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Repairing Reels

Nanna Pearl's avatar
Nanna Pearl 17 posts
17 posts
Nanna Pearl says:
Hello All!

I have a kid who hates fishing, but he is in a scout troop, and quite a few of the boys want to learn how to fish,but have no roods or reels. I am trying to get gear together for our outings.

I like many who fish, have a few odds and ends when it comes to fishing gear.
I am trying to fix four broken reels, two I can just put handles on, the other two I am not sure about.

Where would be a good place to send broken reels? Many are old, and I have no idea where they came from.

Thanks,

Nanna
Likes: 0 Login to reply 11 years ago
markt's avatar
markt 518 posts
Hi Nanna Pearl

It's quite difficult to fix broken reels. I tried a few times without much success.
Got them working for a week or so an then they became stuck again.
But those were pretty cheap budget reels - if you have some quality reels it might be easier to get spare parts and repair them.

There should be a few places in your area that can repair reels.
Where are you located?

tight lines
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Nanna Pearl's avatar
Nanna Pearl 17 posts
Thank you for the reply. I am in the states ...Kentucky.

I have also been making hand lines for the kids. They have worked for centuries, and I know how to fix them!
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Nanna Pearl's avatar
Nanna Pearl 17 posts
I was able to score some rods and reels at a yard sale! Most all of them are Abu Garcia
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markt's avatar
markt 518 posts
Abu Garcia make quite nice reels. Although from my experience they don't last as long as Shimano. But I'm quite rough with my reels and they get dunked in saltwater all the time when I fish from my kayak.

So no more fixing then?
I was gonna suggest to check at your nearest tackle shop.
If I need to fix something and can't do it myself the guys at my local shop can usually fix it for me.
Likes: 0 Login to reply 11 years ago
jonboat315's avatar
jonboat315 26 posts
One real good place i"ve found, not only for rel repair, but also for electric trolling motor schematics and parts, is a place called Mike's Reel Repair. He's actually to our north in BC Canada, but he ships to the US.

His website is at http://www.mikesreelrepair.com

I haven't had any reels to repair, but have gone through him to get parts for my trolling motor as well as parts to fix my neighbor's trolling motor several times (he keeps burning up the switches by leaving the motor on while it's clogged with weeds and won't turn). Have had good experience with him each time and his prices are very competitive.

You may want to check out if the reels you have are something he fixes.
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Rex Ursus's avatar
Rex Ursus 15 posts
Yup. I'm in Victoria bc. Mike's is the only one I know of. Parts are hard to find these days and very expensive. I just buy the same make and model over the years and canabalize them. It is cheaper than searching for and buying parts.
Manufacturers don't want us repairing reels. Just try and find bail springs!
Likes: 0 Login to reply 10 years ago
jonboat315's avatar
jonboat315 26 posts
Along those lines, most of my reels are of the inexpensive variety and when one goes belly-up, they're cheap enough that I usually just replace it.

I do have some higher cost trolling reels and some nice conventional reels on my bottom-bouncer rods - those don't see a lot of abuse, and were I to have problems, that is when I'd contact Mike's for schematics and parts.

I forgot to mention above, that He doesn't just repair reels, he also has schematics and will sell you parts to DIY the repairs.
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