Well... I finally bought one of these silly things.

[Jenx]

I've been curious about these silly looking reel transmissions for awhile now. I found one today, paired with a Squidder on OfferUp, so I decided to grab it to play around with.

Has anyone here actually used one of these? The first thing I noticed was the reel has no anti reverse. Is that normal, or was this assembled incorrectly?

Did these actually work well, or were they more novelty?

[wailua boy]

There is a sticky about a penn 350 and transmission under penn tutorials, might to be able to get info there

[vilters]

aside from the reel deal transmission, the penn squidder has a switch on the drive side plate to disengage the anti-reverse. could be the switch is in the off position, or has malfunctioned.

[ReelFishingProblems]

My friend Chris (and an AlanTani.com Ohana member) had a reel deal transmission. I remember using it from the pier once and in high gear it was very difficult to get leverage on a small fish. If he sees this I think he will comment. Seemed to me to be more of a novelty than a useful item. He never used it again when we fished together.

Nick

[Jenx]

wailua boy: I saw that thread before I posted this. I didn't appear to have any information about this transmission beyond instructions on how to attach it to the reel. Thanks.

vilters: Yeah. I haven't owned a squidder in awhile. About a half hour after I posted this I had a bit of an "idiot" moment when I remembered squidders have a lever that disengages the AR. Unfortunately, flipping the lever back and forth made no difference. Tomorrow I will probably open this up and check it out. Thanks.

ReelFishingProblems: I have never seen pictures, nor heard of anyone catching fish with these, so I'm not surprised it gave you troubles. That was the response I was expecting. I would have loved to play around with it on a half-day boat, but I suspect it would probably just be a waste of time. Cheers.

[Petah]

It turns the reel into a line screamer on retrieve. 9:1 in high gear and then back to 3:1 in low. It takes a bit of getting used to as the transmission is
bulky and downshifting requires a slight drop of the rod tip. I move mine around to a couple different reels (whatever I feel like playing with at the moment) I use mine primarily for bottom fishing but will fly surface irons and really burn 'em if I see a fish following (Yellowtail) If you pump and wind in high gear you can put a fish on deck pretty quick. Otherwise it's back to the slow grind back in low gear. Love to take it out on the half-day or full day boats and watch the reactions of the other anglers!!!! One side note of extreme importance: Have it installed by someone who knows how to do it!!! It has to be aligned perfectly!!!!

[akfish]

I've had two come into the shop over the years. Both had a cracked head plate. I think this was because the Real Deal was installed incorrectly or somehow shifted during use. Cracking a Squidder head plate can be a problem...

[Dominick]

I posted about this a while ago.  Check out  https://alantani.com/index.php?topic=18802.0  Dominick

[Vintage Offshore Tackle]

The Reel Deal was very popular for Southern California and Baja lure fishing back in the 1960's when high speed retrieve was sometimes necessary, and the fastest gear ratio available was the 4:1 Jigmaster.  The Reel Deal tripled the stock gear ratio.  They were not commonly used with the Jigmaster as the 12:1 ratio put an extremely heavy load on the gears in the Reel Deal.  The reel of choice was the 259, which offered the same size as the 500, but a more manageable gear ratio, more solidly mounted head plate and double trim rings on both sides. 

A Reel Deal outfit was an essential arrow in the quiver of many of the top 1960's So. Cal saltwater anglers. One of our most popular and desireable gamefish here on the West Coast is the yellowtail (same family and very similar to the amberjack).  They respond well to metal lures, both lightweight (surface iron) that are cast and retrieved near the surface, and heavy (yo-yo) that are cast and/or just dropped to the depth of the fish and retrieved vertically.  At times, the yellowtail will only respond to a very fast retrieve, and at those times, the Reel Deal came into its own.  Once high speed large diameter reels became available that could deliver similar lure speed, the Reel Deal was no longer necessary, but there are still Reel Deal cults that fish the Gulf of California that swear by them.

[Dominick]

Who locked this topic?  Reply on the moderator board.  Dominick

[Vintage Offshore Tackle]

Dominick, can you unlock it?  I don't see anything in any of these posts that would justify locking it.

[Vintage Offshore Tackle]

I think that this post is unlocked.  Would someone please see if they can post here?

[oc1]

No offense Randy, but those look like the most uncomfortable thing in the world to fish with.  Thank you for showing us.
-steve

[Vintage Offshore Tackle]

No offense Randy, but those look like the most uncomfortable thing in the world to fish with.  Thank you for showing us.
-steve

They were (and are) uncomfortable Steve, but at times, they were the only way to trigger a strike, and I'm sure that you would agree that it is better to be uncomfortably hooked up than not hooked up at all.  A gimbal butt and belt helped to support the extra weight and reduce the side to side rocking caused by the extreme distance between the handle and the rod.

[Bill B]

Wonder how it would work on one of Randy's XN framed reels!  Would it fit a Jigmaster or only the smaller reels?  Maybe slap a Silver Beach side plate on the XN frame.  Bill