What was the first rod/reel combo you bought and started out with? What was your first lure?
I started out with a Shakespeare Synergy spin cast combo (bunch of junk!) and bought a small tackle box that had some beetle spins, bobbers, and whatnot. The first lure I caught a fish on was a Cotton Cordell Super Spot, in bright red. I was hooked (groan) for life!
Ugly stik w/ shimano Sedona and panther martins.
On 10/21/2014 at 11:21 PM, BasshunterJGH said:Ugly stik w/ shimano Sedona and panther martins.
Can't go wrong with that!
My first rod & reel combo was a vintage 1960's Sears Roebuck and Co. Ted Williams II job.
Included a 6 1/2 ft Two Piece Cork Handle Rod (it was like a noodle) and the model 240 spincast reel which as I remember, was a kind of putrid brown color.
Gave it to my little brother when I "up graded" - wished I had kept it.
My first bass taken on a "Lure" ~ was on the classic Jointed Rebel Minnow
A-Jay
I can't remember for sure but I do remember catching a lot of smaller fish on a Zebco 202 combo and a beetle spin.
In 1985 roughly my father bought two 1985 Shimano TX-110Q spinning reels and two Berkley rods. I don't remember what series the rods were but they were the same, one has red eyelet inserts and the other had yellow eyelet inserts though. I think the color difference may have represented the action?
My father has since passed and both rods have broken but I do currently have my fathers TX-110Q on a Shakespeare Ugly Stick. It is actually my most used rod for panfish and small large-mouth Bass. Sitting in my boat now waiting for a sunny Michigan fall day!
I've been meaning to pickup a Berkley 6'6" Lightening Rod just so I could have the Berkley/Shimano combo back I had as I kid.
I actually still have my Shimano TX-110Q too but I've lost the crank and spool. If I can track down a crank and spool, it will be my daughters reel next year or so. Going to put that one on a Berkley Lightening Rod too. The Berkley/Shimano combo caught me LOADS of fish growing up, it will for my daughter too!
I started on worms but I remember a Perch Rapela as being my first lure.
I've also own a 2014 Shimano Curado 200I on a 2015 St. Croix Avid X 7'0" Medium-Fast and a Quantum Smoke SL40PTI series spinning reel on some cheap 6'6" Medium-Heavy rod, I can't remember what brand but I know it's an IM8.
My first combo was a fiberglass two piece Shakespeare rod paired to a Shakespeare spinning reel, excuse me if I don´t tell which model cuz I really don´t remember, that was 41 years ago. My first lures were a Mepps Aglia size 2 gold blade in-line spinner, a Mepps Comet size 2 silver blade in-line spinner, 2 Rapala Original Floating minnow size 5 one is silver black back and the other is gold black back. Beleiev it or not I still have them. Oh man I don´t know how many trout I caught with those. Actually I caught my first bass with the silver one.
I didn't buy my first combo. I was 6. Mitchell 300. Unknown fiberglass reel. Probably a worm although we walked the shore picking up leeches and crayfish, so I can't be positive the worm was first.
Shakespeare rod / reel combo not sure on the model
First lures were hooks / sinkers / mepps spinners
First bass I can remember catching came off a jointed rapala original floater silver / black
I've got a Shakespeare Sigma spinning reel on a 6' Ugly-Stick I bought in the early '80s. I'm pretty sure it's my first setup. I don't remember how much I paid for it, but am 95% sure I bought it @ BrayWey sports, a tackle shop that's long been replaced by 'progress'.
Zebco 606, shrink wrapped combo with an Abu reflex in line spinner.
Hootie
Zebco 202 in a box(lol) the only things I remember on the rod was it was a cork handled 2 piece with metal ferrules that were corroded togeather.. Baits were Maribou crappie jigs
The first one I got was probably a spiderman combo lol.
The one I bought was a Spiderwire spinning rod that was 30 bucks with a random spinning reel.
Baits I liked to use were Beetle Spins but with Powerbait grubs
Caught my first bass on a brim buster with a bobber, hook, and worm when I was four. The first combo I can remember getting was a Shakespeare micro spin and a pack of watermelon seed zoom lizards. I swore by those things till my friend let me fish his 6'6" matzuo combo from walmart. I loved how much more backbone the rods had and how much better they would cast, so I bought a few of them. I still have one and took it fishing the other day and felt like I was fishing with a noodle. I think I made two or three casts and got the lews back out haha
a vintage zebco spincast and I don't even remember what model it was? The one with the big a** donkey tooth button on it to cast. I named it " the perch catcher " But when I played little league baseball there was a stream behind the field in the woods and I found a worn out shimano combo somebody just left there. That was my first decent combo
I was so young I don't remember. My guess is it was a Zebco 202 or 33 combo.
Some Abu garcia combo from Walmart. First lure... Probably a beetle spin
I think my first combo was probably some sort of spin cast rod and reel combo. Around 12 my dad bought me a nice daiwa spinner to put on an ugly stick and a fire tiger rapala crank. I proceeded to catch a nice little pike and throughly enjoyed watching my dad tangle with that thing with a small pair of forcepts. Lol a great memory from my childhood.
I chose to get some decent gear my first time out I got a orra 2sx and a mojo bass crank rod. The rod broke recently.
The first I bought was an abu from Walmart and a med/heavy gX2 ugly stik as far as lures go I started out dragging 7 and 10 inch worms t-rigged, and that's still my favorite way to fish
A Shakespeare spinning reel and rod combo. My first real bass set up.... A bps bionic blade and an abu garcia c3. My first bass lures were a rebel popper and 7inch purple worm.
My first lure I got was "The Flying Lure". Made my dad order it when I saw the infomercial when I was 7 years old lol. I don't think I caught one fish with it but then again I don't think I really knew how what the heck I was doing at that age.
Spinning was some $15 Shimano combo from Dick's and casting was an Abu Garcia Blue Max combo from Academy. Now I have 15 customs with Shimanos on them. I guess you could say I'm addicted...
Roadrunner or rigged Creme Lil' Scoundrel with the prop spinner in front. Those two baits caught everything.
I think the rod was an old Bass Pro spinning rod, and my first fish came on an Original Floater in silver with a black back.
Some things you don't forget, this is one of those.
Reel was Langley Lure Cast, Rod was Cololin 5 1/2' bass rod, line Ashley Camo Dacron 12 lb., lure was Hawaiian wiggler #3 weedless spoon red/white, second lure was Creek Chub Injured Minnow silver shiner.
Both surface type lures and I was 10 years old. Saved the money by helping my brother work on a boat landing all summer to buy my first bass fishing outfit.
Tom
Zebco 33 on an ugly stick. #3 purple mepps.
Mine was a Zebco 66. I outgrew it, graduated to a Zebco 33.
I don't recall the rod. It had to be a light or ML glass job.
I outgrew it a bit later on and the reel, at least was replaced with a Zebco 33.
My first lures were Mepps inline spinners and Beetle Spins.
Josh
It kinda impossible for me to know what my first combo was but I know what the first one I ever bought my self was. I bought a Mitchell spinning reel back when it was made in the USA and they were good reels and then I paired it with a St. Croix worm rod. It had yellow inserts and I am pretty sure they were glass actually. It was I guess tech specific since I am pretty sure it had a picture of a worm on it. It was so long ago and I was like 8 or 9 so I can't totally remember. But I dropped some serious coin that day on fishing stuff and I was just a little kid. I had nicer stuff then lots of the adults I would see fishing.
Gosh...don't think I can remember that far....the first outfit I remember using was a white shakesphere flyrod with a plufger reel. Ended up putting a Mitchell 308 on it for fishing bait. Also remember upgrading to a four piece eagleclaw and using a motoroil colored lizard with it's legs cut off to look more like a worm to catch bass.
My first combo was a Zebco 202 and a Zebco rod. It was used mostly for drownin' worms for panfish. When I was 10 years old, my grandpa told me that if I was going to be a "serious" bass fisherman, I needed a proper rod and reel, so he gave me an old Shakespeare model 1920 Wondereel on a 5-1/2' steel rod and a handful of old bass lures. I caught my first bass using that combo and a yellow / red spot Lazy Ike.
Tom
ugly stik + grub
My first combo that I can remember was a Zebco 404, on a Zebco 5'6 or 6' rod(pistol grip), spooled with 20 lb mono. My favorite lure to use was a zoom fat albert grub, but not a zoom, it was a walmart special. The color was bright green. I used to put it on a lead jighead, 1/8 or 1/4 oz and just slow reel it back on the bottom. I also liked the gray slug gos rigged the same way and fished the same way. I was 12 and I thought I was Bill Dance hahahahaha.
As a kid I had a Zebco 404 reel and Zebco 5'6" pistol grip rod. One of my first artificial baits was a Creme worm on a harness / spinner. Caught a lot of creek bass and chubs with the occasional trout thrown in. Suckers and bullhead on night crawlers. Lost that combo when we tried carp fishing and I didn't leave the bail open. The rod bent over and before I could grab it out of the crotched stick, over the bank and down the river it went.
Quantum Accurist reel with a Quantum rod. First lure used was probably a Terminator spinnerbait but the first bass I caught on a lure was a deep diving crankbait in a baby bass color. Not sure the brand though.