal.

Interestingly, the reason that they like those Langleys is because they are light and simple.  The most popular casting stroke for accuracy competition is a pretty vigorous wrist snap with a straight line (vs. arcing) flight path.  They usually crank down a bit on the spool tension knob to control backlash.  The smallest plug class is 1/4 ounce, and I don't  think that they go past 80' for a target, so longer distances or very light payloads is not important for accuracy competition.

Therefore, less weight at the reel is helpful, but high level freespool performance and modern anti-backlash features: not as much for tournament casting. I would bet that this is also true for real life bass-style fishing with the same lure weights if you learn to cast tournament style. You can get some crazy-accurate casts through a tight window. 

As mostly a saltwater two handed caster with conventional gear, I struggle with the tournament technique, but I am successful at providing some comic relief for these guys when they are practicing at the local casting pond.

-J

Quote from: tincanary on December 23, 2025, 06:28:32 PMmill 4 1mm deep by 4mm holes and epoxy some steel M2 washers into the head plate,

In my hands, the epoxy is the first thing to screw up.  I use very light oil though and suspect it eventually creeps under the glue and gives way.  Holding the magnets in place while the epoxy dries is a pain too unless you do them one at a time.  They want to jump and squirm around.  Modified wooden clothes pins do the trick..

I started using the magnetic rings with a countersunk hole (K&J Magnetics) and then attaching them to the side plate with a very small nut and bolt.  The screw head needs to be tapered so it sits flush with the top of the magnet.  Some might object to having the small nuts on the outside of the side plate; not me .  On top of the 1/8" thick coutersunk magnet, stack 1/16" discs until the stack height is just right. 

Bob, your nice little score certainly ended up in the right hands.

The tournament casters that I know don't like to use the centrifugal or mag brakes when they are using a more modern reel for accuracy competition. They turn the brake all the way off and use the spool tension knob.  I think this is because it allows them to more accurately predict the amount of braking that they will get on casts at different distances. The amount of centrifugal or magnetic braking occurring is going to vary based on RPM, so it is trickier to know exactly how much braking that you are going to get, which effects accuracy.

For tincanary's case, it looks like the reel is being customized to be more of a BFS style reel, so I could see how it might make sense to mag it, but it is interesting to note that some modern features that make casting easier have some disadvantages as well.

I wonder how light of a payload the old timers could cast with a Langley and a well educated thumb.

-J

Ron McAlpin played around with magnets on a few Langleys over @ ORCA,  here https://reeltalk.orcaonline.org/viewtopic.php?t=26395 and here https://reeltalk.orcaonline.org/viewtopic.php?t=26369

Quote from: jurelometer on December 24, 2025, 07:15:26 PMI wonder how light of a payload the old timers could cast with a Langley and a well educated thumb.

It's a distance game for me, but the Target will easily cast a Euro-nymphing "fly" in close quarters. 

Quote from: Midway Tommy on December 25, 2025, 12:15:49 AMRon McAlpin played around with magnets on a few Langleys over @ ORCA,  here https://reeltalk.orcaonline.org/viewtopic.php?t=26395 and here https://reeltalk.orcaonline.org/viewtopic.php?t=26369

Quote from: oc1 on December 25, 2025, 05:34:46 AM

Quote from: jurelometer on December 24, 2025, 07:15:26 PMI wonder how light of a payload the old timers could cast with a Langley and a well educated thumb.

It's a distance game for me, but the Target will easily cast a Euro-nymphing "fly" in close quarters. 

Interesting stuff.

I think the lesson that we should learn from this reel is that purposeful, functionality driven design matters.  And that the functional requirements for a useful reel are not always the ones that we value the most as modern consumers.  We pay a price  (initial cost, durability, and yes, probably some performance) for all of the complexity that gets crammed into a modern reel.

Tommy can correct me if I get this wrong, but I think that the Langley baitcasters  were made just after WWII by a company that fabricated aluminum aircraft parts during the war.  The manufacturing methods used are primitive by modern standards, with lots of parts simply stamped out of thin aluminum, including the spool, with some pressed or riveted together.

But not only was that spool thin, it was also ported with a large arbor.  The Langley spools were extremely light when loaded with line, which in the end can be more important for casting performance than stuff like having fancy ceramic bearings.  The Target model weighs only 4 ounces. For you BFS fanatics- these were reels designed with BFS principles.   Here is a shot of a Langley Lurecast spool from an interesting thread (https://alantani.com/index.php?topic=36106.0)



While I am intrigued a bit about the customization process you guys are playing with,  I have to admit  not fully understanding the point of hotrodding one of these reels.  To me, the more interesting question is how well does a finely tuned stock Langley cast compared to something like an ABU 2500 with all the fancy BFS aftermarket parts, and what is the weight difference between the reels?

That $550 Japanese Target tribute reel (modernized, made from scratch) is also a bit baffling to me.  Sure, it looks a bit like a Langley, but the beauty of the Langley for me was how they were able to make a relatively high performance reel with rudimentary manufacturing methods and simple design. If I was to build a new reel from scratch, I would rather take the principles that made the Langley successful, and take off from there with modern materials and processes.  How simple and how light could I make a modern high performance knucklebuster?

-J

Dave, I wouldn't have a clue regarding Langley bait casters or their history. Conventional reels are way outside my area of knowledge and expertise. 

Quote from: Midway Tommy on December 25, 2025, 10:53:10 PMDave, I wouldn't have a clue regarding Langley bait casters or their history. Conventional reels are way outside my area of knowledge and expertise. 

Colby Sorrells wrote a book about Langley fishing products.  A must-have for some.  I think most of the Targets were sold in the 1956-1958 time frame.  The most popular Langley fishing product was the Fish-De-Liar spring scale and tape measure gizmo.  Remember those?

The Target handle screw versus handle nut, the green aluminum grasps versus brown plastic grasps, and the screw head shape all changed at some point.  Also, an edge cover was added to the tail plate to make them more comfortable to palm.

I started buying-up Targets when they were about twenty to thirty bucks on the used market.  Now they fetch closer to a hundred bucks.

I'm gonna have to keep an eye out for one of these if they show up reasonably priced. Then I'll be able to compare to a built out 2500c. But also the owner of this thread could also do so. It seems right up my alley either way. What are the gears made of?

Merry Christmas