Nep-tuna cradle find and restore

Started by seavandal, July 01, 2022, 04:47:05 PM

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seavandal

The Craigslist ad said, "Coleman lantern and fishing stuff". Being a collector of both, I clicked on it and ran through the pictures. The vintage 275 Coleman lantern was what they call a Turd since it is a brown lantern and isn't highly regarded as a great piece. More of a POS.  There were two huge brass nautical lanterns in beautiful shape, and a few Coleman lantern parts. Then, there was the "fishing stuff" crammed into a milk crate.
The two Nep-tuna reel seats with wooden handles caught my eye immediately. I have been looking for Nep-tuna stuff for decades but  have only come up with a Spoofer cradle seat with original rod decades ago.  I sent out a reply saying that I wanted it all. I even offered her more for it all than she was asking if I could go over and see it that night (8:30). She agreed and I went over to check it out.
At the bottom of the milk crate of stuff, were three vintage leather rod belts with gimbals, a few vintage reels, with rod handles and seats. Of course, there were two Nep-tuna cradle seats with Penn 49 reels.  The deal was struck, and the treasure chest came home with me. I separated all items, and found homes for everything in various parts of my garage. The reels went right to the bench.
Over the next few days, I pulled them apart. I used Kroil on the side plate screws but managed to snap almost all of them off. Fortunately, I noticed that, if I clocked the side plate a tiny bit, there were other pre-drilled tapped holes that lined up perfectly. Two new tapped and drilled holes per side were all that were needed to complete the side plate install. All parts inside these reels looked to be in good shape. Everything was cleaned and greased and new drags put in. The tapped holes in the reel seat were cleaned out with Kroil and a tap. Size 40 tap size is hard to find!  The reels went back together and cleaned up nicely with a little patina left in the chrome to give them the vintage look.
The rod belts were in amazing shape. Two were made of tan leather and were identical. The third was black leather and had the same gimbal as the other two. All were made by the Weston Supply Co. in San Gabriel CA. The gimbals were the type that accepts the round ball butt rod ends. These were certainly the rod belts that were used with the Nep-tuna rods. I sent one of them to have the belt elongated since I am a little larger in the waist than the previous owner! She matched the leather perfectly. I also had her make an extender leather piece with buckle to attach to the other rod belts in case those might be used by me or other XL guys.
Unfortunately, there were no rods that came with the cradles. I did have a nice donor rod. It looked like a Conolon rod but had the wrong ferrule size for the cradle. With a stroke of luck, a local tackle store had the right size ferrule in a dusty box on a back of the room shelf.
I cleaned up the end of the rod, and glued the ferrule on. Later that night, I kept thinking about the ferrule install, and realized that I had not installed the keeper ring before I installed the ferrule! Knucklehead! Fortunately, the tackle store had one more left. I re-installed the new ferrule with the ring.
I like the feel of tuna cord on my rod handles. Many of my rods are deckhand rods with tuna cord grips. I wrapped the cord on, installed a Turks head, and put all parts of the rod together. I put some 30lb Dacron on the reel and gave it a test drive.  The Dacron rubbed across the back of my thumb as I pulled a nice bend in the rod. Not good. The only way to avoid the rub was to pull all of the cord and Turks head off, and put a roller guide on the fore grip. Back to the tackle store to find a vintage roller guide that would stand high enough to clear my thumb. They had one that I think is probably an Allan brand. Sweet! Tuna cord, roller guide, Turks head re-installed with Spar varnish brushed on completed the job. Now, it looked and smelled like a vintage rod! I gave the rig a test drive and found it to be in excellent working order. Smooth drag, no Dacron on the thumb rub, all wheels on the Aftco guides working smoothly, and I nice feel with the rod belt coupled to the rod.
I took the rod, belt, and a Bone jig out to catch log Barracuda a week ago but, as luck would have it, the Cuda were a no show. I will be looking for Yellowtail or a small Mako next time to give this vintage rod a real test drive. This rod and belt will certainly not be a shelf queen!
 Here are a few pictures of the project. Tight lines! Chris

seavandal

A couple pictures of the rod belts.

Keta

Hi, my name is Lee and I have a fishing gear problem.

I have all of the answers, yup, no, maybe.

A man who carries a cat by the tail learns something he can learn in no other way.
Mark Twain

54bullseye

Nice score on both Nep-Tuna's and rod belts !!    John Taylor

1badf350

-Chris

"I won't be wronged, I won't be insulted, and I won't be laid a hand on. I don't do these things to other people and I require the same from them."
John Wayne as J.B. Books in "The Shootist"

Swami805

Do what you can with that you have where you are

oldmanjoe

   Nice save on that rig .   I know what you mean about the line rub on the thumb .   If you still need more room you can put the first guide on top of a layer of cord .  Did you check to see if a half a spool or less  of line still gave you enough room for your thumb ?
Grandpa`s words of wisdom......Joey that thing between your shoulders is not a hat rack.....    use it.....
A mind is like a parachute, it only work`s  when it is open.......
The power of Observation   , It`s all about the Details ..
 Forget about all the reasons why something may not work. You only need to find one good reason why it will.   Alto Mare

seavandal

#7
Thanks for the replies guys. I have enjoyed restoring these rods and reels. The roller guides can be tricky to disassemble and clean but, in the end, they work very well. With the funny looking guide added, line travels over my thumb to a point. At about half a spool, I get the rub, especially if I putting a bend in the rod. I will be wrapping my thumb up with some blue tape before tangling with fish.
I just finished another rod for my other Nep-tuna reel. It is a vintage 20lb class Fenwick 620 roller guide rod. My other rod is a bit heavier (30lb class). This rod should be perfect for the barracuda! The Aftco roller guides were a bit of a challenge to disassemble and clean but, in the end, they work well. The new guide on this rod looks to be a Mildrum style guide. It has solid feet and not the double wire feet that I have seen in other Mildrum guides. I still need to put line on the reel. I will stick with 30lb Dacron for vintage old school fishing that I plan on doing soon with both of these rods. I can't wait to hook up! Here are a couple of pictures of the rod handle and guides. Chris

Crow

Great find, and great "restore", too !
There's nothing wrong with a few "F's" on your record....Food, Fun, Flowers, Fishing, Friends, and Fun....to name just a few !

seavandal

Lots of folks would cringe at what I did to these rods. I rebuilt them so that I could use them. They had to be functional and in perfect working condition.
These cradle reels look great and are conversation pieces. I have a feeling that they never caught on with big tackle companies due, in part, to the thumb rubbing problem. I generally have my thb on top of the line to guide it on the reel. Sometimes, however, I need two hands fully gripped on the rod to put the hurt on a fish.
As soon as I catch a nice fish with one of these rods, I'll post a pic.
Tight lines! Chris

54bullseye

Chris:  I love all the Nep-Tuna cradles as well as all cradle reels and I have tried fishing them a few times !! Here is one thread I did.  https://alantani.com/index.php?topic=25354.msg285804#msg285804
Not the most comfortable rod and reel combos to fish from what I found. There heavy and line is much to close to fore grip and rod especially if rod is bent with a good fish on !! On the other hand lots of people comment on them and it is satisfying to catch fish on the old rigs.  Enjoy yours !    John Taylor

Bill B

Great find and great job on the restoration.  I've fished mine a couple times and can second JT's comment.  Not the most comfortable to fish with.  With the short butt and gimbals your mileage may vary.  Bill
It may not be very productive,
but it's sure going to be interesting!

seavandal

I worked on the Nep-tuna rig today to get it ready for fishing this Friday. It is a 20lb class rod with 30lb Dacron on the reel. I guess Barracuda rather than big bluefin tuna might be a better call for this rig!
I stripped the old line off of the reel to reveal a very interesting spool. I have never seen one quite like this one (see picture). I also changed out the handle with a vintage handle from another reel I had. The new handle knob is of the same vintage but much bigger. I had a little trouble reeling with the small knob as I wound the new Dacron on. I also noticed that, as I reeled in, the gimbal rocked back and forth instead of keeping tight and stable. I decided to put some blue finger tape on the butt to see if that would tighten up the connection. It did!
Now, with the new line on, new bigger knob, and tighter gimbal, all I need to do is decide which lure to use: vintage bone jig or the vintage Schnabel!
Chris

seavandal

#13
Success! I took the Nep-tuna for a Barracuda hunt yesterday. I started out the day by catching a nice Mako shark on the way out, but not on the Nep-tuna. Stink off the boat!
I finally got to my intended spot off Palos Verdes near Redondo beach to find the Barracuda jumping out of the water chasing bait. Nice sign! I have a nice 8' Calstar jig stick with a Trinidad 20a that I use for just such situations. I caught about 15 of the Snot Rockets (keeping 6 of the larger models), and decided to deploy the Nep-tuna. I tied a 30 fluorocarbon leader to the Dacron  and chose a Tady 45 mint green well used lure to troll with.
I dropped it back about a hundered feet and and started to slow troll. I held the rod under my armpit with the rod tip low to the water. The 20lb class Fenwick was very responsive to the couple of strikes I got without a hookup. Then, bendo! These Cuda love to run and fight! I used the rod belt and really liked the thick felt padding and wide platform that it has. I got the Cuda to the boat after a couple of nice runs and bounced it onto the deck. Nice log! That was the last fish of the day. Great ending to the day as well as finally getting to use the Nep-tuna.
I'll certainly take it again. It is a comfortable rod to use with the rod belt. Without it, I think the rod would be a little squirrely while winding in a fish. The tape on the butt helped with reducing the back and forth torquing while reeling, but was difficult to release the ball from the belt when the fish hit the deck. Next time out, I will probably put it in a rod holder to troll with, and pull the line closer to the water by using a rubber band attached to the reel.
This rod is the lighter of the two Nep-tuna cradle reel rods that I have. The other one could handle something heavier. I would love to do some Yellowtail, Yellowfin tuna, or Dorado fishing with them later on in the season.
I feel that these vintage rods and reels were meant to fish, so, fish 'em! They certainly don't fish as well as my modern stuff, but I will remember catching that Cuda on the Nep-tuna.
Tight lines! Chris 
Nep-tuna Cuda.JPG

Brewcrafter

Congratulations on rebuilding that setup and then boating that 'Cuda on the vintage rig!  Looks like a great day on the water! - john