old spinnerbaits

[king fisher]

I visited my Mom in WA State this past week, and found some of my old fishing gear in a box she saved.  I salvaged three spinnerbaits, and one reel that I brought back to Mexico.  I hope to catch a DD bass on one of the baits and maybe even give the reel a try on some big Mexican bass.

 

The smaller spinnerbait was made by Cotton Cordel and was called a Spring Killer.  The upper spinnerbait arm was bent in to a spring, giving the bait it's name.  It had a black rubber skirt, with a long thin yellow curly tail trailer.  I caught a PB largemouth 5.5 pounds with that bait in 1977.  That bass was my PB until June 2020 when I caught a 10.5 pounds almost doubling my old PB.  I wont be able to find an original skirt, and trailer, but the bait is still good, and I will put a modern skirt on it.

 

The other spinnerbaits were made by Blakemore and called CC Spin.  The big Colorado blade had a large cup at the end which was supposed to make it the best spinnerbait for waking the surface.  Buzz Baits had not become popular yet, and waking a spinnerbait was a common technique.  I preferred a smaller bait I had for waking, but did catch some nice bass slow rolling the big CC spin.  A new skirt and the old Blakemore will be ready to go just in time for the rainy season muddy water conditions.

 

The reel was made by Heddon, and is the first baitcaster I know of that the level wind disengaged when the free spool lever was engaged.

The reel cast OK, but I had problems with line getting behind the spool.  My friend bought an Ambassador at the same time, and never had any problems.  I always wished I had spent the extra dollars and bought an Ambassador.  The reel is in great shape and if I use 17 pound or higher mono I don't think I will be plagued with the problem that I had when I was young fishing with lighter line.

 

 

 

[scaleface]

I'm not familiar with a Heddon reel. Didn't know they  existed.

 

  I used the CC  spinner a lot because it was easy to cast with an old Abu 5000. Won my first club tourney with one.

[king fisher]

4 minutes ago, scaleface said:

I'm not familiar with a Haddon reel. Didn't know they  existed.

I bought the Heddon reel in the spring of 1978 it was half the price of an Ambassador at the time.  I was sold on the new level wind disengaging design, and the cheaper price sealed the deal.  I had an old pen 109 reel made for trolling I had tried to use as a casting reel and because of my limited success with that reel was a sucker for any design that made the reel free spool more.  It was my first true baitcaster.  My friend bought an Ambassador at the same time.  The level wind moved back and forth during free spool on his reel, but it was a much better caster than my Heddon with the new supposedly revolutionary improvement.  Now all baitasting reels have the level wind disengage, so maybe they were on to something.

[Catt]

Classics all of em 

[gim]

Do Terminators count as "old spinnerbaits?"

 

 

 

[detroit1]

My first baitcaster was that Heddon Mark 4. I remember spooling it up with yellow 14# stren. I didn't learn how to cast a baitcaster with that thing. 

[Mobasser]

The CC spin is a good one. It puts out a lot of vibration, and can be a good night spinnerbait. It was designed by Missouri Hall of Fame angler Charlie Campbell.