WHAT WAS YOUR VERY FIRST ROD AND REEL?

[Rod]

7 foot split cane rod bought second hand for 10 bob and a centre pin reel which cost about a quid new .Wish i still had it ,was quite a bonny rod.I was only about 8 at the time and and used to suffer from asthma , the doctor gave me mam the ten bob and said buy him a rod and get some fresh air into him,couldn`t see that happening these days.

[Davyred]

12ft milbro something or other and a mitchell 600 - what a reel!!! not.

Did anyone on here ever have one of the old zziplex dream machines? I loved that rod, still got it somewhere minus 6 inches of its tip

[5150]

used to fish the harbours with an old split cane 6\' boat rod and a tatty old diawa fixed spool.. dad had a couple of 8\' solid glass \"pier\" rods, they all must have been antiques!

[DaveMason]

I had a modern arms castaway and a mitchell 602p , bit of a handfull looking back .

Davy , I,ve still got my dream machine . It had a reputation of being \"floppy\" but once compressed and used correctly , what a darling . Best rod I\'ve owned .

[Davyred]

Got to agree with you Dave. I got a 5ft carbon butt for it making it 13ft and it was fantastic to use.

[Chris_Hughes]

The first rod and reel I could call my own was a 6ft solid glass Daiwa boat/pier rod combined with a Daiwa fixed spool. However, due to safety reasons, the local pier was shut down in the late sixties and I found the six footer too short for the local shore marks. So having saved some pennies, I purchased a Craddock 12 foot beachcaster coupled with a Gallion 42R fixed spool. A couple of years later I changed the reel for a Mitchell 600 multiplier. I mastered the multiplier and purchased several others but I could never accept the tackle losses due to their abysmal speed of retrieve (slower than a three legged tortoise on Valium). So I upgraded to what was at the time the state of the art fixed spool, the legendary Mitchell 498. Yes they where agricultural, but that was their strength as there was very little to go wrong and they could retrieve line like a scolded cat, in fact I still have my original 498 which I still use today and I don\'t think any multiplier could have sustained the amount of neglect and abuse that this reel has sustained, there is now more metal than paint on view on the body but the internal mechanics are as good as the day it was built. This at the time of purchase was coupled with another ledgend of its time, the Daiwa Moonraker. Soon the Moonraker gave way to a Conoflex DC6 which is still in use some 20 years later. In recent years, the arsenal has grown to include many other reels and rods, but the DC6 coupled with the Mitchell 498 is still amongst the favourites especially where some backbone and speed is required.

[JAW]

First rod - milbro surfcaster. First reel - penn squidder and then graduated onto a mitchell 600. They were the days hands blue and numb with the cold trying to pick out a huge birdie while all around are pulling decent fish in.
Mind you i haven\'t moved on very far, still prone to the odd birdie.

Cheers JAW.

[tala]

I Guess the best or the most memorable pairng for myself has to be a Century Formula Bohlite Supercast coupled with a rocket, PRICELESS.
I used to love going on the gare and blasting a double bait out 150 yards with them bugge*s, WISH I COULD GET THAT FAR NOW, must be getting old

[mark]

Q. Anyone remember a beachcaster from the seventies, a grey blank and the butt had 2 bicycle grip type things on it and a big ruber butt cap. Me Dad used to use one, I\'d love to get one again.

Edgar sealey! Had one in me mits today, well the bottom half anyway. If they can find the tip section I can have it! If you really want one Ell, and they can find the top half its yours. But you have to fish the next shore comp with it! And I might have an old mitchell multiplier in the shed that you can use at the same time.

I\'ll bring some shears and loads of spools of line for ya to reload after you\'ve cut the line off after every cast as well!

[boblydon]

penn sea boy reel, an some orange coloured reverse tapered beachcaster which was for a fixed spool real as it had a huge folding down eye on the butt...can remember getting a conoflex DC6 with a dural butt covered i shrink tube complete with a red ambassdoor 9000, thought i was he bees knees

[BILLYB]

bamboo cane from centre of roll of carpet and mono tied to the end then my dad got me a daiwa 770 fixed spool reel and 2 hose clips to put it on my bamboo pole. i saved up AND GOT A SUNDRIDGE CARBON FROM RS TACKLE IN THE TOWN [RONNIE DUKES SHOP] and a sea streak multiplier.. Those were the days when men were men and you could still get good fish from loyds jetty.
and before ell or someone asks i have not still got the bamboo pole

[BILLYB]

AND WHILE I AM ON THE SITE MERRY XMAS TO ALL THE LADS AND LASSES FROM NESA AND HAVE A FANTASTIC NEW YEAR

[KeithB]

My first rod n reel was a spinning set from joplings in N.shileds.

My old man took me diggin on the middens, filled an ice cream carton with king rag in about 1/2 an hour. Then the next day his mate took me on lloyds jetty, caught a \"puddler\"??? (coalie I\'m assuming) every chuck - Happy Days!

[boblydon]

i remember going to lloyds jetty after school,getting some herring scrap and catching hundreds of puddlers onan old spinning rod from lloyds jetty down the side

[tich]

Can\'t remember the rod, but the reel was a Penn Delmar, It came with two spools, a plastic one for shore fishing+ an aluminium one for boat fishing,, Im going back some 30years, once I got the hang of it& with my new rod, a home built double taperd, 11ft beachcaster I could launch it for miles... no brake blocks or magnets then!! just a bog honest reel that never fu££ed up, I wonder were it is now???? I wish I still had it unlike my Abu ambassadeur 6500 CSSports Mag thats soon going back to those nice lads at Temples !!!! again to be fixed, for the third time in 18 months,, Im thinking of sending it back to the makers & asking for a new one ... £110, notes & it packs in every 6 months,, my old penn lasted 10yrs & cost £7.00 ,,,