How It Started

[*Hootie]

This is what I was using, the first time I went bass fishing. Mitchell 300's.

Hootie

 

[kickerfish1]

We see how it started but why don't you share how it ended? Where are all those Shimanos?

[buzzed bait]

hootie, did the reels/spools come in or with a case like this?  i found one in the stash of gear my grandmother gave me that used to belong to my granddad.  i was told it was for the spool on the mitchell reels.....

 

[*Hootie]

2 minutes ago, buzzed bait said:

hootie, did the reels/spools come in or with a case like this?  i found one in the stash of gear my grandmother gave me that used to belong to my granddad.  i was told it was for the spool on the mitchell reels.....

 

Yes, I also have a couple of those.They had a spare spool in them. You got a shallow, and a deep spool.

Oh. those Shimanos are chompin' at the bit to go fishing. I have cleaned them so much, I'm surprised they

have any paint left on them.

Hootie

[Raul]

17 minutes ago, kickerfish1 said:

We see how it started but why don't you share how it ended?

Who said it has ended ? the end is just the beginning, so many purchases still to come .....

[new2BC4bass]

I started with a Mitchell 300, but there were 3 of us boys so we each got one....and one only.  Wish I still had it.

[Bankbeater]

I have my Dad's 300 which he bought back in early 72 I think. Also have the spools in the containers. Back in the day the 300 was the spinning reel used for bass fishing.

[Bruce424]

Those are pristine. My 301's are all scuffed up still workhorses though. Use them for catfish and carp.

[new2BC4bass]

3 hours ago, Bankbeater said:

I have my Dad's 300 which he bought back in early 72 I think. Also have the spools in the containers. Back in the day the 300 was the spinning reel used for bass fishing.

Whoa!  Man am I ever old.        Mine was bought back in early '54.  Maybe that is why I like the mechanical sound of ceramic bearings or the tripping the shutter on my old 35mm camera.

[Fishes in trees]

I've still got mine. It was my primary reel when I was a "meat fisherman", from the late 70's through the mid 80's.   It has been retired for a while now.  I keep telling myself that I'm going to clean it up and put it in some shadow box display but I haven't yet and that is a low priority for free time use.

[smalljaw67]

Wow!!!! I learned to fish in the 70s and that was the reel to have!!!!!!

[*Hootie]

18 minutes ago, smalljaw67 said:

Wow!!!! I learned to fish in the 70s and that was the reel to have!!!!!!

Yes it was. That was my dream reel. I never actually got mine till 1969. It is one of the three

in the pic. Used the crap out of it. It's still mint. I've never abused my tackle. Maintenance is the

key.

Hootie

 

[Goose52]

19 hours ago, *Hootie said:

This is what I was using, the first time I went bass fishing. Mitchell 300's.

Hootie

 

WOW - nice stuff !  I wish I could have started bass fishing with high-end reels like that !!  Instead, I started with this spinning reel around 1959, and added the spincast reel about 1965:

By around 1966, I finally saved up enough $$$ to go high-end, buying a Mitchell 408 and matching Garcia Conolon rod:

And after owning them for coming on 50 years...the Mitchell / Conolon pair still get put to work about once a year to catch bass...albeit small ones...

 

 

 

 

[Zimobass]

No longer have them, but I too started out with the Mitchell 309. It was a right hand crank. Even in those early days I had to upgrade, so bought a set of gears for a 409 which I fitted to it. Gears were faster which helped take up the slack line when a bass would "kank" your plastic worm !

[thomas15]

On 1/12/2016 at 8:49 AM, Goose52 said:

WOW - nice stuff !  I wish I could have started bass fishing with high-end reels like that !!  Instead, I started with this spinning reel around 1959, and added the spincast reel about 1965:

By around 1966, I finally saved up enough $$$ to go high-end, buying a Mitchell 408 and matching Garcia Conolon rod:

And after owning them for coming on 50 years...the Mitchell / Conolon pair still get put to work about once a year to catch bass...albeit small ones...

 

 

 

 

 

Sorry if I'm a bit late responding to this thread.

As a kid I never fished for Bass, it was either salt water or trout/panfish. My grandfather took me and my brother freshwater fishing many times. I started out with a very inexpensive spinning rod/reel, this was about 1966 ish. From time to time I would get an upgrade but I simply dreamed about having a Mitchell 308.

Finally I saved up the money and bought my 308 and a Garcia Conoloin Five Star 5' 4" ultralight pole. This was one awsome set up for a kid in 7th grade! I  had a paper route and could afford such things. That was probably around the spring of 1969 or so and the package was somewhere around $80.00-$90.00 I think,  I believe  the reel was over $40.00 and that pole was the best conolin that they offered at the time in UL. I was very proud of that set up.

Once in high school I found other things to do and fished very little. One time I decided to go fishing but couldn't find the pole, I think someone (one of the neighbors) took it from our garage. I don't really know for sure. In college I bought an inexpensive 6'4" combo because one of my friends wanted to bass fish. The reel is long gone but I still have the pole and use it, It's a dept store rig made by Berkley. I think about buying a new mitchell 308 at times but I have two or three ultra lights with Shimano reels that really have held up well.

But the memories

[papajoe222]

The first reel I ever paid for was a Mitchell 300. Prior to that, I used my dad's hand me down. It failed me the first time I ever caught a smallie and I promised I'd only buy quality gear from then on. I just recently got back into using a spinning set-up, and although I won't spend near as much as I do on a BC, quality is still upper most in what I decide to buy.