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Cabelas CR-67
Post 31 Dec 2019, 12:35 • #1 
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Location: downtown Bulverde, Texas
Well, the lens and lighting on my Olympus TG-5 isn't quite up to photographing reels, but have a new reel worth showing, anyway.
This reel was made (in Miami) for a short while for Cabelas by Fin-Nor c. 2000, and is an excellent drag reel. It was also sold as the Fin-Nor CR.
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It's the cork drag design originated on the Seamaster, and copied by Abel. The whole reel is a clamp that squeezes the spool against the clutched cork.
Sealed radial bearings in each face of the spool, and a roller-bearing clutch in the cork plate, in place of a ratchet and pawl. Switching wind direction is easy by sliding off the cork plate and flipping the keyed roller bearing.
The detentes on the drag knob give Very Fine, subtle adjustments on the drag.
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Behind the cork plate is a circular spring that pushes a pawl into the spool detentes to make the subtle pay click (no wind click).
My photos probably don't show it well, but even the anodizing on this reel is every bit as good as Abel.
I've always wanted a Seamaster No. 1, never wanted to pay the price, but for function, this reel is as good if not better.

Managed to find this parts diagram online so I was ready to take it apart.
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For comparison, here's my 12-wt Abel - the X-Stream doesn't have the fine finish polish Abel is known for.
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The clutch is a ratchet and pawl on the circumference of the cork plate, only clicks in wind - with a bit of presence. Also sealed radial bearings in the spool.
This ratchet mechanism gives the spool a small bit of rotational play and rattle, and something less than the tight smooth feel of the Fin-Nor CR.
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The Abel also has detentes on the drag knob, and doesn't give near the fine steps on drag adjustment as the CR -
- and yes, it should stop UPS trucks and tarpon up to the shear strength of the foot screws.


Last edited by bulldog1935 on 05 Jan 2020, 05:58, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Cabelas CR-67
Post 31 Dec 2019, 12:50 • #2 
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Joined: 11/06/17
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Location: South of Joplin
Nice CR. The FinNor name always evokes visions of 12wt salt reels in my mind, only seen on magazine covers and in articles about fishing trips that I would never go on. The upgrade from a 1498. Or maybe my memory is confusing them with another brand.
Good score.


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Re: Cabelas CR-67
Post 31 Dec 2019, 18:04 • #3 
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Location: downtown Bulverde, Texas
Thanks - yes, I was kinda floored - $80 - virtually a gift.
You most often see the Seamasters and big Fin-Nor anti-reverse in No. 2 to No. 4 sizes.
The freshwater version is the Ted Jurasic/ Billy Pate, now Tibor reel.
I bought this reel for the 7'6" Harnell, because all my other salt reels were too much for the rod, or the reel seat wouldn't accept the reel foot.
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Here's another salt reel I adore, also too big for this application, the foot not even close.
My Hardy Ocean Prince No. 1 - a click-pawl approach to anti-reverse.
(you can also see how much better a faster lens and better flash diffuser works)
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It has the Prince mid-arbor click-pawl with the crown drag gear.
The wind is on the clutch ratchet plate, and anti-reverse is friction drag applied from the handle to the spool face.
Basically, you can hold the handle while the click-pawl pays drag, and increase a bit of drag friction on the big wheel.
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btw, Fin-Nor also introduced a click-pawl reel in the late '80s, the Fin-Ite - seemed it was aimed at a budget market and found its way into general sporting goods stores
(as opposed to the fly fishing pro shops). I owned one, but don't have fond memories of it compared with better fit-and-finish click-pawl reels - or even Martin.
They later made a second try at a high-grade fit-and-finish click-pawl, and called it the Fin-Ite II.


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Re: Cabelas CR-67
Post 01 Jan 2020, 02:51 • #4 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 02/19/08
Posts: 1218
Location: Branson, Missouri
Any relation to this weirdo reel ? Besides only the Fin Nor tie...

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Re: Cabelas CR-67
Post 01 Jan 2020, 13:24 • #5 
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Joined: 08/10/05
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Location: downtown Bulverde, Texas
that's the largest size of the first-run Fin-Ite (they offered down to 34, which was the clicker v. the Ross-variation pancake drag reel shown just above) - sold at Oshman's for about $85 (manufacturing quality looked very good for that price), sitting next to the Browning-marked imported Medalist clones - this was maybe a decade before the CR was selling at Cabelas for $225.
(probably doesn't need a photo that big and makes my camera look better all the time)

It would be hard to say the reel I OP'd had any relation to the Fin-Ite.
They were trying to keep their Miami company alive with products they could mass market. The CR reel is more than a pleasant surprise from that effort, a few breaths before their last gasp, and you'll find all their good cork drag reels held in singular reverence among salt fly anglers on every shoreline on the planet (and every allied internet forum).

Would have to say Fin-Nor now as part of Zebco (in turn part of Pure Fishing) is very different from their Miami roots, and now just a name marked on flashy imported mass market reels.
And of course they don't offer fly reels any more.
Here's their roots, quality benchmade salt reels. conventional, spinning, fly.
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=67853
a quality-first business model copied in the '80s by Abel, Ross, Lamson, Van Staal (IRT, Accurate, Seigler today) - only Abel copied their whole reel and still makes it today.
Noteworthy about Abel, they're still in the same business, and haven't moved production offshore -
- they've managed that because of their fly reel focus, smaller sizes, their prices ballooned and their name took over the spot Fin-Nor used to occupy.
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Last edited by bulldog1935 on 07 Jan 2020, 07:17, edited 2 times in total.

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Re: Cabelas CR-67
Post 01 Jan 2020, 16:04 • #6 
Guide
Joined: 12/07/17
Posts: 128
Location: Long Island, NY
Bulldog
I am in awe of your fly reel expertise. You are truely a scholar of these machines and your authoritative knowledge on FFR is unmatched by any other websites, periodicals or publications. When I seek knowledge on fly reels I search your post first. They have a transcendent quality which cuts through the commercial bull. Thanks


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Re: Cabelas CR-67
Post 02 Jan 2020, 13:32 • #7 
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Joined: 08/10/05
Posts: 19079
Location: downtown Bulverde, Texas
you're most welcome - my kind of fun.
And thank you for such kind comments.

In the heyday of the fly fishing rags - '80s and 90s before the internet - all the reels above would have received lauds from Ted Leeson reviews.
Low start-up inertia.
Start-up inertia simply defines the force difference on the line needed to start the drag paying, minus the always lower force needed to keep the drag-loaded spool spinning.

The big full-cork clamp drag is the champ of low start-up inertia (a caliper disc like Lamson LP or SA System 2 has somewhat higher start-up inertia).
When applied to big drag settings, also where big cork shines, it can be the difference in breaking off your tippet,
and the difference in backlashing your reel on low drag settings.

I had a curious repair project last decade, put this McVickar Bushkill back into service.
It's really a beautiful benchmade reel from the early 50s, and a great Catskill pedigree:

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Note this is the very reel with the modified drag adjustment knob shown in the Jim Brown article - how's that for provenance.
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The entire drag mechanism consists of a spring loaded ball in the spool against a fixed ratchet in the backplate.
The ball mechanism is similar to a patent-drag Medalist spool pawl, but adjustable spring tension. And again, the ratchet plate is fixed in place (versus the rotating shoe-drag ratchet plate in a Medalist).

The reel I received had a flat ball from use, and aside from cleaning, my repair was matching a correct-size replacement ball.
What I discovered about this reel is that it has nothing but start-up inertia - once you get past the huge start-up inertia, there's nothing to retard the spool from spinning, not even a palming rim.
Great collectible, but I wouldn't take it fishing.


Last edited by bulldog1935 on 05 Jan 2020, 06:02, edited 4 times in total.

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Re: Cabelas CR-67
Post 02 Jan 2020, 13:49 • #8 
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Location: downtown Bulverde, Texas
I'll also add this about the Medalist patent drag.
The shoe-on-ratchet plate drag may not give tarpon-stopping brakes, but it's virtually free of start-up inertia.
The reason is the free play on both sides of the ratchet plate - the spool is already moving when the pawl encounters the loaded ratchet plate, and that slightest of impacts kicks the ratchet and shoe past start-up inertia.
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Re: Cabelas CR-67
Post 02 Jan 2020, 16:23 • #9 
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Joined: 02/19/08
Posts: 1218
Location: Branson, Missouri
It is so funny to me to see that 908Z skateboard bearing turn up in yet another fly reel.
That McVickar is a neat reel... someone is very lucky.
Beauty Medalist too...


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Re: Cabelas CR-67
Post 04 Jan 2020, 13:12 • #10 
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Joined: 08/10/05
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Location: downtown Bulverde, Texas
Decided this reel was pretty enough it needed to be shot with the older and faster lens C2500L
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Last edited by bulldog1935 on 05 Jan 2020, 06:03, edited 2 times in total.

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Re: Cabelas CR-67
Post 04 Jan 2020, 13:58 • #11 
Master Guide
Joined: 08/03/14
Posts: 945
Location: central AR
Beautiful reel Ron. You always show the coolest toys!


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Re: Cabelas CR-67
Post 05 Jan 2020, 14:14 • #12 
Guide
Joined: 12/07/17
Posts: 128
Location: Long Island, NY
Bulldog
With your post you come through yet again with more fly reel history and in the process illuminate some US history. I used to drive through Tuxedo Park many time on the way upstate but thought that the suit, Tuxedo, came first and the community was named after it. Good job.


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Re: Cabelas CR-67
Post 06 Jan 2020, 06:31 • #13 
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Location: downtown Bulverde, Texas
thanks again, I was trying to talk about the different aspects of drag and clutches, which I don't talk about too often (kinda like Quigley not having much use for a Colt Peacemaker).
I don't even fish them too often, but they generally have a corrosion-resistance advantage in the salt.

Here's an early 50s production example, the first reel I know of with a roller-bearing clutch - it has a perfect-style winding plate with exposed spool back - and an adjustable drum-brake friction drag plus click spring tension - the Precisionbilt Mosquito, also the Silver Moth.
Not a great reel, but a great curiosity.
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A later reel example with a very similar drag and roller-bearing clutch - and a very good trout reel - is the Marryat.


Last edited by bulldog1935 on 12 Jan 2020, 06:29, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Cabelas CR-67
Post 08 Jan 2020, 07:42 • #14 
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Location: downtown Bulverde, Texas
I've got one more installment for you on drags - pancake disc drags. These have their origin in spinning reel spools (fixed spool for the right side of the big pond).
They're a stack of drag washers that get squeezed when you tighten the knob. In many, the spool spindle is part of the stack and rotates in pay.
These have one advantage that they can be a sealed drag, though the drag surface area is much smaller than the clamp full cork disc drags that began this thread.
Also needs some way to mesh with the spool, which is often incorporated in the clutch mechanism.

The Valentine disc drag is the simplest, the clutch is a Medalist-copy ratchet plate incorporated in the drag washer stack (in this reel, the spindle is fixed).
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Ross Gunnison also has this type of drag and clutch, though in place of the spindle Gunnison has a free-spinning drum incorporating bearings for the spool.
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This is my Redington RS 10-wt reel. It was made by Orvis/BFR, but Redington and Orvis had a legal falling out, and the Redington reels closed out cheaply.
In this case, the spindle is a rotating axle shaft, and spins to pay drag.
The pawl on the spool is simply a clicker, and clicks in both directions. The race for the pawl is fixed in the frame on top of the sealed drag housing.
The clutch is a roller-bearing in the spool, and you change direction using a spanner to free and flip the roller bearing.
Not a particularly great reel, functional, but the drag won't stop a tarpon, and it did great for me catching blues and snapper at an offshore platform. It's a good place to put that big TS-450 sinking line
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The offset pancake drag is an Orvis invention, and copied on many freshwater reel designs, like this less than cheap offshore-manufactured Ross. Ross intended this for a starter reel, and they closed out quickly, because they were really bad.
I bought this reel for a loaner, and it's not even good enough for that - on this poor reel, the drag is very uneven over its rotation, partly a design limitation, but more so poor Q/C. And whatever they have for a roller clutch drags in wind.
The tiny drag washer stack is beneath the offset drag adjustment knob, and the spool is keyed into the gear that meshes with the drag pay. Certainly Orvis makes some good reels with this design, and even the Tica copies aren't bad in comparison to this less than starter Ross.
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My '92 Gunnison, I sold it after 20 years because I didn't use it any more. I always called it the most reliable reel that was impossible to love. Even my last Alaska trip, left it at home in favor of a Young pattern 15a and Marquis 7.
You couldn't pry my Valentine from my hands, and it's perfect where I use it. The Abel I'm happy to have for its 12-wt niche.
Same goes for my Marryat from '86, an absolutely perfect trout reel that both my daughters grew up fishing.
My Lamson LP-3.5 is here to stay, and has held up incredibly well for over 30 years in the salt (oops, that's what I need to show, a caliper disc drag...)
But of all the drag reels I've handled, the subject of this thread, the CR-67, is the most impressive.
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Last edited by bulldog1935 on 08 Jan 2020, 08:21, edited 4 times in total.

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Re: Cabelas CR-67
Post 08 Jan 2020, 07:46 • #15 
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Joined: 11/06/17
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Location: South of Joplin
Ron. you are making me really love the simplicity of my Medalists more. Thanks for an excellent presentation. I do like the CR and the Valentine designs.


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Re: Cabelas CR-67
Post 08 Jan 2020, 07:52 • #16 
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Location: downtown Bulverde, Texas
Trev, if you're not taking it to the salt, what more do you need.
The Medalist patent drag was a stroke of genius, solving the clutch question with a simple and bulletproof answer, that great reels still copy today.
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Re: Cabelas CR-67
Post 08 Jan 2020, 13:59 • #17 
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Here are those two other drags.
The Lamson caliper disc drag, which is also used in SA System Two reels. The clutch is a wedge disc (similar to Martin) built into a flip-reversible assembly that pins to the disc and keys the spool. People have reported these wearing out, but I have a spare, and haven't needed it. (I have a spare Martin clutch, too, that I snagged when Zebco was giving them away.)
Note the tiny leather pad that provides all the brakes. I'm sure some people have worn these out since the early '80s.
But a super-smooth, wide-ranging drag, and a pretty perfect niche reel if you're not using it a thousand hours/year.
Lamson no longer supports this reel, but I'm betting Arch does.
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Marryat's drum/shoe drag. A 3-element aluminum roller bearing of their design is inside the drum. Since 1986, my thousand-hour/yr and thousand-fish reel has been again to Arch and before that, his grandfather for rebuild of the roller bearing and replacement of the nylon brake shoes.
The brake yoke is adjusted by a cam. Delicate, subtle drag adjustment and really a perfect trout reel.
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Never lube the roller bearing with light oil - it will freeze up the roller bearing just as sure as sand.
It's Marryat's clutch that's the source of love or hate for these reels, with few tepid owners.
Billy Trimble threw his off the cliff into Simon Canyon one night, after it locked up on a San Juan bruiser - he had fumbled the spool into the river and hand-lined the fish.
When you lube inside, the roller bearing needs viscous oil, like 30-wt or Phil Tenacious.


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Re: Cabelas CR-67
Post 09 Jan 2020, 13:05 • #18 
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bulldog1935 wrote:
The offset pancake drag is an Orvis invention, and copied on many freshwater reel designs, like this less than cheap offshore-manufactured Ross. Ross intended this for a starter reel, and they closed out quickly, because they were really bad.


bought a Redington kit outfit once, for the 7-piece 5wt travel rod. The rod is pretty good. The reel is one of these cheap offset drag ones, and it's basically unfishable. The drag goes from free spooling to locked up in a quarter turn, and there are no indents on the adjuster, so it loosens or tightens as you fish.. just spectacularly bad. It's a nice-looking reel but. Luckily I have lots of fine vintage click-pawl reels to fish..

That Cabelas Fin-nor is a real score at $80, terrific..

I'd thought most of Fin-nor these days was just cheap China/Korea OEM rebranded, but Alan Hawk pulled apart the LT100 spinning reel and really liked it - well designed and made. It's too big for any purpose I have though..


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Re: Cabelas CR-67
Post 13 Jan 2020, 21:28 • #19 
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thanks, I was pleasantly surprised when the ebay seller accepted my offer, and that turned into delight when received the reel and took it apart to flip the clutch from LHW to RHW.

Spinning reels are such complex mechanisms, and all are computer designed and CNC machined now.
Fin-Nor backed by Zebco is going to differentiate their quality in quality materials and design to stand up to big fish.
A big deal in spinning reels is having enough spindle stiffness to stand up to high drag loads w/o spindle deflection, which causes line to stack at the top of the spool.
I would think a Fin-Nor blue-water spinning reel would be designed and built tough, no matter where.
They're just not Miami-bench-made any more.

I take Alan Hawk with a ladle of salt - I bought a Chaparral Win 1873 reproduction after reading his glowing review, and bypassed a new Marlin and a great used Uberti - it was a mistake, the ejector arm was "color-case" and not case hardened, and brinnelled in use, causing the ejector to jam.
I bought a Winchester part, but a smith will still have to mill to make it work - on my to-do list when I am planning a trip through Lampassas.

This guy I believed enough to buy a Stradic FL, and am happy with that purchase:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kQ3lcs0A_8

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Re: Cabelas CR-67
Post 09 Nov 2020, 09:40 • #20 
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bulldog1935 wrote:
The offset pancake drag is an Orvis invention, and copied on many freshwater reel designs, like this less than cheap offshore-manufactured Ross. Ross intended this for a starter reel, and they closed out quickly, because they were really bad.
I bought this reel for a loaner, and it's not even good enough for that - on this poor reel, the drag is very uneven over its rotation, partly a design limitation, but more so poor Q/C. And whatever they have for a roller clutch drags in wind.
The tiny drag washer stack is beneath the offset drag adjustment knob, and the spool is keyed into the gear that meshes with the drag pay. Certainly Orvis makes some good reels with this design, and even the Tica copies aren't bad in comparison to this less than starter Ross.
Image Image

Orvis didn't reinvent the disc drag with the offset pancake disc drag.
It was simply a makeshift way to add disc drag to their click-pawl family frames without designing a new frame.
For quality disc drag, they turned to Lamson to design one for them, the DXR
The people who copied the Orvis offset pancake, including Ross, Okuma, Tica, and others, could never get even drag tension over rotation position in the small diameter offset pancake.

I have one of the STH lever drags, which uses their fairly clunky Medalist-idea clutch, pay-noise clicker, but uses a better, larger diameter drag stack centered on the spindle. I bought it for a salt loaner, but it ended up with a T-200 because the foot works with the not-great early Harnell single screw-ring reel seat (the screw ring is also the foot pocket).
This photo isn't the STH lever drag, but the excellent Fin-Nor CR-67, which also has a foot that fits this reel seat.


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Re: Cabelas CR-67
Post 09 Nov 2020, 10:52 • #21 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 06/21/06
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Location: Orygun
Sweet CR! That's one reel I regret getting rid of. Mine was one of the larger sizes (I think it was a 10/11, but could have said 9/10 on it).


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Re: Cabelas CR-67
Post 09 Nov 2020, 12:15 • #22 
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Joined: 08/10/05
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Location: downtown Bulverde, Texas
thanks friend, I'm happy to have this reel, and enjoyed explaining drag brake and clutch types on this thread.


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Re: Cabelas CR-67
Post 09 Nov 2020, 12:49 • #23 
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Are you missing the little black cap that covers the spool release? I know mine had one, but honestly, I like the look without.


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Re: Cabelas CR-67
Post 09 Nov 2020, 13:40 • #24 
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yes, it wasn't there, but certainly doesn't affect the function - I kind of like the way it looks without it - looks like business.


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Re: Cabelas CR-67
Post 19 Nov 2022, 08:04 • #25 
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This thread became a pretty good treatise on disc drag and clutch types..
Have a cool one to add, no news in the caliper disc drag or Medalist-style clutch, but a cool functional design for 1960 (first production).

Rogue model 200 is about the same size as the Bushkill I show above, 3-7/8", but a lot more functional.
Made by John Shaw in Grant's Pass, OR, though designed by Bert Parks of Greenville, TX - nice connection there.
1946 design, 1951 patent. Trademark register 1961.
https://reeltalk.orcaonline.org/viewtopic.php?t=20596
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The stainless disc is the full diameter of the back plate, the spool uses a Medalist-type clutch - the white pin on the 4 center ramps. The backplate teardrop pivots to disengage the clicker, which rides on the embossed 6 disc ramps.
The caliper brake is bronze, directly under the adjustment dial stack and the lever.
The lever lets you push outward and increase the drag to full-lock.
Or push inward, and decrease the drag to free-spool. This allows you to trot the line, the technique called steelheading here
Image Image

Noteworthy, they used the same lever drag in the Rogue model 150 spinning reel, and this mechanism has been revisited in current JDM Daiwa Laxus and Shimano Hyper Force spinning reels.


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