vintage reels

[captdave]

Anybody use them to catch crappie? I have caught the vintage reel bug after a member on c.c recommended the old johnson spincast reels. Have bought some and hoping to fish with them soon. I love the looks of the vintage spincasters. Wanted to hear from y'all and see what y'all use!

[CrappieDontTap]

I use one. A guy I know was going to sell it but gave it to me instead. Doesn't even have markings on it except for made in Japan.

[CrappiePappy]

CDT .... looks like a knockoff of a Mitchell 300

[CrappieDontTap]

I wonder if it ever had decals on it. I took it apart and there's no markings inside either. Regardless it works great. Casts great too. It did have a bump in it when I was reeling in but I put a thin washer below the spool and wallah! Bush fix.

I put it on a Bass Pro Shop XPS IM8 6'6" rod.
Was meant for bluegill but those white crappie sliders make it deadly.

[flycaster]

Every fisherman needs to have a JOHNSON and here is mine.
Got this reel as a birthday present 64 years ago.
Had to replace the original spool, as it was made of plastic, and I tried to put to much line on it and it split. Replaced with an aluminum one and have been happy since.

[CrappiePappy]

Yep, flycaster .... those were the Cadillac Tank of their era.

[Glenn54]

My dad gave me his spinning reel many many years ago because the one I was using wouldn't work. He gave me a Dam Quick 220N. We were crappie fishing in Sam Rayburn. After holding onto it for years, I some how lost it. So about 5 years ago, I bid on two of them on Ebay and won both. I gave one of them to my son. I was thinking the other day about using the one I kept for crappie fishing. I will post a pic of it later.

[Crestliner08]

I love antique reels. But most are kept for sentimental reasons only. Reason being that design changes increased the advantages for us over many decades. I have 2 old Johnson Century reels that I grew up with. They are simple reels and work ok, if you know the limitations. Light lines get caught easily under the spool rotor. The drags leave a lot to be desired. And you can never really depend on the pick up pin to catch the line at the start of the retrieve. Modern reels have much better drags and instant pick ups.

The old Mitchel type reels were great in their day. Main draw backs were that occasionally the line would get sucked in under the spool. And if you didn't notice it right away, you were in for a mess! Also, you cannot manually flip the bail. Rather you have to turn the handle for the bail to flip. This creates a high bail spring failure.

All of these old reels are kept for their nostalgia value, but that's as far as they go, at least with me. We now have much better - and more reliable - reel designs today to choose from. And at very competitive prices.

[yobuck]

My dad gave me his spinning reel many many years ago because the one I was using wouldn't work. He gave me a Dam Quick 220N. We were crappie fishing in Sam Rayburn. After holding onto it for years, I some how lost it. So about 5 years ago, I bid on two of them on Ebay and won both. I gave one of them to my son. I was thinking the other day about using the one I kept for crappie fishing. I will post a pic of it later.

That wasent all that many years ago, or at least dosent seem so.
D.A.M. Quick reels were very good, German made and pretty popular among (knowledgable) anglers, like me for example. lol
I had a 330, 2 220s and a 110. A couple are still around and i should gather them up and sell them.

[Grainraiser]

I still have two Johnson Centuries and a Johnson Sabra reel. My dad bought them for me in the early 70's after I graduated from my Zebco 202. I have special memories from those reels. The most crappie I ever caught was on my Johnson Century back in 1974. We were fishing a creek and all of sudden that creek came alive with crappie. We must have caught 300 crappie between the two of us (no limit in those days). We ran out minnows so I had to dig for dig for earthworms to use for bait. Are basket and stringer was full so we had to use our shoe laces for stringers. We only left because it got to dark to see. We filled the trunk of my moms 1974 Plymouth Duster with crappie. We filled the freezer and gave crappie to all of the neighbors. We were gonna go back the next day but we were way to tired to go fishing again. Never in my life have I gotten into crappie like that. Telling that story always brought a smile to the old mans face. He has sense passed on but I still think of that day when I look at those reels. It was Virgil Ward that turned him on too Johnson reels. What great times.