Anyone else love their older reels?

[dwhite1031]

I have two Zebco 600 spincast reels and a Zebco 33 I just love. I bought the 33 way back in the 80's and the 600's were given to me way back when I still had hair on my head. The 600's have the old black metal covers and "click" when you reel them. The internal design is simple and effective. I have them each on Eagle Claw light rods. The 33 is on a Shakespear Ugly Stick light rod. I keep them oiled and greased regularly and baby the heck out of them. They keep catching fish so as long as they work, they'll have a special place in my boat for crappie or panfishing.

[Festus_Haggen]

Yes Doug, I have one of those black Zebcos you're talking about, it has to be over 40 years old and still works fine. It's still on the original rod. The rod is a little loose around the handle is its only flaw.

But my favorite is a DAM Quick 220 spinning reel I got for my 16th birthday. It turned 40 years old last March. It's made in Germany and similar to the old Mitchell 300s.

I also have an old Shakespeare Triumph 1958 baitcasting reel. It still works, but I retired it many, many moons ago. It has no free spool, but it'll cast like heck if you put something that weighs an ounce on it. It's on a 5' steel rod.

[Fatman]

I too have Zebco 600's although I have to get handles for them due to my son. I also have old 33's which I really think are better than the new ones. I also have my old Johnson Century Reel like Virgil Ward used to use and it works GREAT!!!!!!!! I still have my old shimano spinning reels I bought back in the 80's and work just as well as the day I bought them.

Fatman

[catman]

i really like the old daiwa magforce baitcasters made in the late 70's and early 80's. i,ve got around 15 of them and use them all the time. some work good as new and some are just worn out but i keep them for parts.

[The Lip RIPPERS]

I've been spanked before by people using the old Zeb. 33 spinner model reels, The reason? When retrieving jigs the low gear ratio's were what the crappie wanted that day and it's hard to match with a bail reel.

[deathb4disco]

I also have my old Johnson Century Reel like Virgil Ward used to use and it works GREAT!!!!!!!!

I have four myself. Those reels are built like tanks. Most modern spincast reels can't hold a candle to the Century or the old Zebco 33's.

I also have four Mitchell 300's and an Alcedo Micron.

[deathb4disco]

When retrieving jigs the low gear ratio's were what the crappie wanted that day and it's hard to match with a bail reel.

Very good point that's easily overlooked. There's really no need for a high gear ratio for jig fishing.

[skiptomylu]

One of my favorite spinning reels was the old Zebco Cardinal ( the small green ones) and they stopped making them and then them or someone came out with another one with the same name and it was only the same in name. I fished it to the gone pile and was so sorry to see it go. Wish I still had about a dozen of the old Cardinals as they were really small and worked great.

I do still use all my Shimano reels both bate casters and spinning reel which most of them were bought in the mid 1990 after I moved back from the saltwater gods country near Corpus. All I had left then was a couple of the old original bate casters that Shimano made back in the 1970's and I still have 2, but keep them put up. Other than them I had a few old Ambassadors 5000 that I don't use any longer and several spinning reels I used in salt water so I bought all new starting about 1992.

See below picture for one of my old Bantam 100 Shimano's from like 1978/1979. They were great because they were small and much lighter for fishing all day when I was guiding. They also did a great job.

Skip

[Ken Jones]

I have a Mitchel 300 that still works great.

[gilby1955]

I still have the rod my dad got me back when there was an Western Auto store. Still have the Johnson Century that I fished with at a snotty nosed kid, thing still works like a charm and now I am 60. Man I wish they still made them that good these days. :D