Intrepid Elite

[MGs]

I agree, very nice. I could never afford one new and had to settle for a Black Knight as my first fixed spool

[Isis]

Just unearthed an old copy of AT dated 19 July 1963 with this advert in.
Not bad reels in their day, had two myself but preferred the gearing and robustness of the Continentals. Modified the Continentals (quite badly) with botched Elite bale arms for the rollers. Ditched them all when the Cardinal 66 came out.

[Kevanf1]

Just to bump this old thread

Years ago, when I first started fishing (nearly 40 yrs ago actually) I remember seeing the Intrepid Black Prince. This was one of the cheapest reels in the tackle shop and one or two lads owned a BP. I soon learned that they weren't actually too good so I bought some Shakespeare 'boys' reel that probably cost about £1.50 at the time. Well, come to the present day and I decided I would like to see what these old Intrepids were all about. So I bid and won a set of three 'Elite's with 9 spools'. They arrived today... I am not complaining because with P&P I only paid £10 but my word they are a mess. The good thing, I hope, is that this mess can be cleaned up. There is grease and grit all over the place and dare I mention the badly hand brush paint jobs on them; poor things. Still, I can sort that with my airbrush.

Now, the bonus bit. The auction said 3 reels. Nope, there was actually a fourth in the box that was about 70% complete. There is also a bag full of parts that I am hoping comes from this fourth reel.

Having turned the handle on one of the reels I have to admit I do quite like the feel of them. It's certainly not perfect with more play than I would like. So, I may look at shimming parts to see what I can do to improve them. I do love that line lay action, it is certainly more pronounced than any of my Mitchells. Now, if I can only get myself out of this funk I am in at the moment I may get out and go fishing. We lost our young cat on Monday morning but do not know what has happened to him. Consequently I am in bits because he was the absolute best cat we'd ever had and we have had a few....

[OldFellah]

I caught my very first carp in 1966 using an Intrepid Elite. At the time I thought it was a superb little reel and used it for just about everything. I purchased one off ebay for no more than nostalgic reasons and still thinks it is a cracking little reel. When I first used it at Pippingford manor the clutch actually proved superior to the one on my friends new Mitchell 300 who lost several nice carp due to the erratic line give on his Mitchell.

[Kevanf1]

Yet another resurrection of an old post about the Intrepid Elite.

I had another Elite (to go with the boxful from months ago) a few weeks ago that came with a Delmatic. Well, I have now cleaned up and regreased the first of my Elites.

To start with it was rather rattly and loose, not too pleasant. I persevered I found that the cog on the main stem, not the interior gearing, that activates the clicker on the spool had several teeth missing How on earth this has happened I do not know but it must have been bashed against something to do it??? Luckily I had a spare central spindle with a good spool ratchet cog on it so replaced that. Who said you can't swap Elite parts around? So, a good dash of marine grease (got a new tub arrived today) with plenty going into the groove in the main gearing of course and I put it all back together.

Wow!!! I have to say that I am with Merlot on this, I really like the Elite. Now that it is sorted properly it is tight, not one bit rattly and it winds oh so smoothly. It really is a lovely reel. This one is one with all metal gearing, no plastic cogs thankfully. I shall be careful not to go dropping it onto hard surfaces too

Overall I would say this is easily the equivalent of some of my Mitchells. The better ones that is. I think the Elite is possibly like a Mitchell 300 in that it needs to be set up properly to appreciate what it really is. This one has most certainly totally changed my mind about Intrepid reels. Mind you, it was already turned by the delightful little Prince Regent I have mentioned in another thread. Another case of a bit of tlc that perhaps the factory should have given in the first place and a cracking little reel. I shall not hesitate to get others of these models in the future.

Does anybody have spares for Intrepids at the Redditch tackle fair does anybody know? I may pop along to the next one as I haven't been for a couple of years.

[The Sweetcorn Kid]

Quite fancy a pair of these....

[Stingray]

Lovely reels - I have one - easily the best coarse reel that Morritts/Intrepid made. Looking at the "Intrepid" range at any one time I always suspect that they produced more quirkily different models than they really needed to. In my opinion, once they perfected the Elite they should have at least tried focusing on that design - there were actually two sizes - the Elite coarse reel and the Surfcast sea reel both basically scaled versions of the same design - if they had done what many manufacturers have done and produced a fully step-scaled line of reels based on that one design with a few different sizes added or at the very least an intermediate size one in between the Elite and the Surfcast I think it may have been a great success (or should I say even greater success).

[Stingray]

Quite fancy a pair of these....

Look out for the different spools too.

[The Sweetcorn Kid]

Quite fancy a pair of these....

Look out for the different spools too.

[PershoreHarrier]

Like most on here I guess I have a wander around Antique Centres and Antique shops looking for traditional fishing tackle and just once in a while something turns up.

Well sat on a shelf in an Antique Centre I spied a cardboard box with the words Intrepid Elite marked on it. I took the box down and opened it and there inside was a brand new never been used Intrepid Elite reel with spare spool wrapped in grease proof paper, guarantee card from a tackle shop in Hampshire and the date of purchase recorded as June 1966 ( I think - the reel is at home and I am typing this from the Office) - there was also a catalogue inside the box of the Morrits reels and the price tag for the lot in the original manufacturers box was less than my very first pay packet.

I will post some photos as a reference for originality.

By the way the spool on the reel is loaded with nylon line which I suspect was put on there at the factory complete with loop for slipping on a hook to nylon.

I have seen quite a few photographs of Fred Taylor using Intrepid Elites so it might make a perfect set up with the Chapmans F J Taylor Roach rod. Just a thought.