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I am having a time with my little black Milwards Flycaster. Finish is excellent; it has a tensioner and a nickle line guard. It is a 3 1/8" with an old style curved (a la old Young) foot that is impossibly long for most modern reel seats. I have a couple rods that will accept this too-long foot, but in my zeal to try to expand the utility of this lovely little reel, I tried to swap out the foot for a modern replacement.

I unscrewed the old foot and removed the 2 5/8" foot. Oh-oh. The foot had been epoxied to the frame, the screws were not holding anything, and now I need to rebuild it to the point where it is again ambulatory and can accompany me again on my fishing jaunts. Let me begin by asking if these feet are interchangable with old Young feet? (The hole spacing seems correct but the cradle is a hair too narrow-- perhaps from glue build up from the last repair?) If so, I will replace the foot with a Pfoot and move along toward the problem of securing it.

Now the harder question. about the screws used to hold the foot to the frame. Most of the old screws in my leftover box are brass, some with tapered heads and some with cylindrical heads, and some feet are designed for one head style or the other. Is there any possible way to know what size screw will fit a given foot and frame? Or is this beyond science and engineering and I am left to throwing bones and smearing it with JB Weld?

Thanks for your ideas and suggestions.
Wyfish