Abu 501 vintage reel

[mikench]

Having read my earlier post again Ian , and seeing a very informative one on another fishermans forum, I think the Abu model I wanted was a 505. The 501 looks to have come out much later in the 70's. I reckon it was the colour that appealed

If I get to go trotting and like it and the pin ,then an Abu will be next

 

[thameside]

Anyone looking for a 501 or a 506 give me a shout .

You have a pm

Steve

 

[thames mudlarker]

I have posted about Abu closed face reels before within the context of reels I always wanted but never had! I first fished aged around 11 or 12 which would have been 1966 or 1967 give or take a few years. I wanted an Abu but it was noticeably more expensive than the Intrepid Black Prince which I did buy from my pocket money savings. Would that have been a 501?

Whatever model it was, unless it was a duffer, I will eventually buy one!

Just realised that this thread is 7 years old!!!

Quite possibly could be the 505 Mike because I believe these were one of the very first to be launched at around 1962, the 505 would have a red cowling and a star drag ( not one of me favourites ) you could probably also of got the 503 which has the copper coloured cowling, possibly by 1967 Abu may of even brought out the 506 which has the silver cowling :thumbs:

The Abu 501 came out between 1981 - 1983 and in my mind the best by far

---------- Post added at 14:20 ---------- Previous post was at 14:11 ----------

The original 501 Mike, I have several in tip top fettle and a 506, i've never removed the pawl from the 506 as I like things original but the drag is super sticky on it and last time I used the reel for tench fishing it was awkward to get the drag set to my liking .

Anyone looking for a 501 or a 506 give me a shout .

Sticky clutch on the 506 mg: I'd definitely have that converted with the anti reverse pawl taken out like mine have then there basically the same as a 501 apart from the backwind tensioner on the 501 :thumbs:

I've got membership money's etc to pay over the next couple of weeks and so if you give me a couple of weeks Ian I'll definitely have 2 Abu 501's from you

Just let me know how much postage you want on top of the price of reels,

Can send me PM if you prefer and I'll definitely get back to you, I'll contact you within a couple of weeks time and can go from there if this is ok :thumbs:

Speak soon

 

[thames mudlarker]

Having read my earlier post again Ian , and seeing a very informative one on another fishermans forum, I think the Abu model I wanted was a 505. The 501 looks to have come out much later in the 70's. I reckon it was the colour that appealed

If I get to go trotting and like it and the pin ,then an Abu will be next

Take it from me Mike you really don't wanna 505 for trotting, blimmin awful things and that star drag tends to get in the way

I myself and others have all tried em for trotting and all feel the same about em,

Maybe not so bad on a Stillwater but have found em useless for trotting,

The best two reels by far are the 501 and 506, these 2 models are legendary :thumbs:

 

[dicky123]

Being a specialist in using 501 reels the above mentioned comment about not being able to backwind is utter rubbish, sorry fella but i don't think you really understand the full useage of the 501 mg:

The 501 was one of the very first Abu close face reels to be launched and these were specifically made for backwinding, the other reels mentioned were able to backwind because they were a lot later reel with built in anti reverse pawl.

During the 70's and 80's many experienced match men would use the 501 and deliberately backwind when playing silver fish on light lines as the clutches on other reels of that era were simply not good enough.

I use the 501's all of the time nowadays solely because of the reliability of the backwind facility

When the 506 came into much use many again found that the clutch on this reel was useless and resulted in many a lost fish through the clutch being so very sticky a lot of the time,
This was soon soughted by removing the anti reverse pawl so that the 506 could now backwind the same as the 501.
The only slight difference with the 501 is that there is the tensioner thumb screw on the handle which slightly alters the overall tension of the backwind :thumbs:

---------- Post added at 10:58 ---------- Previous post was at 10:48 ----------



Absolutely, brilliant reels, I very rarely use anything else nowadays and yes I'll even use em for ultra light touch ledgering for river roach and chub aswell because there so reliable :thumbs:

How much line do you put on your initially (being an expect) How do you cure the occasional time when the line sticks on the spool please?

 

[trotter2]

How much line do you put on your initially (being an expect) How do you cure the occasional time when the line sticks on the spool please?

First of all the thinner the line the less the line sticks something like 2.6 bayer is ok. Put about 70 to 80 revs of the handle on a shallow match spool that's about right. Have fun with it

 

[Keith M]

I haven’t used the Abu 501 but I did use an Abu 506 on and off for years; however I haven’t used it for quite a few years now; but when I used to use it a lot on the canals I used to only load about 50 yards of 2.5lb or 3lb line onto it and after playing a large fish I still remember getting my line bedding in; and I had to cast a couple of times to get it running off the reel properly afterwards; which was fine when I was just fishing for pleasure but could be a bit time consuming if I was in a very tight match..

NB: With the Abu 506 I used to remove my anti reverse pawl to enable me to use backwind

Keith