Fly Rod / Centerpin Rod Modification For Antique Reels

[Sharphooks]

It makes me cringe hearing people talk about filing the feet of antique fly reels and centerpin reels to make them fit a "modern" reel seat. To side-step this abomination, I figured out a relatively simple mod that can be done on any rod to allow flexibility in choice of reels and thought I'd pass it on

This picture shows a No. 6 and a No. 8 Sage One blank.



In preparation for a trip up to Skeena country in October, I took a dremel and cut off the original Sage reel seat of the No. 8 . I then purchased a longer reel seat, added some cork to the rear grip to move the reel seat further up the blank (just preference---that orientation allows a double handed rod to be turned into a single handed rod ---the cork rests on your forearm when casting and gives lots of leverage)

---the real mod, however, was what I did to the cork just ahead of the threaded portion of the real seat, a mod that ANYBODY can do to an existing rod to allow for reels with longer feet---I sanded the cork down flush with the reel seat---the threaded rings can be pulled up OVER the cork, then tightened back down onto the threaded portion of the seat to secure the reel once its reel in place. The mod takes all of five minutes of work

Here's a close-up of the mod: you can see the feet of these reels would NOT fit the seat if the retaining rings couldn't be backed off over the cork of the foregrip




All but two or three of the reels in this case have feet that will not fit a modern reel seat---some of the feet are 4 1/2 " long---most modern reel seats are 3 1/2" to 4" long





I used the same mod on my centerpin rods so the Longstones and Super Silexes would fit some of my other rods

I got the Sage One blank finished the day before I left for my Skeena trip this year. It was sweet reward to get up North and have the best trip I've ever had in over 39 years of fishing the Skeena ---totally nuts fishing--- at least one double digit day---haven't had that type of fishing since the early 80's s---but the real bonus-- getting to enjoy all those gorgeous fish on reels that are almost 125 years old!

That wouldn't have been possible without that simple mod I did on the foregrip of the cork and the reel seat

 

[Hyde-N-Seek]

That's a great tip sharphooks. Well done. Didn't think about that which makes entire sense!!

Now if you have a simple instructions on how to convert a Super from right handed to left handed?? Lol.

Congrats on the trip up north. We did the same trip up there and was not good due to blown out in late August. It's probably safer bet to go up there in Oct.

Thanks for the tip. I no longer have to just use the sliding reel seat rod in order to fish my Super.

 

[Sharphooks]

hey H+S,

Not sure I can add anything to the drill of converting a Super from right hand to southpaw other then just switching it around on the reel and pulling out the pawl so it doesn't engage---nice thing about rim control---the pawl always has back-up with the palm...

But I can tell you how NOT to fasten a reel to a rod---this was the dumb-arse way I had to attach one of my Perfects last fall when I was up on Skeena before I figured out that mod with the cork and the retaining rings I used this fall:



Using wire-ties from a chunk of broccoli to hold a very old Hardy on a rod probably isn't a creative mod I'd boast about on a forum...in retrospect I cringe thinking about the outcome if those ties had come loose and that reel had hit the rocks...

Ya, this year was a strange year----lots of big water in Aug and September then low and clear all October---for the last ten trips it's been the exact OPPOSITE for me....always a gamble no matter when you decide to bust a move for the north country, no doubt

Sure was nice stumbling into lots of steel after the skinny fishing for springs this summer, though. Makes me glad I have the freshwater river habit in equal measure to the salt chuck, probably like lots of guys on this forum.

 

[Hyde-N-Seek]

Ya, I just reeled right handed instead. It's ok but not ideal.

Those broccoli wires are not good. You are tempting fate with that hardy. Lol. Electrician tapes probably better. Lol.

Did you take your raft and jet up there or walk and wade?

I heard it was a gong show up in the night T this year before the shut down. It was horrible last year for numbers of fish, one of the lowest ever. At least it's stable up north.

Let's see some picture diary??
It's always a treat. Lol.

 

[Sharphooks]

I was waiting for the flamers, Hyde n Seek-- main reason I don't post "picture diaries" any more. They've sucked the joy out of story telling

Two fish, both in the water, neither ever touched, both swum away none the worse for wear.

And funny thing, here I sat waiting for them to spit and fume over the pictures in the Fernie Flyfish Journal that Derby posted--- guides and their clients holding native cutthroat tight in hand before release---but wait, maybe in their eyes a cutthroat is lower on the evolutionary scale, not really worth the bother....

They'd rather save it all up for two fish that were never touched by human hands.

Gotta love it.

 

[Hyde-N-Seek]

It's too bad sharphooks. I understand. Most people don't appreciated and picked on everything. It's nature of being able to do that behind keyboards. Too bad. Really destroyed all the fun out of fish pictures. Appreciated the pics from past. It's not really worth it.

Thanks.

 

[treblig]

Here is my two cents. The forum is to share stories and adventures. When flamers, trollers , or fishers enter the forum they get a high on others emotional responses. The issue of control is the is the responsibility of the moderator. If the moderator does not have the strength to protect those few and there is not many left members that still love to share and keep forums alive then all is lost. I have not posted for a while and thought I would come back . I see though nothing has changed.
These flamers don't care about forums. Maybe its time for action before its to late to act before it looses more members that love to share without personal attacks.
Now I know I am opening myself up for engagement to attack so I will tell those now you will not get any enjoyment as I will not respond .

I ask to those that believe this forum is worth saving share your thought s to the moderator.

Moderator..... remove all negative posts and get this thread back on track.

This is my personal opinion and I do Not mean to offend

 

[Fins -n- Skins]

I also enjoy Sharpie's diary and pictures and I'm sure he has lots of respect for these fish.. Post your pics Trebig as most of us enjoy the pictures.. Your entitled to your opinion White buck but as a new member you need to have some respect for long time members or move on !!

 

[Admin]

My apologies for not noticing the derailing of this thread earlier. I have removed the negative posts and will remind that our posting guidelines state the following:

Do not pounce on people’s fish photos. This is a site designed to share in the experience of fishing and people enjoy seeing others success. If you feel a comment on improved handling of fish may be warranted, use Private Message or start a thread on fish handling procedures.

Sharphooks, Treblig and anyone else who have photos and stories to share, I hope you continue to do just that and advise us when things go sideways.

Brian

 

[treblig]

I agree. Modifying antique reel Shoe (seats ) is not the best interest . They are yours though and you can do what you like but there other options. First the rods with reel rings. I hate those but they have a function. My first use of them on the Stamp River a ring slipped while fighting a steelhead and the reel nearly went into the river. To stop this most anglers with use some type of tape to secure the rings from slipping. I am one of those in my earlier days. I realized though the tape would slowly destroy the cork handle. Then came the ability to actually slide the full reel seat up and down the rod around 12 inches and then the reel seat itself could expand up to 5 inches.

Now I made a video on this rod and I apologize as it was made as me being their head pro staff. So if I brake rules and it looks like advertising you can remove this post and I will not be offended. It does explain allot about the rod system and I think thats the value I am trying to share to save the anituqe reels .

 

[Sharphooks]

Thanks for trying to get this thread back on track, treblig, thanks to Admin for clearing the air and thanks for the supportive comments from some of the Forum members

That being said, I feel I should clear the air.

I'll admit--- I react to fish-handling criticisms with a bit of hot blood mainly because of my convictions that the guys throwing the hand grenades do so from a standpoint of ignorance --- it's not that they're necessarily stupid. But it's clear to me they're both inexperienced and perhaps not thinking through what the operational realities might be for a guy like me who prefer to fish steelhead ALONE.

I have chased steel with a fly since the mid 70's. I was turning loose fish a decade before it became a regulatory requirement. I used barbless hooks long before you had to, and the most important point I'll mention----I learned long ago that Skeena fall-run steelhead in most water conditions are NOT leader shy. Once I figured that out, I consistently started using 15 pound test tippet, sometimes 20 lb.

I studied fish biology in college and worked in fisheries for many years. I learned long ago about lactic acid-- what it was, how it built-up in a stressed fish and why it's critical to get the fight over in short order and send the fish on its way.

So with the exception of a girlfriend I used to have years ago who would disappear up to the Skeena with me in August and live out of the back of a Toyota pick-up and chase steelhead with me until the snow started falling in December, I have always fished ALONE. In fact, these days, with the exception of that past girlfriend and a trip I took with my daughter, I take huge pride that nobody has EVER seen me catch a steelhead. To be able to say that in this day of internet saturation is no small feat. Getting double digits in the one spectacular day I had last month and never seeing another human being was almost shocking to me.

So this brings up the operational realities which I mentioned above---what does a guy do who always fishes ALONE (especially when in a tight spot,trees behind him, no river bank etc, while using 14 - 16 foot rods) to get a fight over in a hurry and most important of all, minimize lactic acid build-up and stress in the fish he's got on?

I hand-line the fish.





Yes, I didn't expect that one to slither up on the rocks but a gentle nudge with the shoe got her back in the water and she was on her way after pulling the hook.

With 15 lb test tippet, I have full confidence that I can hand-line a fish to the beach, get the hook out, and send the fish on its merry way in half the time that it takes most fly boys to go through all the crap they do, running back and forth on the beach, reeling in, reeling out, shouting, fist bumping their buddies, all the while trying to keep pressure on a fish in the shallows and making sure they don't high-stick and break the tip of their rod. Twenty minutes later they have their conquest. What they don't know, with all that babying, even if the fish breaks off 10 feet from shore---they have just severely beaten up a fish they didn't have to beat up due to crumby fighting technique

And let's say your average fly-boy or gear chucker is determined not to get a fish near the beach and the rest of the fight takes place in a foot of water: the physics of that scenario absolutely do not support the outcome of an unstressed fish by the time you get the hook out. You need something solid under the fish for them to calm down ---Way better to get them onto the edge of the river bank, get the hook out and send them on their way.

The only other option is a net: I see guides doing this: netting a fish for his client when that fish could way more efficiently be hand-lined onto the edge of the river and the hook pulled -- nets---probably the most idiotic piece of fishing equipment an angler can carry who is not fishing from a boat, or for an angler with C&R in mind---

Nets are for killing fish. Period.


So do I take pictures when I get the fish quietly in the shallows? Yes, I do. I design all my own rods and fit them with reels from a really nice collection of antique reels ----all of them get used and I derive great joy seeing the rod, the reel and the fish in a picture and I won't apologize for it, mainly because in releasing thousands of fish over the last 39 years of fly fishing for Skeena steelhead, I have NEVER been concerned about whether I had overly taxed the fish, mainly due to the use of burly tippet in conjunction with the hand-lining approach then seeing the way these fish jet away after pulling the hook

I can say unequivocally that the fish you see here swum away unharmed, eventhough I got my hero shot with my hand-made rod:





I will, however, admit to causing the death of a fish in my C&R career: I inadvertently killed a doe I caught on a dry fly on one of the larger Fraser tributary back in the 80's.

I was fishing an up-stream dry fly (like the brown trout guys do). A big doe came up and literally inhaled the free-drifting dry fly. It hung up on one of her branchiostegals, ended up nicking one of them, and she bled to death in the shallows. This was back in the days when you could keep a fish. But that didn't exactly take the sting out of knowing I'd killed a big doe that probably had 10,000 eggs in her skeins and the overall population, even back then, was not what you'd call robust

The irony of doing that on an up-stream fished dry fly was not lost on me. Everyone knows it's the gear chuckers throwing chunks of roe and sand bugs that deep throat and kill steelhead---not the sanctimonious fly fishermen who's scat has no smell... yet here I was killing steel with a dry fly.....

Lactic acid--- I have NEVER had to " massage" a fish in the water (move it back and forth) like I see some of the fly-boys doing (they saw it on a YouTube vid and figured that was normal behavior for C&R) , oblivious to the fact that by touching a fish, they are wiping off the fungal-protecting slime with their hands, and they are NOT doing the fish any favors --- and on top of that, they mistakenly think that the gloves they wear are not going to wipe off protective slime? My guess---quite the contrary---gloves cause friction and cause worse damage.- in removing slime then a wet hand--- The fish I hook I don't touch, ever----they swim away immediately, no resuscitating required , usually soaking me from head to toe on the departure.

So I'll shut up now. Public forums are for the public. But I wish that some of these grenade throwers would contribute a bit more to the forum and throw less grenades, especially when they do so from an uninformed position.

That would be a public service that would promote a bit more cohesion in this forum and there would probably be more guys and gals posting

And to show there are no hard feelings, I'll take the time to post one more fish picture, which unequivocally shows poor fish handling technique: this picture was taken by my girlfriend in 1977 on the Kispiox. This was back before I learned how to properly fight and handle fish.

I am ashamed of it

 

[treblig]

Thanks for trying to get this thread back on track, treblig, and thanks to Admin for clearing the air.

That being said, I feel I should clear the air.

I'll admit--- I react to fish-handling criticisms with a bit of hot blood mainly because of my convictions that the guys throwing the hand grenades do so from a standpoint of ignorance --- it's not that they're necessarily stupid. But it's clear to but they're both inexperienced and not thinking through what the operational realities might be for people like me who prefer to fish steelhead ALONE.

I have chased steel with a fly since the mid 70's. I was turning loose fish a decade before it became a regulatory requirement. I used barbless hooks long before you had to, and the most important point I'll mention----I learned long ago that Skeena fall-run steelhead in most water conditions are NOT leader shy. Once I figured that out, I consistently started using 15 pound test tippet, and sometimes 20 lb.

I studied fish biology in college and worked in fisheries for many years. I learned long ago about lactic acid-- what it was, how it built-up in a stressed fish and why it's critical to get the fight over in short order and send the fish on its way.

So with the exception of a girlfriend I used to have years ago who would disappear up to the Skeena with me in August and live out of the back of a Toyota pick-up and chase steelhead with me until the snow started falling in December, I have always fished ALONE. In fact, these days, with the exception of that girl and a trip I took with my daughter, I take huge pride that nobody has EVER seen me catch a steelhead. To be able to say that in this day of internet saturation is no small feat.

So this brings up the operational realities which I mentioned above---what does a guy do who always fishes ALONE (especially when in a tight spot,trees behind him, no river bank etc, while using a 14 - 16 foot rod) to get a fight over in a hurry and most important of all, minimize lactic acid build-up in the fish he's got on?

I hand-line the fish. I wear gloves ALWAYS and with 15 lb test tippet, have full confidence that I can hand-line a fish to the beach, get the hook out, and send the fish on its merry way in half the time that it takes most fly boys to go through all the crap they do, running back and forth on the beach, reeling, shouting, fist bumping their buddies, all the while trying to keep pressure on a fish in the shallows and making sure they don't high-stick and break the tip of their rod.

So do I take pictures when I get the fish quietly in the shallows? Yes, I do. I design all my own rods and fit them with reels from a really nice collection of antique reels ----all of them get used and I derive great joy seeing the rod, the reel and the fish in a picture and I won't apologize for it, mainly because in releasing thousands of fish over the last 39 years of fly fishing for Skeena steelhead, I have NEVER been concerned about whether I had overly taxed the fish, mainly due to the use of burly tippet in conjunction with the hand-lining approach.

I will say that the one fish I inadvertently killed was a doe I caught on a large Fraser tributary. I was fishing an up-stream dry fly (like the brown trout guys do). A big doe came up and inhaled the dry fly. It hung up on one of her branchiostegals, nicked it, and she bled to death in the shallows. This was back in the days when you could keep a fish but that didn't exactly take the sting out of knowing I'd killed a big doe that probably had 10,000 eggs in her skeins and the overall population, even back then, was not what you's call robust

The irony of doing that on an up-stream fished dry fly was not lost on me.

But I never lay a finger on my fish. I have never had to " massage" a fish in the water (move it back and forth) like some fly-boys (unwittingly) feel they have to do, oblivious to the fact that wiping off the fungal-protecting slime with their hands is not doing the fish any favors ---these fish swim away immediately, usually soaking me from head to toe on the departure.

So I'll shut up now. Public forums are for the public. But I wish that some of these grenade throwers would contribute a bit more to the forum then throwing grenades. That would be a public service that would promote a bit more cohesion in the forum

And to show there are no hard feelings, I'll take the time to post one more fish picture, which unequivocally shows poor fish handling technique: this picture was taken by my girlfriend in 1977 on the Kispiox. This was back before I learned how to properly fight and handle fish. I am ashamed of it

OH MY..... I recognize those rocks . Especially that big one on the right .. I peed on it. hahahahaha Back to serous I think those fish are the best for tenderness while being smoked. ...... lol