This morning as I checked Norwegian Post tracking system for my latest purchase, an original ABU Ambassadeur 7000 “Made in Sweden” from 1991, I was pretty much resigned that it would still be stuck in some mail terminal in Oslo, where it had been for nearly a week. But there it was, arrived in Harstad. I just had to go to the post office to pick it up, where for a 230NOK customs fee I could take it into my possession.

As I am only 40 years old, I ripped into the well packaged box (what on earth!), and found gold. Exactly the reel described by the seller, who goes under the name W1144 on Ebay, who has provided examplary service, and even going to the length of waiting a few days for payment, until I got the money to make the purchase, as I was skint when he made med aware of the reels existence.  But  in the sunny, warm arctic weather, it looked even better than the Ebay pictures .

The reel is almost mint, with a few minor scratches in the finish, and couple of marks in the stickers. It even has the original grease and inspection sticker still loosely attached as it came from the Swedish factory 20 years ago. And I cant wait to fish it!

Well i did not of course. Well, arriving at  home I did not  waste much time getting the fish-mobile kitted out for at day at the beach. We’ve been blessed with 2 weeks of sunny, warm weather so my wife wanted to go to, provided we went to a place with sand so that baby Staale could have a go at it with his spade and bucket. That would certainly mean a mark with no serious fish around here. But at least i would get to cast with the reel.

So off we went to the local beach. And wasted no time setting up. So while the wife and the baby where building sand castles, I got to try out the reel. And with me feeling confident with my gear again, and having sand under my feet, I reallly dared to, and managed to put some power into it, and the lead have never flown so far from a rod I have wieded before.

No China plastics, just Swedish quality metal!

Partly it’s because I am no longer scared I will break something, and partly because I have started using a couple  casting techniques that seem to suit me better than what I tried before. The South Africa style, or the Brighton cast. But the main thing is the confidence in a tried and tested reel design, that seem to be almost devoid of the plastics the made in China 7000i model Ambassadeur reels are plagued with. Reels that will fail within a year or two, at least mine did. It sits in the shed now, where it will remain a reminder never to fall into that trap again.

A shame that ABU Garcia and Pure Fishing is letting down their faithful customers and losing their reputation  by putting such utter crap on the market. Good then that their older reels was made with such a quality, that you can purchase a 20 year old reel off Ebay, slap it straight onto your rod and go fishing. And with a nice aftermarket for spare parts, I see no reason why this reel should not be with me for the remainder of my career as a dedicated fishing fanatic!

And casting it was a pleasure. Well, I fumbled up the first cast. Seeing lead fly away, then plummet straight down, because the spool has stopped in a massive birds nest is always disappointing. Well, I learned to remember to check my brake settings, and eh…switched on my brain so that my thumb could be used to control the spool.

And the next cast left in the direction of the horizon. I thought the spool would never stop in a cast that was clearly a new record for me. And that was true, cast after cast.

So after a nice little casting session that yielded no fish as expected, I rejoined my wife and our little bundle of joy, who himself could not wait to get his stubby little fingers on my reel. Well, that will be when I am not around anymore. Wait your turn!

Because its nice to have a reel where the bait clicker works, and will continue to work. Where the spool engages automatically when you start reeling in, and that does not have bits of cheap plastic and tiny little springs flying in every direction, if you dare to open it for some maintenance.

So ABU Garcia, if you want to keep your customers in the ABU 7000 segment, you need look no further than putting your red 1991  ABU Ambassadeur  7000 back into production, and people will sleep on street corners outside tackle shops for days waiting to get their mackerel smelling hands on one. Oh, and make it in Sweden, so we will now it wont be scared of water! Simply  please ABU Garcia and Pure Fishing, wake up, it’s not to late to come back from the dark side!