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Vintage Fishing Equipment
Smitty500mag
Member Posts: 13,603 ✭✭✭✭
Do you guys like the old fishing equipment? Everything I fish with is the old stuff like the Garcia Conolon Rods that were made in the USA and the Mitchell reels that were made in France.
I particularly like the ultra light stuff for freshwater like the Mitchell 408 reel and the Garcia Conolon ultra light rods.
I lucked up and found this Garcia Conolon B501-A, 4 star, 5-1/2' rod on ebay the other day for less than half of the ones I've been watching. The guy had such bad pictures in his ad that I guess people were reluctant to bid on it. I took a chance anyway and the only blemish is on the G in the Garcia lettering. The rest of the rod looks really great for it's age.
I particularly like the ultra light stuff for freshwater like the Mitchell 408 reel and the Garcia Conolon ultra light rods.
I lucked up and found this Garcia Conolon B501-A, 4 star, 5-1/2' rod on ebay the other day for less than half of the ones I've been watching. The guy had such bad pictures in his ad that I guess people were reluctant to bid on it. I took a chance anyway and the only blemish is on the G in the Garcia lettering. The rest of the rod looks really great for it's age.
Comments
Please continue to educate the rest of us and to share your passion here...
So few people buy nice well made top of the line products anymore
Everything from Walmart and target is made in China and India and if it lasts a year or two oh well you buy another cheap replacement
Many of us have the collectors bug and should share pics of our pieces no matter what the medium.
Mike
I have a few 308's and 300's and a few old rods.
I was counting the old Mitchell's I've accumulated the other day and found I have over 40 of them not counting the old D.A.M Quick reels and other Mitchell parts reels that's laying around the work shop. The darn things are addictive to me. I keep saying I don't need any more and the next time I see one in great shape I'll end up buying it anyway. My youngest son will have a lot of fishing junk to sort through besides the guns when I'm gone since he's the only one of our kids that likes the old stuff like I do.
The 300's are the old workhorses. I've got 20 300's and 300A's along with a couple of the left hand 301's.
I fished with a 308 before the high speed 408's came along which I still have a couple of each.
I also have 3 salt water 302's and the high speed version of it in the 402. I've read that there's still a lot of people using the 302's and 402's to surf fish with because they just last forever and you can still find them cheap. They haven't made them since 1979 but they're still a lot of them around. I also like the mid size 306 and 406 salt water reels too. My wife likes the 406 better than the larger 302 or 402.
My other Mitchell's are the models:
304
305
314
330
400
410
900
How much did you give for the rod? I still use one too.
I paid $39.99 plus $8.50 shipping.
Congrats.
Brought back some very good memories of when I was growing up. My Dad owned "Northwest Rod and Reel Repair" (Tacoma WA)back in the mid 60's and into the early 70's. I grew up around all of this quality stuff. I found a Mitchell Garcia factory dealer clock in his stuff when we were cleaning out his stuff a few yeas ago.
Yep those were the good old days. I grew up at my grandpa's Three Rivers Boat Dock & Restaurant in Knoxville, TN back in the 50s and 60s and I used to spend a lot of time watching my uncle doing rod and reel repair and outboard motor repair.
I was a regular river rat as a kid. When I wasn't in school I was always at the dock helping Pop pump rain water out of people's boats that were docked there or keeping the soft drink refrigerator boxes filled up at the restaurant. Rest of the time I spent goofing off fishing and swimming.
must have 11 or 12 of the old mitchells
That was my first spinning rod. Seriously. And I mated it with a Garcia/Mitchell 408 ultra-light reel.
Speaking of Mitchell 408's, not that I really needed any more of them, but I found a couple of them for sale the other day on ebay that were to good of a deal to pass up.
For their size the 408 and the 308's are tough little reels and they'll last forever plus they're very easy to service. I believe I could take one apart and put it back together in the dark they're so simple.
The 408's were made from 1963 to 1981. The ones I have are midnight blue in color which would be the early models so these two are around 50 years old. I doubt that the Chinese reels on the market today will be around 50 years from now and still working as smooth as they were the day they left the factory. The French did a good job on these old reels.
for my 15th birthday I ask mam and dad to buy a Garcia 301 ( right hand version of the 300 ) for me a local store ( o-mart ) early version of a k-mart , they had one in the show case about 15.00 if I remember .. I realized later on that was a lot for mom and dad to come up with for a present [:(].
all we ever had was zebco 202's dad had a old bait caster he had forever I just wanted a nice rod and reel for a change , did not improve my fish catching
I had to save up for months to buy a rod to go with it .
I still have it and maybe a 1/2 dozen more now I have picked up over the years
'
...for my 15th birthday I ask mam and dad to buy a Garcia 301 ( right hand version of the 300 )
I've got a couple of 301's also. They're awkward for me to use since I cast with my right hand. Mitchell actually called the 301s the left hand model due to it being held in your left with right hand retrieve. And the 300 the right hand model because it's held in the right hand with left hand retrieve.
quote:Originally posted by Smitty500mag
quote:Originally posted by Ditch-Runner
...for my 15th birthday I ask mam and dad to buy a Garcia 301 ( right hand version of the 300 )
I've got a couple of 301's also. They're awkward for me to use since I cast with my right hand. Mitchell actually called the 301s the left hand model due to it being held in your left with right hand retrieve. And the 300 the right hand model because it's held in the right hand with left hand retrieve.
My older brother would go to auctions and i have seen him spend over 200.00 for one lure.He had a large collection of old poles,lures and reels.After he passed away she got rid of them all almost gave away.Bet he had over 100 rods,75 reels and hundreds of lures.
There's a lot of people into fishing lure collecting. I used to work with a guy that had thousands of dollars invested in old lures. They have fishing lure shows all over the country just like gun shows. I attended one of the shows one time in Pigeon Forge, TN and the place was packed. I was amazed.
I never got into lure collecting other than the lures that I've inherited. I inherited quite a few from one of my uncles back in the 80s that I still have but other than that the only ones I buy are the newer stuff that I fish with.
he was also the one when ask if he had a bass boat would reply " I have a ranger xxx "
ya but he had a 6 year loan also that went with it [:I][:I][:I] and not shy about it
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I had a nice collection of old salt water rods and reels. I gave them to my niece, that lives at the shore in Delaware. All my stuff is brand new. I am inheriting all my FIL collection of old reels though. He even has one made by winchester. Those I am gonna hang onto. Oak
Did you have any of the old Mitchell salt water reels? A lot of people still use these old reels surf fishing today. They made so many of them plus they are so rugged that they are still plentiful today even though none have been made since the late 80s when Mitchell went out of business in France.
The old 302 was Mitchell's first heavy duty salt water reel. I've got several of them. The 402 was the high speed version of the 302 which is my favorite of the bunch. The 306 and 406 are a lighter salt water reel.
The 302
The 402.
The 306.
The 406.
Need to see some more.
The past couple of days I've been doing a little maintenance on my old 302 salt water reels getting ready for some fishing in Florida this spring.
I also replaced the stock pinon gear bearings in each of them with a new oil sealed ceramic bearing that I found that fits perfectly. The old bearing were still good but these bearings are smoother and quieter than the stock bearing.
These reels range between 60 to 65 years old that I have. They're built like a tank and they'll be around long after I'm gone. That might have played a part in why Mitchell went out of business besides some of their bad business deals. Reels that last a life time don't need to be replaced.
And fiery auto crashes
Some will die in hot pursuit
While sifting through my ashes
Some will fall in love with life
And drink it from a fountain
That is pouring like an avalanche
Coming down the mountain
Ah... so we moved the fishing forum.[:)]
Yeah right next to where you post all your political BS instead of in the "politics forum".