This story starts with a reel.
My reel.
I returned home from a few days in the salt and my Abu
Garcia Orra Inshore seemed sluggish. Surf fishing and reeling in 30 pound
Stingrays tends to do that to a mid-range reel.
Me, being the penny pincher I
am (try to be), decided to buy a cleaning kit, watch a How To You Tube video
and clean the Orra myself. Bad mistake. I managed to keep all of the parts
(small miracle) and then posted a distress call on Facebook.
Beau Reed of Papa Chops Rod and Reel Repair said he could
get it back and going again. We were going to be fishing at Lake Austin with a
bunch of folks in a few days so I bagged it up to take it to him.
I got to chatting with Beau around the campfire that weekend
and he asked me if I wanted to do a bearing upgrade with Bocas while he was
fixing my reel. I had always heard about Boca Bearings but never really
understood what they would do for me. Beau talked me through it and I agreed.
A few days later I get a notification on Facebook that I
have been tagged in a new video. The video was Beau, showing my reel completed,
upgraded and then I saw it. Holy Freaking Moses I saw it! He spun the spool on
that Orra and it just kept going. I could have made a sandwich in the time it
took it to stop. He made a $150 reel spin better than any $300 reel on the
market! (For those keeping score, Beau can do most bearing upgrades with a
cleaning for less than $70 total.)
I got the reel back that week and got to fish with it. After
the first cast, I had to relearn what adjustments needed to be made. Usually I
would adjust the drag to where a bait would slowly fall and cast it without
much worry. I learned to do that on my reels because my spool would stop
spinning before it would overrun. With Bocas, the spool keeps going so
different adjustments needed to happen. I tightened down a little more and
minded my thumb a little more and threw that bait, a 4” weightless Hag’s
Tornado (plastic worm) twice if not three times farther than normal.
Two to three times farther!
I have always kept a small arsenal of spinning gear because
I liked the distance I could get when casting weightless soft plastics. I am
seriously reconsidering that now. On Thursday, I have more work being done by Beau
at Papa Chops Rod and Reel Repair and you’re absolutely right if you guessed
Boca Bearings will be involved. Want to see a video with the reel he Boca'd? Check it out here:
(You'll need to either friend me or like the page to see it. )
Do you have a favorite reel that needs a make over? Do you
have a newer reel that you want to sing when you cast it? Give Beau a call at
512-294-3155. Ask him for the Boca Treatment. Saltwater reels? No problem.
Freshwater reels? Of course!
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