What was your first real fishing reel ?

[Ozark mike]

Probably a Zero hour bomb company 33 since that was about all we had for along time

[brass410]

Dropped my Johnson overboard when I was 8 (rolled off of a Duluth pack). My dad still reminds me of this on a regular basis. It's in the first bay on SW corner of Sunday Lake in Ontario if anyone wants to look for it!

where is sunday lake ? nearby to ?

[BucketBack]

Zebco 202

[Conditor22]

mine was a 2"x7" piece of bamboo that I wound the line around, the pole was also bamboo with a metal eye on the end.

the "choke" was my thumb pressure on the line.

with a little practice it worked great and the price was right

[Mitch]

i guess the first thing i had was a little plastic handle with about 6 feet of the old time braided line a realy small hook and bobber.Not long after I burnt up my fingers catching some nice blue gills I got a zebco 202 rod and real combo for my birthday.

[retread]

Mitchell 300. A long time ago.

[BrutalAB]

Dont know what was my first, but still have the first that i remember. Its a daiwa jupiter x.
Certainly is not the smoothest, but it did hold up to youngster me. As a kid it was mounted on an ugly stik. Not currently in use, or even mounted on a rod. probably never will use it again, but i keep it around for some reason.

[GregLaROCHE]

I had some probably unnamed reels before, but the first one that I remember using the most, was a Zebco 202, that I got one Christmas. By the following spring, I could put a sinker in all the rings at the sportsman’s show and won a prize.

[TyGuy]

The first reel I was proud of was a Pflueger Criterion that became my go-to from middle school until a couple years ago. I still have it and it still works but it is WORN OUT! I have no idea how many fish kissed the air thanks to that reel. It served me well and I thought it was the cat’s pjs.

[Ural Driver]

After many years of nothing but a cane pole I got upgraded to a Zebco 202.......I thought a was "the cats ***".

[Traffer]

When I was 11 yrs old back in 1962 I got a phone call...The person on the other end said that I won a raffle and I was supposed to come pick up the prize. I told them they must have made a mistake ...never entered a raffle. My dad overheard and said "wait a minute" ...he took the phone and said we would be right over.
Apparently my dad entered my name in a raffle at a grand opening of a nearby gas station. I won second place which was a Brand New SPINNING ROD.
Like many here before that time I used an old worn out casting rod from my grand pa. We used daredevils to catch "Northerns".
The spinning rod to me was like winning a Ferrari. Never thought I would own one.
It was a Zebco 202. I wore it down over the next 5 years to be rebuilt with oddball screws and such. Ended up putting 20 lb test on it with a rod that was cut down to the first guide so it was like a little muskie rod. I could cast the daredevil to the end of the line.
Caught more northern pike on that rig than all of the folks here have ever seen.
Then on my 15th birthday, my dad got me my dream reel ... (to this day I don't know where he got the money)
It was a Shakespeare 2062 open face...(still got it)
That reel could write probably a hundred books if it could talk. It cost $32.50 new back then. Just about twice as much as the venerable Mitchell 300, it's rival.

[DDriller]

Zebco 33 of my dads. My first purchase was a Mitchell 308 in the late 1960's.

[Walks]

Mitchell 308, still works and I still use it.

[shampine]

Mitchell 300 followed shortly by Zebco 33 . I really liked the 33 for walleye and bullhead fishing at night . The glory days , fishing by the light of the Coleman lanterns cooking fresh walleye on the campfire .

[GregLaROCHE]

I just checked and can’t believe you can still buy a Zebco 202. It’s changed a little from the one I had in the sixties, but basically the same.

[Shurshot2]

First was a zen I, first real reel was a Mitchel 300.

[Pete57]

Jig master

[anothernewb]

Dad gave me a Mitchell 300 when I was 10 or so. Still have it, and his. Still use them occasionally - but man those things are a hunk of steel like a tank. they feel like they weigh more than my kayak.

[Char-Gar]

Garcia Mitchell 301 bought in 1956. Still have it and it still works fine.

[pworley1]

Zebco 202