Bronson 63 LH (left hand turning?)

[DutchFisher]

Hallo everyone,

At first thanks for this possibillity to ask around. And sorry for my poor english, i am Dutch and not very used to write in english.

At the age of 13 (1988) my father gave me his Bronson 63 LH (red and white) At the age of 30 it was stolen from me.

Every now and then i looked for a replacement for it at marketplaces and so on but without succes. And after a while i forgot about it, even stopped fishing for years.

Now, at the age of 54 i started tot fish again. And i rememberd lots of great catches with my Bronson! The looking out for an other one still gave no result.

But lastnight i found this site and now i am all exited again. Perhaps …

So, i am looking for a Bronson 63 LH (?) (red/white) If i am correct this is the version where the right hand holds the rod and left hand turns the reelhandle. The spinning reel has to be working. It is no problem if the rod is broken, my rod was not original, as long as the complete handle is OK. Some smaller damages on the reel of normal use is OK as long as it is not to bad.

Does somebody here know one for sale? Please let me know. It needs to be shipped to The Netherlands.

Thanks for hour help.

Kind regards,

Leo (DutchFisher)

[john elder]

Hi, Leo and Welcome! There are lots of the right hand version of this rod/reel combo around, but I suspect finding the LH version is a bit harder. Like you, this was one of the first rods I owned and I still have it! And like you, mine caught lots of fish! Hopefully, someone here will have one...eBay is certainly the place to watch! Good luck!
John

Ps...there appear to be a number of the later True Temper versions of this combo, with designations 63L...check out eBay auctions. May be tougher to find the earlier Bronson version, but the TT combo will fish the same!

[DutchFisher]

Thanks for the welcome! And your advice ofcoars.

Indeed i have just found some True Tempers on ebay.

Think i will go for the ‘real thing’ but i will think it over for some days.

Thanks again!

[DutchFisher]

There are lots of the right hand version of this rod/reel combo around, but I suspect finding the LH version is a bit harder.

John may i ask?

If the reel is under the rod (not above) and the winding mechanism on the left: Is it left or right handed then?

I wanted to buy a TT on e-bay but the buyer doesn’t want to ship outside USA. Don’t know why.

Then i found a 63 LH (!) with a lot of damage but on the kork from the handle. I was thinking thats repairable? So i asked the owner but after that i saw the mechanism is on the right (under the rod)

The owner says that this is a LH and if the mechanism is on the left side it is called a RH.

So now i am confused. And hopefull aswell considering you said RH is common available

Thanks very much.

[john elder]

Ha! Yes, everything seems backwards and changes based on the type of reel. With spinning reels, hanging below the rod, the tradition is that the crank is on the right side for a left-handed person and on the left for a right-handed person; ie, rod is held in the dominant hand. So, the key here is, ignoring any name given to the reel, do you want to crank with your left hand or your right?? Buy the one that fits for you! I am left-handed and prefer cranking with my right hand and so my Bronson 63 has the crank on the right side when reel is below the rod.

Now, if you start up with fly reels or baitcasters, we will have to buy beer and discuss the handedness terminology for those!

[DutchFisher]

I have to read this a couple of times over but:Thanks again.

, we will have to buy beer and discuss the handedness terminology for those!

Wouldn’t that be great!

[DutchFisher]

So what i am looking for is the 63 under the rod and the crank on the left. I understand that this is shat Bronson menth with RH.

[wrong99]

Cranking with the left hand would make that a #63RH model, as John stated. Sounds backwards, but it's not for a spinning reel.
Mark

[DutchFisher]

Super! Now it’s confirmed.

Many thanks.

[kyreels]

Only problem may be that the seller may not know the conventions. Is the actual LH or RH stamped on this reel? Guess you have to look at the picture for each one.

[DutchFisher]

Is the actual LH or RH stamped on this reel?

If not, does ‘convention’ mean that he can’t sell or ship it?

Otherwise i can just see at the pictures on which side the crank is.

The seller that wasn’t willing to ship his TT is now considering it. So perhaps i wil buy at least something that looks a lot like what i had. Than i will look farther for the 63.

So glad with all the help here

[kyreels]

Leo, I was just wondering whether you could search for the 63LH or 63RH, or if you had to look at every picture. I was not implying any convention around selling or shipping.

I have the same issue searching for Narrow Spool reels. Many reels came in narrow spool, but they are much rarer than the conventional wide spool. If you just search for Narrow Spool, you will miss many reels, because they are sometimes not specified in the model or are implicit. Most people that sell reels are not collectors, and don't know our rules and conventions.

[DutchFisher]

Ah! Now i understand. Sorry, some things are a bit more difficult because english is not my native language as you might have noticed

Yes i saw that aswell in diffirent ads. Now i surch with several possibillities at ebay.

And meanwhile i have baught 3 Bronsons! Even 1 63 (red/white) battered as that one is i am happy with it. Comes in around next Thursday. The other 2 are a TT and a Uni-spin, they are expected to ben in NL in about 2 weeks.

Looking for the 63 on e bay i discovered more thpes and now i have dicided to collect them all in LH version.

Conclusion: Still looking for the 63 red/white but not as battered as the one that is on the way.
And allso looking for a 66 (green) of nice quality.

On ebay not everyone is keen to ship to NL so its not allways a hit. But i enjoy the chace very much!

[DutchFisher]

And then a strange plot to this story:

At the morning my Bronson 63 (red/white) came in i was like a child under the christmastree surrounded with packages.

It took about 24 years to hold a rod like the one i lost. It was difficult because of the fact that i allways forget names. So i couldn’t exactly remember the name of my reel. Often i thaught of Bronco but that gave only cars as a result on the internet. And no one seemed to know what brand or type of reel i was talking about. Then a couple of weeks ago i suddenly thaught of Bronson and googled it. Thats how i found ORCA and on this forum for the first time a picture, brand and type info. And then it really went fast after the tip about ebay. The rod I baught is ok and the reel pretty battered. I turned the crank and immediately i felt a nasty damage in it. It turns but makes a sound you normaly would not like to hear. But it doesn’t matter to me for this one. I am happy with it.

I made some pictures of it to send to my fishingfriends. Told them this one was battered but it was a very good start of my renewed search. That same day i went to the tackleshop where i buy my tackle since years ago. So i was looking at the newest tricks on the shelfs. Then, without any reason i looked up at the sealing. What i saw there was unbelevable to me and i’m sure for the one who reads this: There was a Bronson 63 hanging on the sealing. I looked again, it wasn’t my rod. That was a red one, this one blue. But that reel, that looked so familiar. To familiar to be true but then i realised is was mine! I looked very close and i saw a damage i made on it. I still remember that day when i dropped the reel and it got damaged. I cryd for it because i was so very proud on my fishingrod that no one around here had. I made some pictures and after the owner was ready to drink a cup of coffee with me i asked him this; This rod, did you get via so and so a person? He said yes! I allways new who stole it but couldn’t proof it. Now i was 110% sure. I told him i was sure it was my reel but with another rod and he could tell me the rod was broken and this one was put on later. I showed him the whattsapp message i sent that morning to friends and without any doubt he took a ladder (stairs) and took the rod from the seeling to give it to me.



I was totally flabbergasted. Forgot what i came for and went home with my reel and with the prommis he would be well compensated with material from my collection of vintage fishinggear.

At home my wife was in the garden and saw something was ‘wrong’ i told her about a very emotional finding of the reel she heard me so often speak about and now i was able to show it to her. I was very emotional about it and that night this whole story kept me awake.

Someone made a very bad job changing the broken rod for the blue one. Even cut of the forepart of the real. And next to that glued te cap on the real. Perhaps with 2 component glue so not sure if it will get loose again. Perhaps i will try later with a fohn but ofcoars i don’t want to bring it more damage!

But the crack turns! And the sound is still the same. And no one can really imagine how happy i am with this reel.

For now i took away the blue rod from the reel. Its to disturbing to let it sit there. And my reel i have placed on the combo that came in at the day of my biggest discovery in many years. New fishingline is put on it and even that was a tricky job because of the cap that is glued on the reel. But i managed it.




The shopowner was very pleased whith the rods and reels he got from me to compensate him. They are allready on the seeling telling storys to people who look up every now and then

Next week i will try to go fishing with it. If a zander graps the bait the yourney will be complete. But not done, the hunt continous!

[leland99]

Congratulations on finding your treasured reel!! Amazing story and thank you for sharing! Bryce

[DutchFisher]

Thanks for your reaction Bryce.

[DutchFisher]

As i found it in the store.


Oeps, didn’t work

[kyreels]

Great story, glad you got your reel back. Look forward to seeing it soon.

[DutchFisher]

Tried go get some pictures in the topic but it didn’t work out.

I’ll try again!