Retro Bass Fishing

[Columbia Craw]

I prefer to stay current.

[Glenn]

8 hours ago, Fishing_Rod said:

The pistol grip rods are in my beloved collection of Daiwa Mini-Cast travel rods.

Yep, I got one of those when I was 15.  Caught a ton of fish on it.

 

 

9 hours ago, softwateronly said:

Does this count?

 

 

scott

I still have one on my boat and still use it every now and then.

 

I used to have an arsenal of pistol-grip rods back when they were popular.  A 6' rod was enormous back then. LOL

 

Nowadays, yes, I find myself going "old school" more and more, as the fish just don't see them as often.  Herb's Dillys, Torpedos, Hula Poppers, Slug-Go's, chicken-foot worms, Rogues, Zara Spooks, hand-poured finesse worms, super-doo's, and of course less popular lures like grubs, tubes, and Johnson Silver Spoons, to name a few.

 

[GRiver]

I have one of these mounted on a pistol grip 5’10”

 

[greentrout]

The Devil's Horse – A Propbait Served Southern Style – Part I | The Ultimate Bass Fishing Resource Guide® LLC (bassresource.com)

 

 

 

[NorthernBasser]

This is my normal fishing attire. Does that count?

 

[TnRiver46]

We are……. Two wild and crazy guys!!!!

[Choporoz]

[msgf91]

I have an old ambassador from the 70's in a box somewhere that I need to rebuild. That thing took a lot of abuse. It was the only reel that survived the mid 90's Lake Texoma Striper event where both sides of the dam was open all summer. Lost a lot good reels and rods that summer lol

[JediAmoeba]

[Captain Phil]

On 1/13/2024 at 7:47 AM, msgf91 said:

I have an old ambassador from the 70's in a box somewhere that I need to rebuild. That thing took a lot of abuse.

 

I have posted this photo before on this forum, sorry if you've seen it.  Those old Ambassadors could really take a beating.  A good one was smooth as silk and you could tear it completely down with a small screw driver and the tiny wrench they gave you in the box. The early 5500Cs were the best of the lot.  Here is a 100 pound plus Pacific Sailfish I caught using a 6500C and 8 pound Ande mono.  It would have been a world record for the line class, but we chose to release the fish. Try that with one of today's reels and see what happens. 

 

 

 

[msgf91]

That reminds me of how the 70's reel looked before we retired it. Not the color but on a heavy rod for big fish. We broke the original bass rod during the striper event in the 90's. Then my dad took it over and put it on an old Daiwa trolling rod.  We caught a lot of bruiser cats and bull reds on it. 

[Bankbeater]

I have a small collection of Johnson, Zebco, Ambassadeur, Shimano, Mitchell, and Shakespeare reels that still work, but I don't use them for fishing any longer.  I've also got a bunch of old lures from the early to mid 70s when the alphabet lures came out.  Those baits haven't been in the water in years.

[Captain Phil]

[NorthernBasser]

5 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

We are……. Two wild and crazy guys!!!!

Classic!

 

[TnRiver46]

I’m dying 

[PourMyOwn]

7 hours ago, JediAmoeba said:

You sir, have impeccable taste!

[JediAmoeba]

34 minutes ago, PourMyOwn said:

You sir, have impeccable taste!

I love this combo, especially for throwing spinnerbaits!

[PourMyOwn]

31 minutes ago, JediAmoeba said:

I love this combo, especially for throwing spinnerbaits!

I bet it's great for that. I love mine for large squarebills. (I have at least 10 of them, including the one I bought when I was first out of school. They are tanks. 

 

Great rod too btw!

[Captain Phil]

19 hours ago, Captain Phil said:

 

For those who don't know, the Mitchell 300 was the reel that changed bass fishing forever.  It came out just about the time plastic worms became widely available.  The 300 allowed light worms to be cast by just about everyone.  It launched what we now call finesse fishing and opened the sport to anyone with a pulse. The 300 was a great reel.  It was somewhat heavy by today's standards.  The only issue was the bail springs breaking.  We always carried extra springs and could change them in a few minutes. 

[greentrout]

 

[papajoe222]

On 1/12/2024 at 9:42 AM, greentrout said:

 A pistol grip rod is not easy to find these days. I'm a recreational and enthusiast fisherman.

Right on the money. I purchased a St.Croix PC56MF Premier about four years ago. It was the only offering they had with a pistol grip and it works great for almost all my topwaters.  I ended up building a 6ft. MH power rod with a pistol grip for Spinnerbaits. I like a shorter rod for more control of my cast as I use them for target fishing.  I perfected my roll cast years ago with a BPS rod with the powerhump handle that was only about 4in. long.  Sadly, it's long gone.

[ghost]

Y'all scene this guy on YouTube? Talk about all the retro gear and lures!  Look up Retro Bassin if link doesn't work.

 

https://www.youtube.com/@RetroBassin

[PourMyOwn]

9 hours ago, ghost said:

Y'all scene this guy on YouTube? Talk about all the retro gear and lures!  Look up Retro Bassin if link doesn't work.

 

https://www.youtube.com/@RetroBassin

Angling Archeology is really good too. 

[Dogface]

I still use this Bantam 10 on a BFS rod. 

 

[NittyGrittyBoy]

Berkley Phazor mixed with some new school flare