# Your First Rod and Reel??



## Smead (Feb 26, 2010)

Saturated by the River Monsters marathon with Jeremy Wade that's been on all day on the Animal Planet channel!!

http://animal.discovery.com/tv/river-monsters/

Can you remember what was the very first rod and reel you picked out for yourself...not counting gifts, or hand me downs.??

Reel: ABU Garcia Cardinal 753

It looked like this...almost forgot about that auto bail lever. 



Rod was a Berkley Lighting Rod, 2pc...IIRC, it was a 6'6" light or medium light...could have still been made in the U.S.A.; I can't remember for sure.

Circa Mid 1980's.


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## fredg53 (Sep 17, 2010)

No doubt standard zebco 33 bout 1972 I was 5 and caught my first large mouth smallie and channels on it still have a current version today for the kids 

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## JimmyMac (Feb 18, 2011)

First rod and reel I bought for myself hmm... 

It would have been a black abu garcia ambassaduer 6000c baitcaster on a 9ft master custom striker MH rod. I bought it from Relo sporting goods in fairfield (only local store I knew of at the time that carried gear suitable for catfishing). This was around 97-98 (I'm 25). That was bought with money I actually earned on my own from cutting lawns and recycling cans. Before that I had several rods and reels that people bought for me and handed down from My grandpa and uncle.


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## bruce (Feb 10, 2007)

Mitchel 308 on a 6ft all glass shespare rod in 1969 I was nine. Saved all the nickles from pop bottles and old news papers. As I rember papers feched a big .50 per 100lb. So now at age 9 I get on my bike with a BIG $$$$ 25.00 I ride to Beckers Hardware 6 mi ride over Wheeling hill and in to the Big city of WheelingWva. Well I get my rod,real,line,hooks,bobbers and sinkers. All for 22.00. Well now to get home with ALL this gear (did not think of that) ok tie rod and real to bike (ok) stuff pocktes(ok) put the rest in T shirt and tie to bike(good to go). Still have that rod and real to this day.


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## dinkbuster1 (Oct 28, 2005)

first reel i owned/picked out was a green and white Zebco 202 combo from Kmart in the summer of 1979 i do believe. i was 8 years old and a bluegill slayin ninja!


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## bruce (Feb 10, 2007)

Mom if you need me I will be down at the criike(not the creeke( yes I did).


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## poloaman (Mar 26, 2008)

A shimano fx 2000 rear drag and a 6'6" shimano medium action rod 


Polo
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## HookSet Harvey (Aug 12, 2010)

Zebco 202 combo. Moved up to a zebco 33. Then a quantum snapshot spinng reel.
First ever high dollar (to me at the time) was a quantum catalyst. That reel had problems with the anti reverse and converted me over to shimano reels. I did just get a real nice pfluger patriarch.


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## sherman51 (Apr 12, 2011)

yes i remember my first rod and reel, but i have no idea what brand it was. i was about 8 yrs old so that would have been about 1959. i bought a little plastic reel and rod combo at our 5c 10c store. took it to a farm pond and was using a jig. this big bass hit and straightened my hook out. i went to a bigger jig. another big bass hit, my rod broke, then my reel just exploded, then my line broke. all this happened the same day i bought the reel.

then my next reel was a zebco 202, it caught a ton of gills and bass. then had many zebco 33,s then in 76 i bought my first spinning reels to go to manistee lake in mich salmon fishing. one was a big shakespear and the othe was a mitchal 308. used them for along time. the shakespear wore out from catching so many salmon. then i bought a bunch of the shimano baitrunners. i still have and use those baitrunners.

and have had many other reels since then. i have about 40 or 50 reels all together now. some are small for pan fishing, some are larger for saltwater or whatever, then i have my trolling line counter reels for trolling. i have about 8 daiwa sg17lca,s and 8 daiwa accudepth plus 17 reels and a dozen of the okuma convector 20 reels. shouldnt need any more trolling reels the rest of my life,LOL.
sherman


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## st.slippy (Oct 3, 2008)

Rhino spincast combo!!!


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## Snakecharmer (Apr 9, 2008)

First reel I bought for myself was a Pflueger Akron with free spool when I was 16. Probably cost $15 or so. I had used a Zebco 606 before that. Not sure what rod I used with the Akron. Still have it.


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## Fish G3 (Jul 16, 2008)

An Abu Garcia 5000 with a 7ft Berkley Lightening rod. Loved that thing still have one that I re bought a few years ago.


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## sbreech (Jun 6, 2010)

Well, my first rod and reel were bought for me when I was little...a Zebco 202 with a solid fiberglass rod. I was 5 or 6, so it was right around 1976. The rod was dark and light green as well.

The first rod and reel that I picked out - and I think I begged my parents for it for Christmas for like 6 months - was when I was 12. It was a "matched set" Abu Garcia Kingfisher 43 combo. This was a front drag reel, and the rod was fiberglass. Both the rod and reel were silver with, what I remember, yellow and red accent stripes.


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## ohiotuber (Apr 15, 2004)

Only old goats like me will remember Miracle Mart in the Akron area. My 1st outfit (I SAVED for this!) was a $1.99 baitcasting rig. Obviously "no name"...rod was solid glass, reel's drag & spool control were called "Mikey's thumb". The best part of the whole thing was that our old neighbor on Honodle Ave in Akron, Vic Simich, gave me a spool of Cortland Tournament Casting Line, a REAL practice plug, & taught me to cast. I cast pretty darn well with his help. Sadly, Vic & that outfit are long gone, but never forgotten. Vic left me with his legacy of helping kids start in fishing. He was a great man & great for our sport.
Sorry to ramble, but the Simich Family (Vic's Son Nick also helped) was a huge part of my first rod & reel.
Mike


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## lordofthepunks (Feb 24, 2009)

the first reel i specifically remember buying myself was a quantum hypercast. prob about 1989 or 90. berkely lightning rod was the first rod i bought.


that reel was sweet back then, payed about $60 if i remember correctly. wish i still had it.


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## saugmon (Jun 14, 2006)

I had a pocket fisherman for a christmas present,LOL!. The first combo I bought was a Penn 540?GR graphite spinning reel with finger trigger and matched to a 7' med heavy eagle claw black diamond II back when gander mountain was a mail order catalog only! Tons of erie walleye caught on that combo back in the drifting days.

Poloaman:After that penn, I've been hooked on rear drag shimano's with the trigger feature.


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## LilSiman/Medina (Nov 30, 2010)

Shakespeare cirrus spinning rod. 6' 6'' medium fast action rod with medium cirrus shakespeare reel lined with 8lb berkley.


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## sauguy (Apr 8, 2004)

Mitchell 300 on a Sears Ted Williams fiberglass rod


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