Last night was an epic night for me. It began with purchasing an Eagle Claw Featherlight, 6'6". I made the mistake of going to the local sportsman's store to find the rod. Its a rod I've seen there all summer. They were out of it, no biggie. The mistake was going into a store that sells firearms right now. What a madhouse! People are gun crazy right now. Everyone, just take a deep breath. As I was leaving, two cop cars pulled up w/ their lights on. Maybe some one's background check turned up something they were hoping would stayed buried!
I ended up getting the rod off Amazon. With my free 2 day shipping (thanks to Amazon Prime), I'll have the rod for this weekend's outings. $26 shipped, can't beat that. Time to see if this rod lives up to its reputation.
The reel I want to use with the rod is currently occupying the reel seat on my Fenwick. I have a Pflueger Medalist for the Fenwick, but the reel foot broke. I haven't been able to find a replacement, and the prices of the Medalist have skyrocketed since the reel was taken out of production. I don't exactly want to pay three times the cost of what I paid originally for the reel. That's ridonkulous. So I decided it was time to Amish Rig the Medalist. Now, I'm not the most crafty, handy person, but I'm not an idiot either. Here's what I did. I had a medal reel foot from another reel that I don't use currently. The contour and curves of this reel foot seemed to fit perfectly the contours of the broken reel seat of the Medalist. I reached for my tubes of J-B Weld, a remarkable product if I may say so, and got to work. I laid the new reel foot underneath the remaining piece of the Medalist reel foot and welded that son of a gun together, stuck it in a C-clamp overnight, and this morning that thing was solid as a rock! I pulled w/ all my might and could not tear that reel foot apart. Repair success. I screwed the seat back into the reel, slapped it on the Fenwick, and it was like a reunion with an old friend! Glad to have my black beauty back.
I should rename this thread to "The Great Pflueger Pfail". My "J-B Weld" job came undone. I don't think I was getting a good enough contact between the surface of the old reel foot and the new one. So, onto Ebay I went, and found a Martin 61 for $8.00. Tuna Can on the Fenwick. Tired of messing w/ this Medalist. Maybe some day the price will go back down.
ReplyDeletethe 1 pfoot duder is dead, but sold off most of his business to someone new who's producing, among other things, the feet.
ReplyDeletegoogle is your friend.
i haven't seen the 6'6" rods in any stores here, only the 7' and 8'. the 8' is dog.
I saw that he died, fairly recently right? I'll google a new reel foot eventually. Fortunately I can keep experimenting with trying to repair the broken foot w/out messing up the actual reel.
ReplyDelete