What to do with this Reel?

[JohnR]

Welcome aboard David!!

From what I'm seeing after a quick search on the web, a new 2.5/0 is running $1600.00 and a vintage reel, never been fixed, could be worth around the same if it is in truely excellent shape. From the pictures, it looks like overkill. Here was a link that I saw for current pricing, http://www.7seasint.com/ShopSite/finnor_bg.html

If you chose to sell the reel it sounds like you could outfit your boat AND put a big dent in your yearly fuel bill... That's if you want to sell it. If it has sentimental value, you can gear up for a few hundred for trolling stripers and keep the reel... I have a couple old, sixties vintage ABU 6000Cs from my grandfather that I was using up until a few years ago. I've seen the photos that show me standing next to him fishing these reels when I was 3 years old in '71. They've since been retired but I'm going to hang on to them...

You could setup with a pair of good 7 foot boat rods and reels for trolling stripers for about $300-400...

Tough call, David but it sounds like you inherited a nice piece of equipment...