The landscape for bass fishing baitcasting reels was quite different in the late 1980s than it is today. Most notably, companies like Ardent, Pinnacle, Okuma, Lew’s and 13 Fishing, weren’t major players, if they were around at all. If you’ll check out this ad taken from the 1988 BASSMaster Classic Report, you’ll see there was another difference – round reels were in. At the very least they were not yet passé.
Granted, this survey represents only the 17 anglers from the 1987 Classic who weren’t affiliated with a reel company. That leaves 24 anglers, so the survey is less complete than it might seem at first. Among the excluded 24 was winner George Cochran (Daiwa), so Abu-Garcia’s dominance might be illusory (does anyone know which reels legends like Ward Cole (22nd), Gary Henderson (23rd), Kenneth “Dusty” Pine (25th), Gary Hardwick (35th), Tim Sullivan (39th) and Bruce Ellison (tied for 40th) used?
Regardless of whether Abu was the dominant player they portrayed themselves to be, the ad seemingly indicates that round reels were a common choice among competitors at that time. Abu did make low-profile baitcasters in the late 80s, but clearly they were more noted for their historically dominant circular sideplates.
Twenty five years later, Abu still makes some round reels, but the lion’s share of their advertising efforts for the bass market focuses on the low-profile Revos. The picture may show that 15 unaffiliated anglers used Abu reels in the 1987 Classic, but I’ll bet that there weren’t 15 round reels spread out among all of the Classic contenders’ boats this year. In fact, I’d be willing to bet that there weren’t five, and if the answer turned out to be zero I wouldn’t be shocked.
Yep I still use a few for Carolina rig or T rigged worm fishing
Scott, I have three round reels I still use all the time but they’re not ABUs. The ones I use today are all Shimano Conquests and they’re my big swimbait reels. Nothing beats a round reel, in my opinion, for throwing big baits. I still have about a dozen old ABUs I need to rebuild after 30 years of use. :-) Thanks for commenting!!!
I’m still using ABU Ambassadeurs that I purchased new in 1976-78 (2500C, 5500C, 5000C-(converted to a higher gear ratio) along with several first generation Speed Spools. All reels’ cranks have been swapped-out with Gator Grips from day one (the Speed Spools required purchasing ABU handle nuts to fit the GG’s nut-locking retainer). All reels are torn down at season’s end, de-greased, cleaned and re-lubed. This past cleaning session, I proactively replaced the line pawls in the Ambassadeurs, as they were the originals, I still have four N.O.S. line pawls for the Speed Spools. I love the retro catalogs uploaded by Terry Battisti, it really brings back memories, Thanks
Robert, thank you for the kind words! We’re old reel freaks too and appreciate you taking the time to write us about your collection! Really happy to see you’re still using them and they’re still functioning. That is a testament to how well they were designed and built. Terry
While not in the forefront, tha Ambassadeur 4600c and 5500c were represented in Bassmaster tournaments even into the 1990s. Watching these events on Lynn Dollar’s great youtube channel, you can see guys like Robert Hamilton, Basil Bacon, Robert Tucker and Kevin Wirth still getting the job done with these “antiquated” workhorses. Heck, when California’s Mike Reynolds made his Classic debut, he had a 5500c in hand. Sponsorship or not, these reels flat work!