Tackle repair

[Mobasser]

I used to have a friend who rented out a small room in the back of a tackle shop I used to shop at, and ran a tackle repair business there. He was good at this work, and stocked the most common parts he might need. In winter, when my work slowed down, I would go there , have a cup of coffee and visit with him a little. He compared his business to the lawnmower repair business. In winter, things were pretty slow for him. In the early spring work would start to come in. It would start slow, then pick up quickly when the weather finally warmed up enough for fishing. Tournament fisherman, even though they brought in a lot of business were tough. Some of these guys would wait untill the week before a tournament, bring in 10 reels to clean, spool, and repair, and need them the next Friday for the tournament they were fishing. If this happened 3 times, he had 30 reels to service in a short time, and would have to work long hours to get them done. Those, along with the stuff the weekend fisherman brought in, made it very hard to give his customers a quick turnaround. He eventually had to close his business. Now, in my area, there are no tackle repairmen. I've learned to repair the things I could myself, and on my older round ABU reels, I've been able to keep them going. To be good at reel repair, it takes a person with some mechanical skills, who enjoys working with their hands, and can deal with very small parts. In my area, guys like this just don't exist. Do you repair and service your own gear, or have someone do it? One thing I've learned through the years is that a little routine maintenance goes a long way towards preventing problems. I've made my reels last by routine cleaning and lube.It sure helps, but reels are small machines, and with heavy use, all.machines need repair at some point. We live in a throw away society. Lots of folks don't repair things anymore, they just throw them out and buy a new one. Most quality reels can be repaired, and made to last many years, with a little maintenance too. Do you repair your own tackle?

[Cam R]

I had a reel handle break on a combo I bought but I just bought another reel and put that one to the side. I do not know how to fix anything else I would. 

[S Hovanec]

I repair rods.  Won't touch a reel, even my own.  Too many moving parts.

[new2BC4bass]

I send all my reels out for work or cleaning.

[Log Catcher]

I clean my own reels as much as I can. If something breaks in one I would probably have to send it out for repair.

[swhit140]

        I usually service my own reels. I enjoy doing it and I feel that I can save myself money. I don't feel that you need to do a complete tear down every year in my opinion. I usually will clean the exterior of the reel, get some q-tips out and clean around worm gear. Take side plate off many reels is easy to pull out spool and clean everything as needed. Just drop a small drop of fishing reel oil on the bearings. Then I'll use a toothpick to grease the worm gear. I think just doing a small service is helpful to keep your reels in good working condition.

        If you don't feel the confidence of working on your reels find a good service department. There are probably some people on this site that provides reel service/repair. There is also Bass Pro Shops reel repair, they probably have a lot of parts for different manufacturers/models.

 

[new2BC4bass]

9 minutes ago, swhit140 said:

        I usually service my own reels. I enjoy doing it and I feel that I can save myself money. I don't feel that you need to do a complete tear down every year in my opinion. I usually will clean the exterior of the reel, get some q-tips out and clean around worm gear. Take side plate off many reels is easy to pull out spool and clean everything as needed. Just drop a small drop of fishing reel oil on the bearings. Then I'll use a toothpick to grease the worm gear. I think just doing a small service is helpful to keep your reels in good working condition.

        If you don't feel the confidence of working on your reels find a good service department. There are probably some people on this site that provides reel service/repair. There is also Bass Pro Shops reel repair, they probably have a lot of parts for different manufacturers/models.

 

Delaware Valley Tackle sponsors this forum.  He cleans, repairs and upgrades reels and builds custom rods.  Probably could repair a rod, too, but I've only had Mike work on reels.

[Bass Junke]

Funny story. I want to service my own reels. Figured I would start with A spinning reel I had a duplicate of. Not any good videos out there for spinning reels. Might have taken it down a step to far because the tiny little spring that holds  free spool switch in position went flying. I am never going to find that. Even if I do find it, it is so tiny, I am never getting that spring back on. 

 

Fast forward a week, I am looking for something on the floor with my head lamp on, what do I find, that tiny little spring. I grab a magnifying glass and some tweezers, the spring is back on the reel is all cleaned and lubed and good as new. I will service my spinning reels now without worry. 

 

Baitcasters are a bit harder way more parts. However there is a 4 part video series by tackle junky that is about as in depth as you can get. I have watched it a couple of times. I think a couple more times before I attempt this.

 

[mrpao]

I clean and repair my own reels.

Once you do a few, it becomes fairly easy.

They are virtually all very similar.

Upgrades can be fun. And expensive.

I enjoy tinkering with stuff though.

To me, it's part of what makes fishing fun.

To get a piece of equipment and see if you can make it better or build it to your liking.

On the same note, hardly any of my reels are stock. Most have been changed around to some degree.

[MountainMan83]

11 minutes ago, mrpao said:

I clean and repair my own reels.

Once you do a few, it becomes fairly easy.

They are virtually all very similar.

Upgrades can be fun. And expensive.

I enjoying tinkering with stuff though.

To me, it's part of what makes fishing fun.

To get a piece of equipment and see if you can make it better or build it to your liking.

On the same note, hardly any of my reels are stock. Most have been changed around to some degree.

I completely agree. Love to see how different manufacturers and platforms are put together. I really enjoy it. First thing I do when I get a new reel.

[Rook]

I've always worked on my own reels. I collect old Mitchell's. I like taking old corroded reels that people have given up on and bringing them back to life. This old Mitchell 301 on top in the photos looked pretty bad but it cleaned up pretty nice after some cleaning, sand blasting and painting.

 

 

 

 

 

[redmeansdistortion]

My side business is reel repair and tuning.  Most of my customers are locals that seek my services through another fishing related forum I frequent.  Quite a few of them are charter captains around the Great Lakes and they send me many reels at a time.  Winter for me is the busiest time of the year since the lakes are frozen and everybody is either sitting in a shanty jigging for perch and the rest are wading the streams for winter steelhead.  I don't make a killing doing it but I supplement the income from my day job nicely.

[RB 77]

I taught my self how to maintenance, repair and tune reels several years ago and it has proven to be an invaluable skill that has paid for itself many instances over. I also build and repair my own rods along with injecting my own plastics as well.

[jimmyjoe]

   Did you ever know a person who could totally ruin a mechanical object just by looking at it sideways? Yeah. That's me. ☹️☹️   I send my reels to the factory service centers.      jj