Vintage ! reel advice

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Iva Flattie On

Active member
Hi Guys , just wondering If anyone can help me . I have a conoflex dc8 which I use occasionally as intended to fish over rough ground :D . At the moment I'm using a newish abu 7000 but want to get to get a period reel to match such as an abu8/9000 ? I would also like to get a fixed spooled reel from the late70s/80s as well , such as a Mitchell 386, 486 and 498 but these seem a bit pricey and I don't know if they are up to the task . what other makes of reels where used at this time ? I normally use 30lb+ mono so that should fill up the quite large spools . Any info, recommendations , personal experiences with reels from this time period would be very much appreciated. I do have modern gear, but it always puts a smile on my face when I take the old girl out !! especially if we catch something :). cheers
 
Not an expert on fixed spools but I do remember that they were pretty appaling reels generally speaking in the 70's and 80's (we didn't call them mangles back then for nothing). Not a patch on modern day reels.

Multiplier wise for heavy ground an old Abu 9000 was what my old granda used to use back then loaded with 40lb Sylcast straight through. Retrieve is pretty awful on them mind you. For a much better reel from the mid-1980's you might want to look at a Shimano Speedmaster; they were the dogs danglies back when they came out (about 1985 so contemporary to the DC8) and there is even one for sale in the classifieds:

http://www.nesa.co.uk/forums/sale/452360-magged-speedmaster.html
 
Just to add I'm pretty sure the Daiwa Slosh 20 first hit the shelves in the mid 1980's; I owned one for a while I'm guessing about 1987 / 88. For historical context my mate got a DC6 for christmas in 1987 (I got a Paul Kerry Supercast, not that I was jealous of him much...)
 
original red 7000, Mitchel 600p and ap, sea streak. I also used an intreped fastback, the first high speed reel. great on the rocks but never seen one since.
 
There were remarkably few fixed spool reels from that period that were of any use. Multipliers on the other hand - plenty of them. Early 80's Abu 7000's are scarily expensive, even cattle trucked ones , an alternative (if you can find one) would be the Abu Ultramag XLIV (got one that I bought in about 83/84) which had a good retrieve , were eminently castable and relatively bullet proof.
Problem with the 8/9000 was a terrible retrieve rate (chucked one of the cliff top at Sandy Bay in temper once), and again, they are starting to get pricey.
Intrepid Sea Screech (not a typo) did the job and are remarkably cheap, as are the Mitchel 600's. There were a number of "interesting", all be it rarely useless, Penn reels (sea boy, commander etc) that turn up that may be worth a look.
Woolworths did an amazingly cheap reel (can't remember what it was called) that I think was a badge engineered Diawa which wasn't actually bad.
I'd be inclined to stick to the Abu's (only got about 30 assorted) as spares are still readily available.
 
Here's a few of my old reels from the 70s/80s to give you a few ideas; they turned up in the Old Man's garage last winter having last been used about 1983/4 - I also had one of the big old Mitchell fixed spools (i think it was the 387 but not 100% sure) but that's gone. By today's standard the fixed spools were terrible...line going under the spool, drag slipping and very heavy among other things. The multis though are still very useable and I've loaded the two Abus up with heavy line - 45lb straight through - for the odd foray into heavy ground. I quite like the lower retrieve, especially with a good fish on as the reel is less likely to try and lock up and it's much easier to keep cranking away. The other one that I might recommend checking out is the Penn Mag-Power (the one in the pic is the 970 model, they also did a 980 which was more along the 7000's size capacity). Still casts great & fishes well and you can have great fun adjusting the magnet with an old penny!:D



That pic was taken before I stripped and cleaned them all thoroughly after 30 years languishing wrapped up in some old towels. Oh, the old Mitchell's spool bust when loading it with new line so that one's back in the drawer for the time being! Here are the other three after a spruce-up:



Gary :)
 
I'd clean forgotten about the Penn mags from that time! Being an Abu addict, I'm kinda biased, my cousin had a 980 and it was a pretty good tool...
 
I used to use the ABU 9000C for heavy work and the 7000C (with the level wind removed) for hoying reet out. The Garcia Michells were canny for hoying reet out but the line was prone to get trapped between the spool and the frame. One o'me marras swore by the owld Intrepid Sea Streak and he could hoy reet ower the horizon.
 
The Doctor said:
I used to use the ABU 9000C for heavy work and the 7000C (with the level wind removed) for hoying reet out. The Garcia Michells were canny for hoying reet out but the line was prone to get trapped between the spool and the frame. One o'me marras swore by the owld Intrepid Sea Streak and he could hoy reet ower the horizon.
Click to expand...

Doctor my first multi that sea streak. Had air brakes, teamed it up with a abu 484.
 
brownmike said:
Doctor my first multi that sea streak. Had air brakes, teamed it up with a abu 484.
Click to expand...

I had a 484 (with the screw fitting on the ferrule). In the early days I made mesel a canny 10" Scarbro', a bit like this when served I me time on the tools. It was champion off the pier, rock ends and in the river.

The 484 was a canny rod in the early 1970's and the days before the 4'-0 aluminium butts and 8'-0 long tips of the early Conflexes and Centurys
 
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Thought I had better put my two penneth in as I collect and use only old ABU gear :p
I would recommend the ABU 9000C ( the black one). With its brass side plates and two speed retrieve it is bullet proof for fishing the rough stuff. The retrieve is not that bad when you consider that it has a 4.2:1 retrieve but with a large spool :cool: Since it has a large spool it pulls in about 3/4 of a yard of line for every turn of the handle so it gets the lead up and running clear of the bottom fairly quickly. If you are fighting a bigger fish (fat chance for me) the the two speed retrive kicks in, as soon as the drag slips the retrieve drops to 2.5:1, then kicks back up to 4.2:1 again as soon as the drag stops slipping. You will pay big money for a modern two speed reel these days yet it was standard on the 9000 in the 70's. The 9000C has ball races already but they can be updated to hgher spec bearings too which makes the reel a good casting reel. I can get 100 yards on a good day with a 5oz lead and pulley rig whch is not bad for a 1976 two speed rough ground reel.
If you want to go even more retro you can do what I did, buy a 1974 ABU 9000 (the red one) and upgrade it. The old red 9000 had bushes instead of ball races so was not as good for casting but the bushes can be replaced with upgraded spec ball races which brings it up to 9000C spec, (well actually not quite as the red 9000 has alloy side plates instead of brass so you have to keep the side cheeks clean and greased to keep the corrosion at bay).
Another big advantage of the 9000 is that the spool holds a lot of line so you can lose 100 yards of line in the rough stuff and still have enough line on the spool to carry on fishing no problem. It would also come into its own as a boat reel as it holds a lot of line and has the two speed retrieve.
The other alternative is to get an old 70's ABU 7000 with the level wind removed and replace the bushes with hybrid ceramic bearings. Makes a good reliable strong reel which can give all but the magged reels a good run for their money :cool:
Enough for now, off me retro soapbox :rolleyes:
 
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