What got you "started" on your favorite brands? Nostalgic story time

[Jmilburn76]

32 minutes ago, CrashVector said:

 

My grandpa and yours had a lot in common.

 

I have his old zebco 33.  I don't even know what ride it's on anymore because the name has long since worn off, but it's red lol!  

 

I make sure it's maintained so it doesn't rust or anything, but I'm almost afraid to use it because I would be heartbroken if something happened to it.

Im hoping to get whatever fishing stuff he had next time I visit my hometown.I do have his .30-30 that was given to him when he retired, its has fired a total of 3 rounds. It is my most prized possession and will stay in my safe until I pass on.

[Bankbeater]

Cool thread.

I don't really have any brand loyalty to any rod or reel manufacturer.  I will continue to use their product as long as there is quality, but when that goes I try something new. 

 

I started out with a spincast combo when I was about 4 or so.  It was a Johnson Century 100A on a kiddie rod.  No snoopy rod, just a regular rod, but a few feet shorter.  I have them both downstairs and the century still works.

My next rig was a Zebco 33 on a 5'0" rod that my dad pulled out of the Missouri river while catfishing.  That was my main panfish rig for a few years.  I'm sorry to say that I don't have either one of those any longer.

My first spinning reel was a Shakespeare 2200II Spinning reel on a Eagle Claw 5-1/2 foot rod that I got for my 10th birthday.  I've still got the reel, but I lost the rod back in the summer of '81 to a tailgate.  This is the rig I started fishing crankbaits with.  I started with a Big O because that was the hot lure back then.  I still have a couple of old Big O's from that time that I keep down with the tackle.

My first baitcaster was a Daiwa Millionaire 5B that I got back when I was about 14.  That reel was paired with a 6' Daiwa pistol grip that is about as stiff as a wet noodle.  The reel broke after a couple of seasons and my dad gave me his Millionaire 5HS.  I used the 5HS on that pistol grip rod until 2003 when I finally retired both of them.

 

[N Florida Mike]

My dad mostly. But everyone in my family fished. 2 Aunts, 2 uncles , my mom, my brother… My first cousin .

 

I think I mis-read the OP’s first post. I thought it was who got me into fishing…

With rods and reels I just took whatever my dad got me- mostly zebcos and abu- garcia reels.

When I got around my friends they were mostly using shakespeare casting reels, so I got me one.

I started on diawa reels later on my own because they weren’t too expensive and they were very available. I somehow eventually switched to Shimano mostly. 

And Ugly stik rods ! All my friends had one…

. 

 

[CrashVector]

My dad prized his Garcias, but USED more Shakespeare reels than anything else.

28 minutes ago, Bankbeater said:

Cool thread.

I don't really have any brand loyalty to any rod or reel manufacturer.  I will continue to use their product as long as there is quality, but when that goes I try something new. 

 

I started out with a spincast combo when I was about 4 or so.  It was a Johnson Century 100A on a kiddie rod.  No snoopy rod, just a regular rod, but a few feet shorter.  I have them both downstairs and the century still works.

My next rig was a Zebco 33 on a 5'0" rod that my dad pulled out of the Missouri river while catfishing.  That was my main panfish rig for a few years.  I'm sorry to say that I don't have either one of those any longer.

My first spinning reel was a Shakespeare 2200II Spinning reel on a Eagle Claw 5-1/2 foot rod that I got for my 10th birthday.  I've still got the reel, but I lost the rod back in the summer of '81 to a tailgate.  This is the rig I started fishing crankbaits with.  I started with a Big O because that was the hot lure back then.  I still have a couple of old Big O's from that time that I keep down with the tackle.

My first baitcaster was a Daiwa Millionaire 5B that I got back when I was about 14.  That reel was paired with a 6' Daiwa pistol grip that is about as stiff as a wet noodle.  The reel broke after a couple of seasons and my dad gave me his Millionaire 5HS.  I used the 5HS on that pistol grip rod until 2003 when I finally retired both of them.

 

 

I have my dad's Browning boron pistol grip rod.  Haven't ever used it lol

[fishhugger]

i used to mountain bike, in my youth, and we loved our shimano components. i still can't figure out the naming conventions for their bait casting reels, but i enjoy the slx reels i got, with the matching rods.  i guess i also have a handful of cheaper shimano reels ... spinning.  i been slumming in the low end stuff... 

[CrashVector]

10 minutes ago, fishhugger said:

i used to mountain bike, in my youth, and we loved our shimano components. i still can't figure out the naming conventions for their bait casting reels, but i enjoy the slx reels i got, with the matching rods.  i guess i also have a handful of cheaper shimano reels ... spinning.  i been slumming in the low end stuff... 

 

As someone who was REALLY into mountain biking, I agree 100%.  Shimano components were the pinnacle.  I bought a new bike for my Denali trek, and chose it mostly bc it used the ultra high-end Shimano components of the time.

 

Mountain biking thru Denali alone is a hell of an excursion, and I wouldn't have trusted my life with any other brand.

[QED]

19 minutes ago, CrashVector said:

 

As someone who was REALLY into mountain biking, I agree 100%.  Shimano components were the pinnacle.  I bought a new bike for my Denali trek, and chose it mostly bc it used the ultra high-end Shimano components of the time.

 

Mountain biking thru Denali alone is a hell of an excursion, and I wouldn't have trusted my life with any other brand.

Pure road and velodrome cyclist here.  All my gruppos are Italian/Campy.  To me, Shimano is just a fishing tackle vendor.  ?  (Yes, I know they do the highest volume business in the cycling component space.)

[The Bassman]

My first quality outfit that wasn't passed down from my dad was a Garcia 6'6" Brown Conolon spinning rod matched up with a Mitchell 300. My current arsenal is mostly Shimano. My allegiance to the brand goes back to the mid 80's from watching Jimmy Houston when he was sponsored by them. In my opinion he's taken a couple of big steps backward with his gear since those days.

[CrashVector]

14 minutes ago, QED said:

Pure road and velodrome cyclist here.  All my gruppos are Italian/Campy.  To me, Shimano is just a fishing tackle vendor.  ?  (Yes, I know they do the highest volume business in the cycling component space.)

 

Just don't say "Bontrager" lol

[Way north bass guy]

My first baitcaster was a Quantum, can’t remember the model ( early 90s sometime), but I had several of them and they were tough as nails for the way I abused them. I don’t really have much brand loyalty nowadays, pretty much have stuff from every company out there, but one company that’s always been in the mix for me over all the years has been Berkley. I was a huge fan of Powerbait products when they first came out, and can say that nowadays probably 95% off all my soft plastics are some sort of Berkley product. For me, they just work. 

[CrashVector]

43 minutes ago, Way north bass guy said:

My first baitcaster was a Quantum, can’t remember the model ( early 90s sometime), but I had several of them and they were tough as nails for the way I abused them. I don’t really have much brand loyalty nowadays, pretty much have stuff from every company out there, but one company that’s always been in the mix for me over all the years has been Berkley. I was a huge fan of Powerbait products when they first came out, and can say that nowadays probably 95% off all my soft plastics are some sort of Berkley product. For me, they just work. 

 

Likewise ..powerbait pit boss accounts for 75% of my bass catches alone 

[TnRiver46]

I still use abu 4600s and 5000s. I love them . 

[CrashVector]

10 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

I still use abu 4600s and 5000s. I love them . 

 

That's a nice reel...is that a Berkeley rod?  My dad had a few of those as well.

 

You're making me want to go spool up one of his and put it on one of those older rods and take it out for some nostalgic fishing...

[papajoe222]

When I ventured into baitcasting, Abu Garcia round reels are the ones I used.  When Low profile reels hit the scene, way back when, I purchased my first Daiwa which I still have. The overwhelming majority of the reels I currently own are Daiwas and none of my baitcasters are round ones. Curiously, none of my spinning reels are Daiwas. 

[Junk Fisherman]

Daiwa-- Used to be a Shimano guy using the old green Curados and gold Chronarch Superfrees.   For a long time, I thought the Daiwa TDX reels were sexy-looking but had heard they were not reliable  A buddy used all Daiwas and then I found a TDS for $50 at Dick's and I loved the reel.  Slowly sold all the Shimanos on Ebay and replaced them with TDXs and as time has gone on I just stuck with Daiwa.  Still have two TDXs that I still use.  They were not unreliable reels.

 

Dobyns--  Used be a St Croix and Loomis guy.  I bought a 702 Champion and it blew away the Croix Avid which was my main finesse rod.  I slowly sold most of my Croixs and Loomis rods and now have 10 Dobyn rods.  Still use a 843 and 844 GLX and a Croix Tournament Bass Sweeper rod for Chatterbaits and swimbaits.  Now I did get a Steez rod a couple years ago and it is an unbelievable rod but at $550+, I have not bought any more.

[WRB]

Few stores behind my list of rod-reel combo’s.

My 1st combo was the Langley- Connolin, I changed the 340 to 330 lure cast with a level wind, easier to retrieve lures.

1957 our family went to lake Havasu for Easter weekend camping, fishing and water skiing at Black Meadows.

While out enjoying the lake we stopped by Roads End camp market for lunch. The market had water dogs for sale, being curious I asked the man how do you fish them? Hook the dog up through the lips and let it free swim. Being a 15 year old the man gave a water dog in a cup. My rod was in the boat so I tied on a bait holder hook and made a short cast to watch how the dog looked in the water when a big bass swim out from under the dock engulfing the salamander. The man came running down and netted the bass. We took it into the market and weighed it 11lbs, my 1st DD bass and a lake record. The man told me it was his pet bass so we released it.

The Langley is a knuckle buster type reel without a drag so my thumb had a big blister trying to control the big bass.

Tom

 

[ajschn06]

I grew up on the river, was always pretty into fishing.  As I grew up I golfed more, but I need to play and practice often to enjoy it.  When I had kids, that became harder and harder so i started fishing again.  I can take as much time off fishing as I need and not miss a beat.

[WRB]

My friends and I would ride our bikes with our fishing rods about 3 miles to the Livingston Rock and Gravel plant e called the rock crusher. The rock crusher had about 5 ponds and a small lake surrounded by a chain link fence. The floor of the rock crusher was about 25’ deep so we had to find a place to get under the fence and down the steel walls to fish the ponds. The ponds were about 2 acres and spring fed, the deepest pond was the water source for the plant, had tower with big pump in 40’ of crystal clear water.

The small lake at the westend of the property was about 20 acres and patrolled by a guard, so we avoided the lake.

Early one morning we arrived at the pump pond and quietly worked our in. I had a wooden jointed Pikie that worked good at those ponds. Made a cast and hooked a big bass when my friends stumbled across a white front goose that started chasing them making a lot of noise. My friends run to get away from the goose while I tried to fight land the bass. Landing the wasn’t easy from where I was without sliding into the pond but managed somehow.

Lifting the bass out of the water it was bigger then I thought when a voice asked what was I doing? Startled turning around holding the bass the man wow didn’t know we had big bass like that.

I thought for sure the man was going to call the police so I said we don’t keep off of your fish sir and let the bass go.

The man turned out to be Peter Livingston the owner and simply asked how we got into the pond and told me not to return because it’s not safe and can’t allow fishing on his property.

Tom

[TnRiver46]

7 hours ago, CrashVector said:

 

That's a nice reel...is that a Berkeley rod?  My dad had a few of those as well.

 

You're making me want to go spool up one of his and put it on one of those older rods and take it out for some nostalgic fishing...

Yes berkley 

[Kirtley Howe]

No one in my family had any interest in fishing or hunting. My dad liked target shooting with his 22 rifle, but that was about it. I think my first interest was sparked by Field and Stream magazine and later expanded by  the Gadabout Gaddes fishing show on TV.  My father never understood my passion for fishing (he hated it), but to his credit, he would drive me to places that were to far away for me to ride my bike to, and he would come pick me up at the end of the day. I started with a Zebco 33 spincast reel, but quickly moved to spinning gear. Problem was I am a lefty, and getting a left handed reel was very difficult and expensive, so I used cheap right hand spinning wheels for several years, which was awkward to say the least.  I remember I actually broke down in tears on Christmas when my mother got me a HySpin left hand spinning reel....she wanted to get me an AbuGarcia 301, but there was no way we could afford that back then. In my childhood, everything I "knew" about fishing came from a magazine, or I figured it out on my own. I had no one to mentor me in any way. I never heard of anyone making a living from professional bass fishing....the first I heard of such a thing was after my first year of college in 1969. If I had had a clue earlier that earing a living fishing was even a possibility, it would have completely changed my approach to life.

[Eric 26]

On 3/16/2022 at 12:06 PM, Darth-Baiter said:

Not including Apple, I’m not brand loyal at all.

 

im all over the place. 

I feel like you read my mind?

[Mojo Bass]

All my reels are Abu Garcia and I absolutely love them. I don’t think they’re the best I think other brands have better offerings namely shimano and daiwa. But for me it’s just preference and I’ll stick with them  just because I like them ??‍♂️ 
 

my rods are st croix and Abu Garcia and I’m very happy with them too. For me st croix’s customer service has been very good and that’s honestly a reason I stick with them. 
 

It’s simple as that. 

[The Maestro]

I grew up watching The Real Fishing Show with Bob Izumi in the 80's and he was sponsored by Shimano back then. 

[CrashVector]

1 hour ago, The Maestro said:

I grew up watching The Real Fishing Show with Bob Izumi in the 80's and he was sponsored by Shimano back then. 

 

I watched his show with my dad lol

[Msl819]

On 3/16/2022 at 7:34 PM, QED said:

Pure road and velodrome cyclist here.  All my gruppos are Italian/Campy.  To me, Shimano is just a fishing tackle vendor.  ?  (Yes, I know they do the highest volume business in the cycling component space.)

I’m a roadie too (& MTBer) and while Campy has a certain refined, historic quality to it, it is hard to beat the SRAM ETap group on the Moots! Having ridden top offering from all three major companies, they’re all great now, BUT if I were to do a dream build it would probably be Campy Super Record 12. The problem for me is there aren’t any good Campy mechanics in my area.
 

As for fishing, I did not grow up fishing a ton as a kid. When I finally got into fishing late in college there where two things that gripped my wishful attention. 
 

For conventional tackle it was the Shimano Curado reel. I didn’t know what the higher end offerings were then and the green on those Curado reels were just perfect to me. That was back when spending that amount of money on a reel seemed impossible to me. My wife wishes I still felt that way now!!!

 

For fly tackle, it was Orvis. Decades later I still have a soft spot for Orvis.  Summer of ‘19 we took a family vacation up to and around the Northeast. A trip to Manchester,VT to visit the Orvis mothership was my only most do. I could have easily spent all 10 days hanging in and around Manchester, fishing and giving Orvis all my money!