Sharphooks
Well-Known Member
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

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

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