Random reel I found in my garage

I was cleaning out some of my fishing shelves and cabinets in my garage and came across this little bad boy. I bought this for 5 bucks from a guy who thought it was "broken" when I was in my teens.
The reel wasn't broken, the line release lever was permanently stuck in the open position due to dirt and grime getting in there.
Took it home, cleaned it and it was like new. I put it away and completely forgot about it.
Anybody know anything about these little reels? Looks and feels pretty solid.
I'm planning on taking it out for some Kokanee. I figured after years of sitting in a box it's time I see what this old Abu is made of.





Paul


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Paul
Thats a nice light duty reel. Should do you well for trout bass panfish and kokes.

The round ones are getting hard to find they went to the teardrop configuration a few years ago. But there's plenty of information out there on the web about them.

My first baitcaster, purchased in about 1989-90 was an Abu Garcia made in Sweden...it was a black semi-low profile Ultra-cast model, and I paid about $60 for it.  I fished it hard for bass, pike, chum salmon/steelhead and occasionally even trout for about 15 yrs before I considered it pretty much worn out because it wouldn't cast as smoothly/far as the 2nd baitcaster (a green Curado) I got in about 2000.

Then somebody bid over $30 for it in a eBay auction I ran to get $ to buy another green Curado.  The Swedish made Garcia's are definitely sturdy reels.

Thanks for the input. It feels like its made out of aluminum. I'm pretty sure it needs some new drag washers as the drag is a bit jerky, but I'm sure I can find some online somewhere.
I just really like its size. I'm unaccustomed to bait casters that are not low profile being this small. It's defiantly got a unique feel.


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Hah! You should see the narrow spool C3's and 4's.  Seriously, spend a few minutes checking out the abu site about their round reels. Make you think again about misjudging a reel by it's size. (Same could be said for Avets, too).

Then take your butt over to alantani.com, register, and dig thru his Library of Alexandria sized trove how to's to learn how to do it right. You can probably even order the drag washers and grease from him too.

I changed out the drag washers on an older abu c4 I got for free last year.
Per Alantani's suggestion I put in the carbon fiber drag washers that I ordered from  http://www.smoothdrag.com/  . Drag feels just like my Revo Toro's now. Very nice!
They also sell the Cal's drag grease you need to grease the carbon fiber with & Corrosion X for lubing the bearings. I don't know if they sell washers for your reel but I'd give them a call & see what they can do or check their website anyways.

I just broke down this little reel and it even after all of these years it's amazing clean. The drag washers definitely need replacing so I got onto Smoothdrag.com and within 15 minutes had new carbontex drag washers paid for and shipped. Man those guys work fast. The bearings appeared to be in good shape, but I'm going to give them a drop of Hot Sauce anyway to help them spin a bit better. Other than that, this reel is good to go.
Thanks for all the advice fellas.

If you ever find a reel that needs some work, check out Ollie Damon's on SE Grand in Portland.  They are usually busy because they are good at working on fishing reels.  They do a nice job on my saltwater reels.

If you ever find a reel that needs some work, check out Ollie Damon's on SE Grand in Portland.  They are usually busy because they are good at working on fishing reels.  They do a nice job on my saltwater reels.

I actually just picked up a couple of my reels from there last week. They do fantastic work. They cleaned my Calcutta 400 TE and put in some higher end bearings than what it came with. I didn't think that reel could feel any smoother but damn, it's better now than when I bought it new. I highly recommend Ollie Damon's.
I usually like to do any reel work on my own. It's a challenge to figure out a new reel, and pretty rewarding once its done. But I wasn't about to tackle the Calcutta. The inside of that this is an engineering marvel.


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I had a bit of free time on my hands this morning so I broke this little Abu open and did a deep clean on it.

All of the gears looked great with minimal wear. I ended up replacing the 3 stage drag washers with brand new Carbontex washers from SmoothDrag. I highly recommend these washers. They have some amazing strength.
So, this little guy is back in business with a good cleaning, oiling, new drag washers, and some sweet new 8lb. Gamma Copolymer Fluorescent Blue line.

Now all I need is some time to go hunt some Kokanee.
Paul


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