If your interested I have a NIB BG6500CL for sale - $100 I'll pay shipping.

Sounds good to me Jeff. I sent an Email to you today.

Aww, ooohh, Jeff, Saltheart's money is no good!!! He makes it off the sweat of 2 year old child laborers in Woonsocket smelting lead canal jigs :P (joking, joking) . Please sell it to me instead!!! Seriously, that's a very nice reel and great deal to boot. I have the 6500 and 7000 Big Games and am very impressed... Saltheart, on the subject of the 6500 Big Game. Did you put the Abec-7 bearings in or are you running stock??

Thanks,

John

I completely souped it up. New abec 7 bearings a bearing levelwind and a high speed gear (levelwind and gears from a C4 swap.). This year I'll put abec 7's in the new primary reel and use the extra stock bearimgs to replace the old bearings in last years reel. Good bearings cost almost the same as the stock bearings so why not upgrade when buying replacements.
I definitely like the BG reels. The stock power handle is a big advantage over the reels that come with a paddle wheel handle. I like a bait clicker too. Mag casting controls are great but not when the slider can be moved accidently. They need to put that in on the side instead of on the top. Up where it can be moved accidently , its more trouble than its worth. I ended up taping it down on my 6500 CS Mag. Anyway , the BG has what you need and nothing to cause problems like the CS Mag.
One reel I don't talk about much is my Morrum 6600 levelwind. I like it cause its light and has the thumb button. Its similar in performance to a calcutta. It didn't hold up well to the elements though. The bearings are up on the outside shoulders of the spool. The bearings corroded in less than a season. I figured it was my fauylt for poor maintenance but Mike atb Bucko's says it happens a lot to guys who regularly dunk the reel. I wouldn't even care so much if they were normal $12 a set bearings but they are odd sized and cost $40 a set!! I did like the reel a lot while it was new. I may use it on a smaller rod for more tame conditions.

One last mod to the 6500 size Abus--replace two of the composite washers in the drag stack with two 704 sized Penn HT-100 washers. Makes a big difference in drag performance--smoother and it holds the pressure setting. The stock Abu drags are jerky and tend to fade. Greasing them makes the jerkiness go away, but they hold even less pressure.

I found two "smoothie" washers, that I bought years ago, to replace the washer that goes underneath the main gear. I'm going to install them this winter--if my season ever ends, that is :)

How many do you want John? I maybe able to obtain a couple more.......

All I have to say you can never have enough reels. Being a disciple of Saltheart make me believe in the Big Game Reels.

Saltheart,
What are you getting me for Christmas? ;) j/k
Patrick

I have an Abu 7000c3 and will be getting a BG7000
Its all stock and would like to soup it up . CAn someone give me a clue about the abec 7 gears and smoothie washers . Are there any other modifications for the 7000c3 . I just bought the 7000c3 in August00 and will be getting the BG7000 in April sometime .
Thanks in advance

Reelheads!

For the 7000C3 , I would just use it a while and see how you like it. The 7000 size reels are harder to control than the 6500 size. Till you can really handle the spool , its all the reel most people can handle as is. If you want , I think you can buy abec 7 bearings for it from Tres at hatterasoutfitters.com.

Hey Fishpart , have a Happy Thankgiving. When's that little helper going to be big enough to carry our jig bags for us? :)

go to www.hatterasoutfitters.com, click on reels, hit reel candy, and look at the whole list. Stuff for 5500, 6500, 7000, and 7500s

Tres seems like one heck of a guy. It seems like he spends hours answering questions a day.

Patrick