Extreme-performance Ambassadeur 4600C

[Ron Mc]

I'm sold on shallow braid spools and low-inertia LW-drive for effortless and reliable casting.
This project began looking for a vehicle for an AMO 4500/4600 shallow braid spool - the spool weighs 8 g.
Found an e-bay listing from a level-headed estate hunter, and bought this condition-9, low-demand Royal Express 1 for $80.


My final result is a reel that will cast 3 g (consistently to 70') to 15+ g without making an adjustment.
All the set-up is up front, you cast this reel without spool tension, depend on mag brake add-on to solve mid-cast wind backlash at the light end, and the stock centrifugal to solve start-up backlash with heavy weights.


Here's the finished reel. The visible swapped-in parts are the AMO shallow braid spool, and Valleyhill LW rider with ceramic guide.


While I was rebuilding the drive for new carbontex, also swapped in a ball-bearing main shaft.
Inside, here's the light spool again, BB spur gear, Avail mag brake (adjusting this is the reason to want the thumbscrews);
the new LW worm gear is Valleyhill dual BB; the new idler gear (drives the LW off the spool during cast) is Kagawa BB.


You gotta love Abu Ultracast spool design.
Swapping spool bearings is nothing - everything snaps into place.
The Roro BFS bearings were only there for a few casts, playing with light lures - seeing just how light I can get with it.
I swapped in my final set of MTCW heavy-duty unshielded spool bearings for the 1/2-oz niche.


I loaded the reel first with cheap light mono, set the mag at my light-weight end; then finally set the centrifugal at the heavy end. When satisfied, swapped line to the good braid that I don't want to backlash.
I matched the reel with my Very Good+ condition Falcon Glass rod.
This reel is a more comfortable fit than the old-style Lew's BB-1N I had here before.


The mag adjustment to get proper stand-off from the spool rim was 1/4 turn CW on each magnet set screw, moving them closer to the spool. I used 4 (of 6) centrifugal pins on the spool brake washer for the heavy end, and it didn't show a gravity-fall difference with the 3 g.


With perfect casting trials, 3 g to 15 g and nothing close to backlash, loaded the spool with my braid, PE#1.2 Yamatoyo Hard Shell, 23-lb test, and the spool holds 80+ m.
Allbright knot to 15-lb hard fluoro leader


All done here, throwing 3 g to 70', and 15 g well past 120' with no reel adjustments, low-effort casts, and nothing close to backlash.

[Midway Tommy D]

That's pretty cool, Ron. For all us coggers that have refused the World Order and use of a conversion table, what's those boil down to US ounces?

[Ron Mc]

Thanks Tom,
Those 3 g are, well, 3/29 ounce, etc - less than 1/8 oz at the light end, and more than 1/2 oz at the heavy end.
The sweet spot on both rod and reel is 3/8 oz.
But the capability to throw lighter means I'll never have a wind problem casting a buzz bait, etc.

The braid is really fine - the idea is to keep the loaded spool mass and inertia as small as possible.
Less inertia means more effective brakes, less brakes needed, more of the cast goes into casting, etc.
Not that these ideas are really anything new
Shallow light spool loaded with 4-1/2-lb braided silk

It's always easier to talk about fine braids in Japan silk thread numbers rather than inches, mm, or lb-test.
#1.2 = 0.008" = 0.21 mm
The US is the only place in the world where people obstinately talk about fishing line capacity in lb-test, which is all over the place -
- everywhere else in the world, reel spool capacity is reported in line diameters.
What's with this? The lb-test doesn't mean anything


However, I was on my own applying Avail mag brake to AMO spool, and the reason I first loaded 6-lb test mono (or is it 11-?)
With an Avail microcast spool, the starting set point is to flush the magnet plate on the frame, turn the single set-screw that moves the whole plate outward by 1/4 turn.
That was a mid-cast disaster, and mag plate flush against frame wasn't much better.
Getting the mag plate back to flush on the frame, and driving each magnet inward by 1/4 turn on the individual magnet set screws was perfection.

[Paul Roberts]

Pretty, and pretty cool, reel.

Yeah, the marketing of line here in the US is ridiculous.

One upgrade suggestion: Albright to FG.

[Ron Mc]

Thanks Paul.
I've been rolling Allbright knots 40 years, and shooting them through fly rod snake guides to 140'

At some point, eyes and fingers are good with what they know and do.
It sure ain't broke.



Something else I do on my leader is tie a tie a standing perfection or surgeon's loop on the business end.
From there, I can loop on a micro-swivel/ wire trace, paper clip, a cigar cork for a rig, or loop-to-loop a piece of sacrificial leader for tying direct - swap between all and my leader lasts a long time.
The loop connection is also stronger than a single bend with point contact in a direct knot.

[Shellbelly]

Regarding hot rodding the 4600's, I spoke to a Gentleman in Conroe TX today who does upgrades to this series and almost all the Ambassadeur reels. Anyone familiar with Dad's Ol' Tackle?

[Ron Mc]

a great source for Abu parts - I've bought many smalls from his ebay listings.
Recently, he really improved his website presentation and navigation.

I've been shopping Japan since you had to use a broker for Japan banking laws, and still use my broker Masamichi at noppin.com when necessary, such as ordering from Haneda Craft, Squid Mania, Bait &Tackle Karil (KTF) - here for IXA spool bearings, which are in all my salt reels.
This is my raced Daiwa Zillion for inshore ML.

Jun Sonada at Japan Tackle is a great information source.
Hedgehog Studio carries just about everything at retail.
If you can find stock at either Asian Portal or FishingShopKiwi, they have the best prices in Japan.
If you can put together a $100 cart at Asian Portal, Fed-Ex express courier is free.

Speaking of Masamichi at noppin.com, my brokered purchases over the years include
this benchmade Hermit Fly Shop fly reel (/27) with wonderful clockwork click-pawl

a rocketship hand-rolled-on-order S-glass inshore para fly rod

and a pair of salty XUL small game spinning rods a dozen years ago

[Shellbelly]

Great gear! I have to say that the specs are the best looking picture!!

[Ron Mc]

That was my limit one first night on our standing Arroyo City trip - I have some more stringer photos with up to 3 fisher's overnight limits.
We rent the Spencer Bell house on Arroyo Colorado at least one new moon every winter.
It's right across from where the natural arroyo diverges from the barge canal (ICW to Port Harlingen).
Lower Laguna Madre in the distance.


Schoolie male specs sweep the lights all night long - I've only filleted 2 female (nursery) trout out of 300-400, and caught males to 22" - including doubles, also doubles with reds and snook.
This is Susie's limit on the last night last year - Lou and I weren't fishing that night because we limited out before breakfast.


Sit on the dock, smoke cigars, drink rum, talk, watch for fish sign. Stand up and catch a fish, sit back down.


We're going Dec 4 new moon, but this year, the bag limit is down to 3 /day because of the freeze kill. We normally don't keep less than 17", anyway, so we can keep fishing.
Again, we don't intentionally kill females, which do come up the natural arroyo, but mostly stake out a breeding turf in the LLM flats.
We also take our kayaks and paddle the natural arroyo in the day.


My mom can't make the trip any more, but the last my folks came with the power boat, we fished LLM in the day.
This is Green Island - Spencer Bell used to have a redfish fly-fishing lodge here before Arroyo City outgrew him.
Drift fish the west side - the east side is wading all the way to Padre.

[Shellbelly]

That's too much work! What a nice setting. A perfect way to enjoy the surroundings and take in some specs on your own terms. Close to the grill too! Trout makes for fine ceviche in case you haven't tried it. A great pier snack with spicy crackers, sharp cheddar and a good bottle of sweet white.

[Ron Mc]

Here's my buddy Whit, who can take the freshest spec fillets (or smacks), sun cook them in fresh-squeezed lime juice, and turn them into the best ceviche you ever tried.
He's been fishing with my dad and friends, my daughters for 20 years.
He'll be at my buddy Josh's Redfish Rodeo the first weekend of Nov

here's his recipe

One med Spanish Mackerel filleted (Speckled Trout is my second choice but any firm white fish works. Spanish macks are the traditional species for this recipe). Scrape the meat off the skin with a fork and mash into a bowl. With the trout it easier to just slice it up paper thin. Squeeze on top 4 to 6 Key limes. You can substitute regular limes but I don't think it taste nearly as good.

Let it sit for about 30 to 45 minutes indoors or about 15 to 20 minutes in the sun. Turn it a couple of times during the cooking process. When the fish has turned white/opaque, add in;

1/2 a med white onion finely chopped
1 med tomato finely chopped
about a Tbsp of fresh chopped cilantro
1 or 2 finely chopped serrano peppers
1 finely chopped carrot. (Optional)
(You can chop up all of this while the the fish is soaking.)

Mix well and serve with corn chips and Salsa Huichol. (Salsa Huilchol isn't the best by far but it is IMHO the best to serve with Ceviche.)

This was my dad's 78th birthday trip (14 years ago)


my favorite use of spec fillets is sauteed for fish tacos

[Shellbelly]

Excellent! About the limits...These have become more restrictive over the years. The Matagorda bays and areas north weren't subject to the same limits as areas south. Less pressure in the middle coast until recently as POC has exploded as a destination spot. That and the now popular and widespread use of croaker has plowed the trout population. It's just too easy using croaker and the mortality of undersized fish can be higher. (touchy subject) When I was a kid, 7 lb trout were not uncommon especially up the Colorado in March/April. The only times we used croaker was in the surf and those were 1/2 lb bait fish. Too big for small schoolies and you had to wait until they turned the bait around before setting the hook. This added an interesting feel to the action. I'm reaching for that plate of food, man! Yer killin me.

[Ron Mc]

The emergency reg begins at Packery Channel in Corpus, and runs all the way down the coast.
TPWD, however, has a way of never giving back taken ground.
The reg is excellent, though, the slot 17" min, nothing over 23" - the highest probability of taking all schoolie males, with few-to-none nursery or adult females.

We fished the day the freeze ended, and released 45 redfish between us.

ps - Lou's wife Susie cooks the most perfect deep-fried spec fillets I've ever tasted - don't tell my mom.

[Ron Mc]

The finishing touch on this reel


Lauer's black oxide finish on the palm-side thumbscrews to match the stock thumbnuts on the face plate.

[Shellbelly]

3X nice, there! Very tasteful. How often do you think those would need a touch up? A lot of contact happens there.

[Ron Mc]

Hi friend,
It's a really hard powder coat, oven baked and supposed to be stable to 1800oF.
I doubt I could remove it if I wanted.

[kyreels]

That baked on finish was unknown to me, what a great tip. I looked up the link which could be very useful. https://www.duracoatfirearmfinishes.com ... rabake.htm

I had no idea there was any home product like this.

[Ron Mc]

You can buy it through Brownell's for the same price, and it's drop-shipped from Lauer.
One thing that helped, I had a pitted 6500CT frame that held the thumbscrews for me to spray and bake.

None of the rods my Ambassadeurs are matched with have hook keepers.
My last Japan order included these G-nius hook keepers to match with a thumbscrew.
I have #0 nylon washers that keep them on the thumbscrew.
I had already tried one on my Daiwa Steez on Valleyhill all-range BFS rod and loved it.

you can see it grabs a lure paper clip nicely - does the same with the top of a rear treble hook or a single jig hook.
It's really important in a kayak to have your few staged rods ready to swap and go.

[Shellbelly]

What a simple and practical add-on! The washer keeps (and probably adds to) the integrity of the o-ring inside. Adding the washer to the other thumb screws may not be a bad idea. If for no other reason, it could protect the finish on both the plate and the underside of the thumb screw. I can see the clip being self-made made from stainless leader wire if desired.

[Ron Mc]

Protecting the finish is why I hunted the #0 black nylon washers on McMaster.
This particular reel needs them most, because the panheads in the domed palm plate were sort of countersunk, and needed the stand-off.
Nice thing about McMaster, they have an engineering drawing for every part number, so I had thickness and I.D, to pick the perfect washer that would self-tap on my thumbscrew threads (#1-72).


There's also no place other than McMaster where you can find #1 or #0 washers - not even Bolt Depot.
But what sizes you can find, Bolt Depot remains the best place for piecemeal 316 stainless fasteners.
Check out this kayak rigging bar with total sex bolts so there's nothing to snag anywhere.

[Ron Mc]

Final trim on this reel.
I first used the ZPI handle that came from my too-high-geared Alcance (I ordered the NS and they sent me the XS - no more business with that vendor - swapped in a longer Avail handle).

My "finesse" 4600C3 recently got its own handle from Haneda craft. Polished and heat-tinted titanium with wood knobs.

The round drag knob is ZZeta, the red handle nut came from a Studio Composites handle I used on a salt reel with a titanium nut.

Tough to show the titanium heat-tint iridescence with photo lights.
But here you can see the bands of gold, red and blue.

[Midway Tommy D]

Nice! Looks to purdy to fish with, though.

[kyreels]

I like the cut of your jib. And your reel.

[Ron Mc]

Thanks guys, I'm planning to use it for a small-water frogger with a short glass rod, in water like this:
I'm working on the perfect rod, too - I'll get back with that before spring.