Remember Your First?

[hunterPRO1]

5'6 OG Ugly stick and a zebco 733 with 20lb Cajun.

My PB Bass was caught on that setup. 

[Spankey]

I can’t remember my first set up or what I was fishing with my first time. Was someone’s in the family. I still have (2) Shakespeare Wondercast push buttons from when I was 7-9 years old. Somewhere in that area. About 1967. By the time I was 10 or 11 years old I was truly trout fishing and it was with Shakespeare and Abu Garcia spinning reels. Still have those reels but rods are long gone. 

[PhishLI]

Never caught anything but sunnies and perch on a hand me down spincaster. Got my first bass on this exact setup and bait in '78 bought with paper route, lawn cutting, and cordwood splitting money. Daiwa 1000c on a 5'10"medium Ugly Stik. 6lb Stren.

[islandbass]

I came very late to the game. I was 34 when I started and I bought a sub $20 spinning combo that I dubbed my “Walmart Special”. Started targeting trout with a size 5 floating Rapala minnow but I caught a bass and the rest is history. This combo caught a lot of fish.  I still have the rod, but the reel eventually wore out. 
 

I’m now in my 50s and I don’t know how rods and reels just appeared in my garage in that time. Surely, this is an X-file mystery. 

[bloom]

Johnson Century guy here, still have it and it works fine. The rod was an eagle claw multi piece travel rod don't think I still have it.

[Captain Phil]

5 hours ago, PhishLI said:

 

Arbogast Hawaiian Wiggler with aftermarket skirt.  Back in the day we would take the front spinner off these lures and put them in front of a Johnson's spoon.   Made a great buzz bait.

[Tackleholic]

22 hours ago, bulldog1935 said:

@Tackleholic like this, but this is Pflueger Supreme and the braided nylon is Cortland Camo.  

 

I eventually inherited my grandfather's Phleuger Supreme, spooled with the same Cortland Camo you show, and probabably the same rod. Old memories, aren't they?

12 hours ago, Captain Phil said:

 

Arbogast Hawaiian Wiggler with aftermarket skirt.  Back in the day we would take the front spinner off these lures and put them in front of a Johnson's spoon.   Made a great buzz bait.

I'd forgotten about those Hawaiian Wigglers, used to borrow them from my Dad in the late 1940's.

[crypt]

Zebco 202,solid glass 5 foot rod. was 5 years old when I got it. used it for about 2 years.

[BrianMDTX]

Never had a spincast. Both my daughters did, though. 
 

@MN Fisher My brother and I both had casting rigs just like that as our first set-ups. When we got a bit older, my dad got us both new rods (Eagle Claw fiberglass spinning) and outfitted them with a Garcia Mitchell 300 (mine) and a Garcia Mitchell 304 (brother’s). I have no memory of how it was decided who got what lol. My dad was a letter carrier and found two rods (I assume broken) with these reels on them. He cleaned and lubed them up and were as good as new. I still have the rig. The reel is not as old as I am, but it’s close. The rod is early 70’s vintage. Has some fine Coors ceramic guides! 
 

And this is probably the ad you’re referencing. Gotta love that “Star drag. Found only one best reels” ?

 

[Spankey]

I'm lucky enough to still have some of my fishing stuff from when I was a kid. Wish I would have been smart enough to stash it all away but wasn't. Made wall hangers out of some of it.  My first trout creel basket was given to me used, it was in rough shape when given to me. Leather was pretty bad. I used it for a couple of years till i bought my own. As ratty as that was, with a few homemade fixes it had made to it, I wish I had it today.

[redmeansdistortion]

My first was an Abu Cardinal C3.  I used to fish with my uncle back then and really took a liking.  He surprised me for my 7th birthday with a Cardinal C3 and an Ugly Stik Lite 6' medium power.  I fished that rig for nearly 20 years until it was stolen (along with the rest of my tackle) back in '02.  Losing all of my tackle made me take a long hiatus from fishing for nearly 15 years.  It felt like somebody ripped my heart out of my chest.

[J Francho]

Zebco 404

[scaleface]

The junky Zebco 202. Dad bought a case of them . They would not last one outing . We had to dunk them in the  water to keep them lubricated enough for use.

[bulldog1935]

4 hours ago, redmeansdistortion said:

My first was an Abu Cardinal C3.  I used to fish with my uncle back then and really took a liking.  He surprised me for my 7th birthday with a Cardinal C3 and an Ugly Stik Lite 6' medium power.  I fished that rig for nearly 20 years until it was stolen (along with the rest of my tackle) back in '02.  Losing all of my tackle made me take a long hiatus from fishing for nearly 15 years.  It felt like somebody ripped my heart out of my chest.

starting at the top

 

ps - my first spincast was Daiwa Minicast multipiece cased combo at 19-y-o.  

It caught my first major bass, 6-1/2 lbs.  

 

Started my daughters on Zebco UL-1 with Eagle Claw Featherlight glass rods.  

[bowhunter63]

Johnson Century when they were still made of metal and the rod felt like it was 12 pounds. Good old reel . Virgil Ward used to Advertise them every Sunday 

[TnRiver46]

I’m told mine was a snoopy rod 

[bulldog1935]

59 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

I’m told mine was a snoopy rod 

well, it took

 

My younger daughter's fishing took, too. 

She kinda disappointed me, veering from applying to med schools.  Instead, she's going to teach HS science in Ft. Worth and coach wrestling.  

She wants to take a kayak and fishing tackle, and I'm setting her up with whatever she wants, and plan to offer her the Kestrel (39-lb kevlar) to car-top.  

[TnRiver46]

1 minute ago, bulldog1935 said:

well, it took

I even own a beagle now 

[Skunkmaster-k]

Zebco 33 

[Bankbeater]

Johnson Century 100A.  I still have the reel and the kid rod it used to be on.

[Lmbasshunter]

Don’t remember my exact first but have fond memories in middle school and high school heading to a friends everyday after school who lived across the street from a 13 acre pond. At the time, the pond was fairly low pressure and no watercraft was allowed. We’d sneak an old fiberglass canoe on. We’d carry it about 200 yards down the block across the street and head out with one rod each, usually a 5’6”-6’ ugly stik or a bass pro brand spinning rod with 6lb mono. floating rapalas and weightless plastic worms were all we used and we slammed em. 25-30 fish days in 2-3 hours with the Average sized fish 2 1/2-3lbs with the largest we’ve taken probably a little over 6. Years later now the pond is heavily pressured,  allows boats and kayaks and  gets pounded by the “bucket brigade”. any fish over 3lbs is a bonus and the days of 30 bass in 2-3 hours are long gone! You’d probably be lucky to catch 30 bass here now in a full season. time flies, this post brought back good memories

[tholmes]

I started with a Zebco 202 on a 5' 'glass rod. I was fishing with my grandpa when a ~ 4lb. bass grabbed my lure and the drag on the reel failed causing the reel to self-destruct. The next time my grandpa took me fishing, he gave me a Shakespeare Model 1920 casting reel on a 5' steel rod. It took me a while to learn to cast that thing, but I finally got it. I still have the combo and I take it out now and then just to see if I can still cast without free spool and multiple ball bearings.

 

Tom

Edited June 28, 2023 by tholmes
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