I was just given 2 Vom Hofe reels as described in my subject, in good but well used condition (as they should be in my book . They were my Great Grandfather's tuna stalwarts.
The action and drags appear to be in good working order but I'd like to lube and clean them to ensure another 100 years. Their work may not be over - I'd like to catch a tuna with one of them next spring in tribute to my GG.
What should I do to bring them up to spec?
Thanks a lot - I was referred here from one of the my other boards, The Hull Truth.
Welcome to the ORCA message board and I'm sure you'll find lots of help. A quick search for "cleaning" should pull up a book's worth of discussion and helpful hints that have been posted here over the years. If not, I'm sure others will be able to "copy and paste" what they've written in the past. There are absolute masters here on this board who maintain and restore old reels. And who says an old reel that you fish with can't look brand spanking new!
First off, I'd say get a good set of screwdrivers that fit the screw head slots and don't force anything that would risk breaking screws in the holes. Otherwise, you'd be...(I'll let my friend, John Elder, finish that one). I like to clean off old grease with Corrosion Block and even baby wipes (Huggies - you'd be surprised). Col. Milt is the maintenance guru so I'm sure he will recommend his usual recipe for lubing your reel.
Those reels are solid and should be able to handle just about anything. By the way, make sure you find some good linen line and catch the tuna on THAT to do your Grandfather right! On a practical note, remember that those old reels were not designed for use with mono and you may run the risk of "splitting" the spool and jamming the reel 1. during a long hard fight due to the pressure of the mono compressing the spool and 2. after a long hard fight if you do not pull the line off right away.
Thanks for the advice so far - especially the line tip. I was just going to put on modern line but your information has me thinking twice. One of them is loaded with ancient linen line and one was spooled by my father with mono in anticipation of a fishing trip that never happened.
The reels also came with a south bend 7'0-ish bamboo rod. Do you think a stored bamboo rod of this vintage (1920s) could still handle a 2006 40-80 lb tuna? You know what karma will do - this will be the trip and rod I hook a 400 lb Giant Bluefin on...
Those old bamboo rods can be pretty scary - on another recent thread here, you'll find that the Tuna Club of Santa Catalina Island in California still uses this old tackle in an annual tournament. I was told that the bamboo rods broke more often than the reels. I'm sure it depends a lot on how the rod's been kept over the years (ie. no grey spots that would indicate rot, termites, etc.) but it just may be that the particular rods that failed were not designed for extreme loads. I'd look for the heaviest laminated cane rod (vs. a traditional hex or octagonal split bamboo design).
I met a guy from San Francisco that had much the same desire as you do - to use his dad's 12/0 Kovalovsky to catch a marlin here in Hawaii, off of Kona. His story was a partial success in that he hooked a small striped marlin (about 100 lbs) but it came off as it came up alongside the boat. Nevertheless, he was a very happy guy. (see the May 2001 issue of the Reel News for the whole story and photos)
. They were my Great Grandfather's tuna stalwarts.
