Where did you obtain first new reel?

[Mike N]

The post about the M&H store front made me nostalgic…

I’m from a family of 8 children and my dear mother saved S&H green stamps from the local Loblaw’s and A&P grocery stores to redeem them 60 years ago in 1964 for my first reel: a closed face Bronson spin caster, which I still have somewhere. Move ahead 10 years to 1974 and a bunch of us got Christmas time jobs at the new K-Mart as stock boys right after football season. I used my first 2 paychecks to buy a Mitchell Garcia automatic bail spinning reel with a Berkeley cherrywood rod at that same K-Mart I had salivated over for a month. I caught a lot of trout at the local state park with that set-up. One last memory: at a fishing derby in 1966 for kids when I was 8 years old I did not catch a fish, but still won a sleeping bag in the raffle. I slept out in the backyard in that sleeping bag the rest of the summer. Great memories for any kid.

Please post memories of your first new reel.

[RonG]

My first reel was a Shakespeare level wind given to me by my father. I don't remember the model, just that it was silver. I also had a yellow casting weight that my father gave me and one for my brother so we could practice casting without getting a backlash. I remember this well.

[Midway Tommy D]

Well, my dad started me out with an old , probably Bronson or Higgins, bait caster, but later, around '62, upgraded me to a Johnson Citation spin caster. Probably because he got tired of untangling bird's nests. In '65 a friend of his was working on a new big box discount store called Pace. Supposedly they got an over shipment pallet of Mitchell 304s. Rather than send them back they were given to the guys working there. Dad's friend ended up with a couple, didn't fish much and gave two to my dad. Dad liked his a lot & mom preferred a bait caster, so he let me use (gave me, HA! ) the other one. I liked that 304, used it a lot and caught a lot of fish with it. In 1970 I broke the handle stud off the main gear. By then my dad had progressed to an early Zebco Cardinal 6. I thought it was a really cool reel. I couldn't afford one so I ended up buying a South Bend 725A from a discount store called Skagway just because it was dark green like the Cardinal green & cheap. I used it a few times, didn't like it at all and decided, in late 1970, to splurge and order a Zebco Cardinal 6 from Kern's Hardware in Humboldt, NE. They gave me a discount but it still cost me $40.00 back then. I still have all three of those spinning reels and still use the Cardinal 6, mostly for larger species like Northern Pike & Musky. I got a replacement gear for the 304 5 or 6 years ago and repaired it so it's now usable again.

That Zebco Cardinal 6 was the start of my ABU/Zebco Cardinal fulcrum drag fascination, obsession, as my wife calls it.

[castmaster54]

My first “new” reel was a True Temper (probably Bronson) closed face spin cast reel along with a matching True Temper tubular fiberglass spin cast rod. It was a gift,early 1960’s. It was a decent beginner’s outfit. George

[castmaster54]

I must add that the outfit came with a rubber casting weight for practice. This was very helpful.
Perhaps a sign of greater things to come! George

[Terry Battisti]

Like most people, I'd been fishing for years with family equipment prior to getting a reel I could honestly call my own. I started fishing when I was 4 years old and all the tackle I used was crap my dad had bought at Gemco. At four years old I didn't know crap from good stuff so it didn't matter. By the time I was in first grade and was reading, I started to devour the weekly fishing newspaper (Western Outdoor New) as well as any fishing literature I could get my grubby little hands on.

From my reading, I saw pictures of big bass weekly, and somehow decided I wanted to be a bass fisherman. All the lures, and big tackle boxes, the cool looking casting reels and rods really intrigued me. Then going to the lakes around southern California and seeing the bass boats and the bass anglers with their gear just cemented in my soul bass fishing was my home.

My dad refused to buy anything but $3 spinning reels and rods. I decided at 10 years old (1974), I wasn't going to fish with that stuff anymore. LOL. So in 1974 I started to save my allowance, lunch money, and any money I got for my birthday. I convinved my dad to let me start building rods because I could build a high-quality rod for a fraction of the cost of a store-bought equivalent. I built three Fenwick spinning rods first, two FSP 661s and a GSP 531. Yes, I built a generation 1 graphite rod as my third custom rod and I still have all these rods. BTW, the cost of that GSP 531 in 1974 was roughly $30 (Hidden Rod Shop, Signal Hill, CA).

When I finished the two Fenglass rods, my dad slapped his old Penguin spinning reels on them. I couldn't put a reel of that caliber on my graphite rod and my mom saw my dilemma. So she took me to Gemco and bought me a Daiwa skirted spool reel for my birthday. I want to say it was a 1000C but I don't think it was. My dad seeing that reel got jealous and sent my mom back to Gemco for two more. LOL. That was my first new reel. Sorry for the drawn out story...

[reelsmith.]

.
I got my first new reel, a Pflueger 1492, from my Dad, Christmas in 1972.

It's still my go-to reel.

Dean.

[leland99]

In the late 1960s, my parents bought a lake lot on newly impounded Lake Kiowa, an hour's drive north of Dallas. My dad bought new reels for my brother and me. My brother got a Mitchell 300, and I got an Abu Garcia Abu-Matic 170. It was my primary fishing reel even after I went to college. Sometime around 1980, after some quick battles resulted in losing a couple of large bass, I graduated to bait-casting reels, opting for Ambassadeur 4600. I caught everything, including bass, crappie, catfish, and perch on that 170! Although I would not opt to fish with a 170 today, any time I see one at a show, I have to give it a spin or two for old times' sake.

[1badf350]

In 1989 I received a “good” report card at school. Unusual for me because I was not a good student.
Anyway, mom rewarded me with a trip to the Sports Authority and let me pick out a fishing rod. I chose some random rod and a Penn Long Beach 65. I still have that combo I think somewhere

[OZZYLURES]

Hi Mike,
Looking back, I remember my grandfathers reels were all level winds by all the known makers of the time, Shakespeare, Pflueger, Ocean City etc. I didn't have much luck casting those but at around 15 or 16 I bought my first quality reel, a Garcia Mitchell 300 in the box with the tool, oil and extra spool. I bought that at a local hardware store here at home. It made my fishing easy and comfortable and I have had a soft spot for them ever since. Folks still love to use these old reels as I still see them on the streams and rivers here in PA. Very dependable, easy to use and could handle a wide array of various line tests. Light lines, light lures or heavy line and larger lures could all be used with these reels. This was my first new reel that I bought with my own grass cutting money. I think I paid 16.00 for it brand new.