Thread: Old friends and old stuff

Lost an old friend earlier this year, worked with him many years ago. We shared some good times fishing and drinking. I had a chance to visit him before he passed. He gave me an old Diawa rod with an old Mitchell 300 reel that belonged to his dad. Rod is from the 70’s, reel likely much older but still works. Noisy, slow retrieve and shaky drag but it still catches fish and makes smiles. I knew his dad from 40 years ago, never got to fish with him but John and I did. I cleaned it up, put some fresh line on it and took it with me last weekend. Hooked a nice bass very first cast. Ended up with 3 or 4 and the biggest of the day, about a 3 pound bass. Those fish put a smile on my face and I hope John and his dad were smiling too. I’m gonna use it some more too. Should have took a picture but was not thinking about it at the time, I was thinking about 2 old fishermen.

My first fishing reel was a Mitchell 300. Bought it around 1967, with money from my paper-route. Used it for a long time, until someone made off with it. I was camping and left it in the boat. It was gone the next morning. I have missed that reel ever since.