The reel that my dad taught me to fly fish with is this Shakespeare Au Sable that was paired with a fiberglass Wonderrod. I fished with that set up as a 5wt for years, until the rod fell victim to a fishing buddy accidentally shutting the rod in his truck tailgate (to his horror as much as mine). So the rod and reel were replaced with new/modern gear, but of course I kept this original rig as a wallhanger. This weekend I decided it was time to take the Au Sable apart, give it a good clean and see how it works.
The inside (to my shame) was really messy, and the felt pad on the drag was pretty much falling apart:
The spool was equally dirty:
The pawl release was not functioning correctly, and the pad for the drag needed to be replaced. I spent about 4 hours completely disassembling and cleaning. I think it was worthwhile:
Here are a couple of pics of the reel back together after cleaning. The drag and the pawl release now function correctly, and I feel like it's fish-able again. I have always loved the green finish of this reel.
I'm very much an "interested amateur" in all of this, but I love old reels, seeing different design consideration and ideas of different eras. I feel very fortunate to have stumbled across this organization in my Internet wanderings, and hope to learn more from the members here.
--Dave
