Stripped drag system, huh??

[The Quadfather]

I seem to be in a phase of being surrounded by fishing reels that I want or need to replace.

I am a big fan of the Pflueger President spinning reels. I have never had any brand of spinning reel come down with a stripped or failing drag system, but this weekend when fishing, suddenly my Pfluegher's drag was not emitting the "clicking sound" when line was pulling off the drag. As well as it would not tighten down or loosen the drag system when I adjusted the drag. It was just one sort of easy pull out of line, with no clicking.
Is this symptomatic of a stripped drag? Is this something that can be fixed by any reel service person, or maybe if the reel is sold to a handy person they can do it themselves?

Another issue with a separate Pfluegher spinning reel, is that the switch that allows you to reel in reverse.... OR which keeps it in the usual position of NOT allowing the reel to be reeled backwards... This switch does not seem to be working.
The reel continually has the ability to "Reverse Reel" Why is there even an option for this, it's ridiculous.
So, is there any easy fix that anyone knows for this?
I see a bunch of stuff going to the classifieds...

[hewesbob]

I had the same line stripping problem with my president. It turned out that I was using braided line and the line was spinning around the spool. I took the line off and applied a small drop of super glue to line last round of line on the spool, then reinstalled the rest of the line. This is my third year since I glued it and it is still working just fine.

[AJ's Dad]

I never thought about the superglue idea on braided line. If that is a problem, most folks recommend putting 10 or 15 feet of mono on as a backer then splicing the mono to the braid you are spooling on. The mono grips the spool much better and prevents the slipping.

[Gringo Pescador]

Quad, might be the discs. Bring em over and I'll see if I can fix you up.
As far as the braid thing, just take enough black or duct tape the circle the spool and put that on 1st. Then spool your braid. The tape will keep the braid from slipping.

[The Quadfather]

It's not braid slip. I've been using braid for ages.
Gringo, I'll get a hold of you. Thx.

[Bodofish]

I've used a tiny piece of masking tape on top of the arbor knot and I've never had it slip. It doesn't take much when you wind it on tight to begin with.

[BentRod]

I never thought about the superglue idea on braided line. If that is a problem, most folks recommend putting 10 or 15 feet of mono on as a backer then splicing the mono to the braid you are spooling on. The mono grips the spool much better and prevents the slipping.

This is what I do. Has worked well thus far.

[G-Man]

Tab under the spool is probably busted. If you take the spool off, you'll see a multi pointed gear fixed to the shaft. Under the spool will be a tab of some style that engages the gear and makes that noticeable sound when line is taken out against the drag. The mechanism for being able to switch between forward only and reverse is a different issue. Again, more than likely there will be a tab that is busted that would engage the anti reverse.

As for the uses of the reverse function on a spinning reel, a couple come to mind. I use it quite a bit when lowering gear on the downrigger. Flip the switch, put your pinkie on the outside of the spool and feather it as the ball is lowered, works like a champ. Also, when you're float fishing and want to extend a drift, put it in reverse to let the line out, again you can use your pinkie to feather the spool or just keep your hand on the handle and turn it backwards to pay out the line.

[Bodofish]

I would guess a clean and lube to start. Do the easy stuff first and you can see if any parts are broken when it's apart. Armchair trouble shooting is such a waste of time and effort.

[natetreat]

The reverse function is USELESS. I purposefully go out of my way to get reels that don't have it. Freezing temperatures are notorious for making that stupid switch not work. 90% of my reels that I use in sub-zero temps freeze up and go reverse. The mechanism in most reels, shimano, okuma etc that puts it in reverse is a tiny plastic tab with a spring. When that spring dies, the reel dies.

That being said, I've switched over to the Penn Battle, which has no reverse function. It's AWESOME, and rated for salt water, and dang near waterproof so that it's less likely to get dirty or wet and freeze.

[goonatic]

careful with the battle, my battle 4000 and some of my buddies' battles all got less smooth and loud after about a year and a half of use, and i for one, clean and maintenance my gear religiously, like the retrieve makes a whirring and high pitched grinding noise and its sadly not as silky smooth as before, so im a shimano fan, never had problems with the anti reverse switch or really anything, to each his own i guess.

[natetreat]

Shimanos fall apart with the use I put on 'em. I too had the noisy sticky problem with my battles. It's because of the gearing in the reels, because I bounced them around in the boat while towing. I took them apart and carefully re-aligned them and solved the problem. They aren't perfect, but having tried every reel out there, I've settled on them. I have new clients, beginner fisherman, the kind that bang poles against the boat, drop the reels in sand, real up the swivel into the guides and pop inserts, yank hard on snags... I've burnt out more drags and tossed more reels than most folks. I'm not going to insult my clients, they don't know any better, I just get the most bullet proof gear I can find. Penn and Abugarcia have the best customer service, Okuma treats their guides awesome, I've heard great things about their retail service. Shimano keeps insisting on using those light-weight wire bails, and those die in a month. The anti-reverse function I mentioned earlier on Shimano's are the worst. When I started guiding, I ran Lamiglas XMGs and Stradics, and learned quickly that I can't fish with my rods and reels constantly in the shop. They can't take the wear and tear. I fish saltwater reels, they're sturdier. I can't speak highly enough about the Ambassador Cl4, that thing is a beast! Not to hijack the thread or anything....