Evansville Area Reel Repair

[elnutsmalljaws]

Looking for someone to work on a spinning reel. Any suggestions?

[Moose1am]

I would like to know if there is someone that can clean reels for a fair price. I use to watch my dad take his reels apart and service them. But that was back when they were so complicated as they are today. He use to use Trichloroethylene to clean the oil and grease out of them and then he would dry them and re grease and oil them and put them back together. Most of his reels were pre 1986 types. Older Ambassadors or Pfluegers. I had a few daiwa and shimanos as well.

I think that Evansville could use a reel repair shop. We only have one camera shop here these days.

I want to get some of those reel protection covers from Bass Pro Shop to keep over my reels. They are stored in my boat year round and while driving along gravel road they get a lot of dust on the reels. That's hard on reels.

Most of my newer reels are cheap open faced spinning reels from Shakespeare. I have a few new reels that I want to keep clean until I actually start to use them.

If you find some one that works on reels please post the information on this thread.

I'll look around and see if any one knows of anyone. There was a sporting goods store out on the West side of town and I was given a name of a guy that worked on rods. But I think he stopped working on them or moved.

[bassmanic1]

Hey all ,
For any fishing reel repair I would recommend Bass Pro Shops repair center . Check it out online { web address - http://www.basspro.com/servlet/catal...2&cmid=SITEMAP } or in their fishing catalog . I have several $200 Shimano reels and wouldnt want some gomer at a backwoods bait shop trying to clean them . Moose , the west side bait shop you were talking about was called G & S tackle on Maryland st. , it closed about 7 years ago after the owner died . He was a really nice guy and good with reels plus he cut arrows . Hated to see that happen , there are only 3 bait shops in Evansville now , Smiths on Morgan having the best bait in my opinion . Hope this helps and good luck !

[Moose1am]

Thanks for the update.

There use to be a rod and reel shop out on North Main Street years ago. There was a small brand new sporting goods store out by the New Movie Theater. It's on the North side of the Road. The road that goes between Boenhe Camp road and Red Bank and that runs parallel to the Highway 62 west and is just South of the highway. Is that called Pearl Drive? I can't recall exactly where it's located out there sorry.

As for minnows I get mine at the Evansville Worm Ranch out on old boonville highway. Take Burkharkt Road North from Highay 62 or Morgan Ave and go to the first Stop light. Turn right onto Old Boonville Highway and go about 1 mile (estimated) it's on the East side of the road and there is a big sign out in the front yard. Its at the top of the hill and back off the road there is a big red barn like structure where they keep all the minnows in about 12 huge 6000 gallon tanks. It's at 7349 Old Boonville Highway. If you get to the new Lynch Road you have gone too far North and need to turn back around. It's North of the intersection of Mike and Matt run the place and are really good folks.

They are the wholesale bait sellers for this area. I think they supply the minnows to all the local bait shops including smittys.

I buy my minnows by the 1/4 lb and keep them at home. I keep them in a couple of 5 gallon buckets and use Better Bait blue crystals to treat the water. I could keep them in a bigger styrofoam container but I don't keep that many minnows. Just use an 110 volt Aquarium Air Pump and a good airstone to keep the oxygen level up in the buckets. And change out the water every day or so to help remove the Ammonia.

I can also keep the minnows in a 10 gallon aquarium with an undergravel filter system and a power filter that keep the water oxygenated. The bacteria that live in the gravel will control the waste ok. You can keep a lot of minnows in an aquarium. In fact I could keep a lot more minnows as I have three aquariums. 20 gallon, 10 gallon and a 5 gallon aquarium.

This helps if you want to go fishing at 4 am and the bait shop is not open. This time of the year you can keep the minnows out side in an insulated cooler that is rigged up to aerator the water. One guy rigged up a 55 gallon plastic barrel to keep his minnows. He used a 250 gal/min pump and pvc piping to filter and aerator the water at the same time. He can keep several pound of minnows in that barrel for a few weeks or months.

I talk to a lot of people that fish Bluegrass Pits and most of them buy their bait from Smitty's. But the Evansville Worm Ranch is less than 3 miles away from Bluegrass's otter pit. If you are out fishing and run out of bait head down the road to EWR and get some more minnows.

Not sure what time they open in the morning which may be why people go to smittys. He may open early in the morning.

You can call Bill or Matt at 812 477-4534

They are located at 7349 Old Boonville Highway.