i have no background with conventional reels i got a abu trophy series lefty 6500 and am having a tough time getting any distance from it. i have heard about "tuning" conventional reels could some one give me directions on tuning this reel? and what maybe i am doing wrong?

thanks

Tie on whatever plug you are going to use, tighten up the cast control on the side plate so the plug slowly goes down from a level rod tip on its own, Then continue to loosen the cast control until the lure drops down quick enough that when it hits the ground the line just starts to slowly birdsnest off the spool. This is your baseline as your thumb control increases, you'll be able to loosen it a little more...

i tried and tried ,and i just cannot get the distance on my abu 6500 , i can get almost twice the distance on a spinner , now i just use it for catching bait , not one of my better investments :doh:

There is a cheap plasticy bushinged 6500 that odes not cast worth sheet... But a most of the C3 + models are fine. My Mag Elite is pretty nice...

maybe taking off one of the brake blocks might do it?

Hey guys I just yesterday got news from a reputed dealer of foreign supplied Abu reels that resides in North Carolina that the US market will be soon be seeing the return of the Original Mag Elite and Blue Yonder Models....he says these will be the real deel, not some cheap remakes

just passing this along as those of us who know this man know he gets the info

I second canal rat with taking off casting brakes, i took 2 off of my abu 7000c3, it gave me a bit more distance. I would assume your reel has the same braking system, but i may be wrong. Im glad it didtscrew anything up when i took em off because i lost em the next day.

If you really want to tune.

Take the spool out of the reel and take the bearings off. Clean the bearing s in some solvent to remove the factory grease. Let the solvent evaporate and then oil up the bearings with a light oil. Sewing machine oil works well, but there are soem high performance oils out there, M&D's has some stuff called rocket fuel for reel bearings, but you'll need to oil frequently. Remove one or all of the brake blocks. Oil the level wind worm gear after cleaning ( they are greased at the factory) and tip the reel up on its side and put a couple fo drops of oil where the level wind worm gear goes into the side frame. Don't slop too much oil on because if you slop it on it will find it's way into the drag somehow. Adjust the cast control like John R says.... If the bearings feel rough when you spin them you may need new....

Good Luck>

what rod are you using?

what are you casting?

The heck with the conservative , no overrun adjustments. Leave just one centrifugal break in there. Adjust the side tension so that there is no tension , in fact , you want the spool to move back and forth sideways about 30 thousandths.

that reel will then be running as fast as I would dare use it. Then , you will only be limited by your ability to control the wide open reel with your thumb.

Do as fishpart said to clean the old grease out.

this is my first year casting conventional and i have to agree with saltheart, if you rely on casting brakes, your going to run into trouble. make as smooth of a cast as possible and rely on your thumb to do the work. Use your ears too :D

what rod are you using?

what are you casting?

i am using a 9ft conventional penn guide pro 1-4oz

i have been using old sinkers

Must be them old sinkers. they just don't cast as far when they get old. :)

If the reel has a level wind spray the plastic geers with WD40 to clean out the grease. THis grease will slow down the reel

Go with what Saltheart says. Getting too technical sometimes messes ya up unless you're going for the gold as a Tournament caster. IMHO

Oh yeah, Saltheart, in a thread earlier this year I asked about new lines. I stayed with the old Spectron...had some left. Had bought it from Mike at M&D a few years ago.