Abu 8000C

toufeeqajouhaar

New member
So a few weeks ago i walked into a pawn shop and found an ABU 8000C in one of the cabinets. its seen better days and was completely ceased when i tried to turn the handle and the clutch button would not disengage. i spoke to the shop attendant and explained my concerns about the reel but i was very interested in it because ive never had the opportunity to handle one of these apparently good reels. i managed to get a good price and went home and immediately started stripping, when i opened the reel it looked brand new inside, the problem for it stucking was that the anti reverse foot came out and caused the reel to lock up as it landed in between the gears, cleaned it up and greased it, put it all back together and the reel worked perfectly. whats your guys thoughts on these reels and what are they worth if one was to sell it.
 

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kitefisher

Sealiner
Happy that you could get the grand lady going with minimal effort. They were great reels back in their era,but to be very honest I suspect that era has long gone.

It is still a very nice userfriendly reel to have,enjoy it and just think of all the tales of fish that she could tell you about.

p.s They had the habit of too thin line slipping in between the spool and sideplate. .45mm and upwards shouldn't do it though.If memory serves me right then they may also have had a fairly ''snatchy'' drag.Probably nothing that a bit of Cal's grease couldn't sort out nowadays.
 

toufeeqajouhaar

New member
its honestly the easiest of the old reels for me to use,casts much better and a solid drag.
the drag works well, but it must've helped re greasing the reel properly.
its a nice piece, my buddies are astounded when this little old lady out performs the new stuff.

yeah i picked up on the line creeping in between the sideplate and the spool.
 

kitefisher

Sealiner
toufeeqajouhaar wrote:
its honestly the easiest of the old reels for me to use,casts much better and a solid drag.
the drag works well, but it must've helped re greasing the reel properly.
its a nice piece, my buddies are astounded when this little old lady out performs the new stuff.

yeah i picked up on the line creeping in between the sideplate and the spool.

Glad you enjoy it.They were formidable casters in their era and very user-friendly.Well designed, with the spool centre-ing function on either side,and with a strong enough spindle that can withstand adjustment to suit different casting conditions and weights.
 

BigBass

Sealiner
Those old ABUs are great! :) ... except for the original drags, but the retrieve is quite smooth and they cast extremely well. Admittedly, cranking power is not up to par with the more modern reels and there is some "backplay" in the handles.

I still use my 8 000C and 10 000C - both have since had a Carbontex drag washer and Cals' Grease upgrade, though!

The Kob in my avatar pic was caught (a looooong time ago) on my ABU 8 000C reel (17lb golden Stren mainline and 25lb clear Stren leader) and the ABU Atlantic 474 rod. 4/0 hook and Shad belly for bait ...
 
Abu 8000c - what a reel.

A mate of mine and I did some testing to see who's who when it comes to spool turning and weight.

We compared the spools between.

Trinidad 20a
Grandwave 40
Okuma convector cv45cs
Fathom 40
and the abu 8000c

The 8000c spool was the lightest by quite a bit and when set up seemed to be quickest off the mark when casting.
Aswell as very stable when spinning during the cast.
Not bad for a reel 30 odd years oldish.

craftsmanship - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpzh3faJkXk
 
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