Reduced to $48 shipped to your door Priority mail... as you can see this reel is unfished. Box is about as good as it gets... Looks like I just walked out of the bait shop with it! The reel functions perfect and smoooth yet can feel the gear mesh is not even broken in yet.
GOTTA love the pamphlet insert "How to be a Top-Notch Bait Caster" ((start by never-ever holding your reel like the photo while casting haha))...
This is uncleaned - I didnt need to touch it... beautiful.
Kind of a newbie here - but find me on Joes ~ or the NFLCC Directory ~ Eric Wenzel
920-585-6436
Prefer Paypal or USPS money orders or Lures in trade
Last edited by packN1 on Tue Feb 18, 2014 11:55 am, edited 1 time in total.
How would you reel or even get a good hook set like that if a pike or muskie etc grabbed your bait out of the air?. Buy a left handed reel or maybe I need to go read it it lol
I'd say this grip is correct for starting the cast. Your off hand shouldn't be in your pocket until the cast is over! It should be near or touching just at the front of the reel as the lure nears it's landing. There are even times that the caster is beginning his retrieve as the bait hits the water. Just my opinion. But then I am left handed, but I believe right hand casters do about the same.
interesting - must be my style then... I would grip that with my left hand so I had immediate access to my reel handle... even if I had to two hand it for a moment so, for extra accuracy/distance... and as you say be able to retrieve immediately... without a bunch of mid flight hand switching... especially top water casting for musky or pike... some of the most spectacular strikes I have ever seen occur as that bait hits that water.
IMO that looks like classic casting style to me, particularly before the cast. I'd also keep my thumb on or near the spool till the lure hits the water to avoid backlash. Then I'd have my left hand ready to transfer the handle to for retrieve.
If a fish were to strike before the lure lands (never happened to me), or immediately after, the thumb clamps down on the spool and the hook is set by raising the rod tip with the casting hand. At that point the fish will probably run, taking line. Since the reel has no drag, one wouldn't be able to start cranking anyway until the handle stopped spinning.
But then, maybe that's why I don't catch many fish?
If its good enough for Ben Hardesty, its good enough for me. The grip is absolutely correct for all but a left handed caster. As my left handed buddy Warren Platt has often pointed out these reels were made to be cast with the crank up. All companies recommended this and the fact is they run smoother in that position much to the chagrin of left handed casters.
The grip is absolutely correct for all but a left handed caster.
No wonder I dumped a bucket full of bait casters overboard when I was younger and switched to open face spinners. Reel horizontal at all times was all I knew. No one ever clued me in on all that info until I saw an old promo video a year or so ago of Johnny Dieckman using an ABU 5000 in '56. I just thought untangling backlashes was a conspiracy between the reel makers and the fisheries guys to keep people from catching too many fish. Too late to teach an old dog new tricks at this point.
My father who was born in 1915 was ambidextrous and always cast with his left hand and reeled with his right. He was not too enthusiastic about fishing, but always enjoyed casting and often spoke of his younger days watching the local tournament casting meets in Cincinnati. When I bought an Ambassadeur 5000 in 1964 he was impressed with what it would do and always refereed to it as "that Swedish reel." It never seemed to bother me to switch hands after the cast was complete even if it resulted in an instant strike. I think this bothers some more than others. My high school classmate with whom I fished in Canada for many years in the 70's and 80's was always bothered by it and purchased two left handed Ambassaduer 5000C's and had no problems but when I tried his reels I just could not get use to cranking with my left hand. I had always cranked with my left hand with spinning reels and had long ago converted all my Medalist fly reels to left handed crank. Why the baitcasting reels should present such a problem for me I have no idea. The point of all this is no two people are alike in what feels comfortable to them.
Interesting information above. I'am so right handed that it is almost a handicap. Learned to fish with an old man that was left handed. He would throw left and reel right with a right handed casting reel. When he put a spinner in the water it was like music, a work of art and beauty.
Later on in life when my father retired ( who was left handed) started fishing with me I saw the same beauty. Tried to reverse the act by using a left handed reel myself. That was so awlful --enough said: Any Whooo if you ever get to watch an left handed person use a right handed bait casting reel with quality skills...it is worth watching.
if you ever get to watch an left handed person use a right handed bait casting reel with quality skills...it is worth watching.
Agreed, my mother, who is 83 now and left handed, was pretty much forced to use right handed equipment, including golf clubs, most of her life since the rest of us were all right handed. She used a right handed P-41 up until about 10-15 years ago. We switched her over to an open face spinner and it took a year or two for her to get the hang of it. Everything was just the opposite. She still has the P-41 but uses a Cardinal 4 nowadays. Kudo's to her learning both, if I tried to cast left handed I'd throw the whole darn outfit into the lake.
Don't ever need to worry about me being a participant in the casting tournament at nationals. Thinking maybe it was my youth that kept me from casting without backlashes, I have tried many of my old reels with like results.
Now a Johnny Morris 10 bearing is another story, however I'm not convinced that a casting reel has been made that is impossible to backlash. With the new state of the art reels they are much less frequent.
You are missing one of the greatest things in this hobby. Casting with old quality fishing reels. You just need to educate your THUMB. Thumb stays on the spool through the whole cast. Use nylon line 10 lb to 20 lb recomended. Once you get the hang of it you will using the wheelbarrel to haul the China stuff to the trash can.
Too late to teach an old dog new tricks at this point. 
