While digging through my parents' basement last weekend looking for a baseball bat for my son, I found an old Fenwick 6' 5wt that is perfect for fishing the small mountain streams near where I live. I took it home and started look the collection of reels, mostly the older ones that were handed down from my grandfather, to see if one would be a good fit. Since the fishing is mainly for native brookies, there was no need for any kind of drag so I picked a simple old Pflueger. I decided to transfer the line/leader/backing set-up that I had on another reel to a separate spool so I could then put it on this reel. After attaching the backing, I began winding the line on. About a quarter of the way through the backing, the screw that holds the spool in place fell out. Not thinking anything of it, I tightened it back down and tried to start winding again. The reel was nearly impossible to turn unless I backed the screw out a bit.

By now you can probably figure where I'm going with this. How can I get the screw to stay in, without having it so tight the reel won't turn? Is there a grease or something I could coat the screw in that would keep it from freeing itself? I'd really like to use this reel, for multiple reasons, but don't want to take the chance of losing the screw while on the water. If the problem can't be fixed, I guess that little guy will just become a decoration on the shelf.

Anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks.