pflueger supreme

[batty]

hey guys a friend of mine gave me a pflueger supreme 1573 baitcaster along with oil and some piece of cork no instructions or box i went on there website and the 1573 showed built in 1935 i took it apart and oiled and cleaned it put some 10# mono on it i went outside and casted it it went maybe 10 yards what am i doing wrong?i did have a 1/2 oz weight on it any advice would be great 8)

[john elder]

In talking with Bill Sonnett, I believe that 10 yards is about as far as he's ever been able to cast a Supreme

..but a couple things...first, you would likely have more success with a braided nylon line with a mono leader tied on. The cork that you got was like all or part of an insert that goes on the spool so that when you wrap on the line, it will be nearer the top rim of the spool, which wlll also improve casting. finally, is the "drag tensioner' properly adjusted? it needs to be lose enough to allow the casting weigh to drop to the ground when you pull off your thumb, but not so loose as to cause the line to backlash.

I'm sure there are bunches of people more knowledgeable that can dog-pile onto this reply!

[Don Champion]

If that mono was wound on under tension it could do several things such as collapsing the cork arbor and pushing the sides off the reel spool. Get it off! Only use braided line on these older reels.

[batty]

thanks alot i'll strip off that mono i didn't put the cork on now i know what it's for there's a knob with numbers and a arrow the drag i guess i don't think it works because there's no tension when i pull the line to set the drag

[john elder]

I can't recall exactly how the tensioner works on the supreme, but it indirectly applies pressure on the spool to slow the spool down when tightened. If the spool spins with the same tension at any setting, then you may have inadvertently disarmed it in cleaning or something may be missing. Don can give you the complete skinny on how that works.

[Bill Sonnett]

First take off the Mono and see if the reel spins freely. If not there could be several reasons. End cap too tight on palm plate -- there should be a tiny tiny bit of play end to end on the spool. Make sure the anti-backlash is off by turning the adjustment knob counter-clockwise until it stops. Use thin oil on the end bearings and on the double-threaded shaft of the levelwind mechanism and under the handle nut. Use grease only on the gears. It should be something like lubraplate which is about the thickness of hand cream. Use as little grease as possible on the gears. Now if the reel spins freely, put the cork arbor on the spool. It takes up room and consequently makes a full spool lighter. Get some 10 to 15 pound braided nylon line ( any heavier and distance drops off dramatically) and tie three or four feet of mono on as a leader. Make sure your spool is full up to about 1/8th inch of the edge of the side flange. Put a 5/8ths oz casting weight on and let her sail. You should have no problem getting good distance. Despite what John said above, many of our vintage distance events are won with a good supreme. Don't expect to whip out 3/8th oz to impressive distances as the Supreme is made for heavier baits. By the way your model Supreme was made from 1923 to 1970. Post a picture of it here or email me one and you will get a far more accurate dating of the reel than possible on the Pflueger website (at least the last time I looked it was pretty lame).

[Teal]

Hey Bill,

Do you think old Al had good advice for the bait caster?

http://fishinghistory.blogspot.com/2010 ... by-al.html

-- Dr. Todd

[Reel Geezer]

I thought I posted this last night, but I'll try again. There is an exploded drawing of the Supreme on this website that might help with understanding the functions of the reel:
http://orcaonline.org/pdf/Pflueger-Supreme-1573.pdf

[Warren Platt]

Dr. Todd,
For the time of his writing I'd say ol' Al really knew what he was saying. The underhand cast is a weakness of mine as I've never gotten very good at it. Naturally some of the things he says are now outdated, but overall I'd say very good advice.
I'd like to see what Mr. Bill has to say as he's a little more long winded than I.

[Bill Sonnett]

I tried Al's recomendation about keeping screweyes in your tackle box and screwing one into the boat each trip out to tie up ones catch. Warren objected to my doing this in his boat. I think he was just jealous of the number of holes in my boat!