I originally posted this in the Catfishing section, since that's what I fish for, but thought the Rough Fish guys might also be interested in this.
The question of bait clickers seems to come up on here fairly often, and I've mentioned (as have others) that if you have an Abu Garcia 5000 series reel without a clicker that you can make a pretty easy mod to add one.
Since the mod is too difficult to explain in words, I put together a diagram and a couple of pics on how I did one of mine.
Parts needed will cost you less than $2.
Tools needed - a Dremel with reinforced cutoff wheel, and a vice. A digital caliper will help a lot too - as you can see from the diagram, the measurements aren't what you're going to find on your tape measure. I picked up a digital caliper on eBay for a buck. If you have an Abu with a clicker, just copy the measurements. If you want to do it with a tape measure, you can, just convert the decimals to fractions or remember that 1/16" is .0625".
I used a finetip marker to draw the cut lines on the reel hub.
The diagram and pics should explain it all, but a couple of things to point out:
- Make sure that when you cut the long slot that you cut it square with the reel hub.
- Cut slowly, little by little is the way to go
- If after you're done and the reel is together, it doesn't seem smooth, it's likely that you cut the slot too close to the inside of the reel hub - the click mechanism is rubbing against the inside of the reel. Widen the slot just a little toward the outside and that should fix it.
- Note the position on the diagram of the click spring when in the "off" (down) position. If you mistakenly don't have it in the off position when you put it together, it won't click. You'll know right away - just take the hub back off, move to the off position and reassemble.
As always with a project like this - measure twice, cut once.
This is a very easy mod - take you 5 minutes to do.
Slot cut in Reel Hub
Position of Click Spring in relation to screw hole (clicker in off position)
Thanks to jswbga for showing me how to do this in the first place!