J.C. Higgins 311-3115

ORCA Online Forum - Feel free to talk or ask about ALL kinds of old tackle here, with an emphasis on old reels!
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oldsaltnfla
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Location: Townsend, Tennessee

J.C. Higgins 311-3115

Post by oldsaltnfla »

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Having been raised on open faced spinning reels since I was around 5 years old, I found it nearly impossible to reel with my right hand when I started fly fishing. Most of the reels that are vintage reels now were of the RHW variety. So, I have switched all of my RHW reels to LHW. Some were easy to do, some were more difficult, and some were impossible. Those impossible ones I sold or traded.

I have a vintage J.C. Higgins (probably made by Ocean City for Sears as it looks identical to the O.C. 35) that was set up for RHW by virtue of the round line guide. Nothing had to be done to the interior workings as the simple click allowed it to wind either way with the same amount of pressure with line going in or going out. Now I was challenged with moving the guide to the other side. I just popped it out with a pair of pliers. I noticed there were two small grooves (one on each side of the inside part of the frame) where the guide was pressure fit. I took my moto tool and cut a small groove on each side of the frame as close to what the original grooves looked like as possible. After some twisting and tapping and cussing, the ring guide slipped right in. It is solid as I tried to pop it out by tapping on it and pulling and twisting with my hands, but I could not make it move so I am confident that it is pretty solid and will not come out while fishing. Just a very unnecessary but fun thing for an old retired guy to do on a cool afternoon in east Tennessee.
Joe
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