Question re:Reel Seats & Reel Feet-Different Brands

[Dogbreath]

So I bought this great 9.6 Roy McPherson made trolling rod at an auction in Burnaby today not cheap but it's what I wanted an unused antique.

The issue I've found is that he seems to have used a smaller sized reel seat and there's no way it'll fit a Shimano mooching reel-a Calcutta 400B barely fits (had to do some scratching to make that work not too pleased about that but whatever) but then I found an Abu 5500 fits easily.

So my questions for the brain trust here are......

1-are Daiwa mooching reel seats smaller than Shimano?

2-is there are 'Islander clone' that you know about with smaller sized reel seat?(not interested in an Islander)

3-are newer Abu Garcia reel seats the same size they have been over the years?

The one that fits is at least 25yo and is the only one I own at present; hope you enjoy the lousy pics

TIA

 

[Aces]

I’ve had to grind the feet of reels to make them fit before.

You can do eet!

 

[Sharphooks]

With all due respects to Aces, No need to grind the feet of a reel to make it fit in a rod seat. I have a cabinet full of 100 year old antique Hardy reels, some having reel feet 3” to 4” long. Taking the feet off those not only creates balance issues on the rod but dramatically effect value if you want to re-sell. I use two methods of steering clear of a grinder:

1)) remove and replace the reel seat on the rod. You can see in the attached picture the wooden inserts I used to increase the real estate of the reel seats to fit the large feet

Second Option:

2)) get a Dremel with a small sanding band and shave down the cork handle so you can back off the retaining ring to get the foot in place, then tighten it back down. I use electrical tape to make sure the reel stays in place...I shaved the cork down on my Sage 106 to make by antique SeaOs fit in there ...a small price to pay to keep the foot of that reel intact. It has a ratchet that sings like a stuck pig when you get a pissed-off chinook peeling line so it was worth the effort to be able to use that reel on the Sage

The zip ties are used to hold a loop of surgical tubing—-that’s how I guard against reel creep when using a single action knuckle buster in a downrigger

 

[Dogbreath]

1)) remove and replace the reel seat on the rod.

Great idea and looking carefully it's not that hard-so I called a few tackle shops one in Coquitlam wanted 80% more than the guy on Lonsdale in North Van I guess you know who'll get the job.