Striper Talk Striped Bass Fishing, Surfcasting, Boating - View Single Post - Abu-Garcia Star Series.

Mike P · 08-03-2000, 02:46 PM

John, the drag has a lot more consistency to it. Seems you can get much more pressure, and it doesn't tend to fade. However, the gear won't accept 3 of the Penn washers due to their greater thickness, you have to keep one of the originals in the mix. I use it at the bottom. While I haven't tied into anything with fins that give it a decent test, I've experimented with having someone crank line onto another reel while I held the 6500CL and gradually increased the drag to see whether it would bind or stutter. No problems, it stays smooth. The setting also seems to stay constant until the line gets way down on the spool, but if you back off a bit, it smooths right out. I've made at least 1000 casts since the switch, and the reel goes in and out of gear seamlessly, so everything fits. I'm optimistic this is a good fix. I like the Calcutta for most of my fishing, but it's a bit on the slow side for jigging the Ditch and for the fall popper fishing we have coming up. The BG 6500CL with the 5.3 retreve, loaded with 50# Power Pro, is a better jigging reel than the Calcutta.

As far as the 7000 series goes, I was initailly excited to find that the Penn 113H Senator washers were the correct diameter. However, they are much thicker than the Abu washers and the metal ones won't seat in the gear. So I'm still looking for a conversion to improve that one.

The Smoothies will work, but when I tried them a few years back they don't hold up. I tried them in both my 7000s and a Squidder long before they were well known. I used to be able to find all sorts of goodies when Merrick Tackle was in the retail business, about 3 miles from where I live. Now, of course, they're 200 miles away and wholesale only. The ones I got were indeed smooth--almost too smooth. But they wore out quickly. Maybe they've been improved since I used them.

Abu drags, even as they stand now, are much better than they used to be. When I bought my red 7000 back in 1983, it had some funky-looking washers. After a couple of seasons, they had two settings--full lock and free spool. I noticed a big difference in my next reel, the old SEVEN-C (that had a lot of plastic in it also). Much improvement in the drag. I eventually killed that reel. First conventional I'd ever worn beyond repair. The gears and bearings fit the 7000, but many of the other parts weren't interchangeable--even the spool didn't fit.

08-03-2000, 02:46 PM	#5
Mike P Jiggin' Leper Lawyer iTrader: (0) Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: 61° 30′ 0″ N, 23° 46′ 0″ E Posts: 8,158	RE:Abu-Garcia Star Series. John, the drag has a lot more consistency to it. Seems you can get much more pressure, and it doesn't tend to fade. However, the gear won't accept 3 of the Penn washers due to their greater thickness, you have to keep one of the originals in the mix. I use it at the bottom. While I haven't tied into anything with fins that give it a decent test, I've experimented with having someone crank line onto another reel while I held the 6500CL and gradually increased the drag to see whether it would bind or stutter. No problems, it stays smooth. The setting also seems to stay constant until the line gets way down on the spool, but if you back off a bit, it smooths right out. I've made at least 1000 casts since the switch, and the reel goes in and out of gear seamlessly, so everything fits. I'm optimistic this is a good fix. I like the Calcutta for most of my fishing, but it's a bit on the slow side for jigging the Ditch and for the fall popper fishing we have coming up. The BG 6500CL with the 5.3 retreve, loaded with 50# Power Pro, is a better jigging reel than the Calcutta. As far as the 7000 series goes, I was initailly excited to find that the Penn 113H Senator washers were the correct diameter. However, they are much thicker than the Abu washers and the metal ones won't seat in the gear. So I'm still looking for a conversion to improve that one. The Smoothies will work, but when I tried them a few years back they don't hold up. I tried them in both my 7000s and a Squidder long before they were well known. I used to be able to find all sorts of goodies when Merrick Tackle was in the retail business, about 3 miles from where I live. Now, of course, they're 200 miles away and wholesale only. The ones I got were indeed smooth--almost too smooth. But they wore out quickly. Maybe they've been improved since I used them. Abu drags, even as they stand now, are much better than they used to be. When I bought my red 7000 back in 1983, it had some funky-looking washers. After a couple of seasons, they had two settings--full lock and free spool. I noticed a big difference in my next reel, the old SEVEN-C (that had a lot of plastic in it also). Much improvement in the drag. I eventually killed that reel. First conventional I'd ever worn beyond repair. The gears and bearings fit the 7000, but many of the other parts weren't interchangeable--even the spool didn't fit.