# Nostalgic fishing items



## BassFlats (Nov 26, 2018)

A friend of mine has a collection of Pikie plugs (awesome snook lure)







that I'll try to get pics of. I made him a nostalgic tackle box to display the lures.


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## fishnpreacher (Jul 28, 2018)

Very cool boxes!


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## Zika (Aug 6, 2015)

I was gifted a couple reels from my neighbor who passed away. He knew I was in the biz. Also picked up a couple antique plugs off eBay. Didn't go too far down that rabbit hole and start serious collecting. 

Left to right:
Bronson Symbol 4700 baitcaster
Garcia Mitchell 300 spinner (I had one too, that I used until it finally crapped out)
South Bend No. 400 baitcaster

Both bait casters have the old linen line. The jar is full of shells I picked off the beaches of Big Bend's barrier islands. The modern pink lipped plug was part of a celebration of life from a former outdoor writer colleague of mine.


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## devrep (Feb 22, 2009)

these belonged to my dad.


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## permitchaser (Aug 26, 2013)

I’m an old guy so I have old stuff. If I can find them


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## BassFlats (Nov 26, 2018)

A photo I found on the interweb


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## EasternGlow (Nov 6, 2015)

My mouth tastes like soap just looking at that picture


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## Net 30 (Mar 24, 2012)

Boynton Beach Inlet 1964


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## BassFlats (Nov 26, 2018)

Nice pic @Net 30 . Are you from Boynton?


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## Buffalo Bob (Aug 28, 2019)

Pfleuger Progress No1774 / Garcia 8 1/2' No 2638T ... "My first fly rod & reel"
Shakespeare Wondercast No. 1776 Model FC ..."Christmas present when I was 6-yr. old"
Garcia Mitchell 300 / Southbend Stag Spinning Rod #22366 Model A ... "Bought when I was 11 yr old from grass cutting $"
ALL MADE IN USA 🇺🇸


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## BassFlats (Nov 26, 2018)

Great collection BB. I remember the Mitchell 300 was the reel to have. I wonder if anyone here still has a true temper steel casting rod.


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## FlyBy (Jul 12, 2013)

BassFlats said:


> Great collection BB. I remember the Mitchell 300 was the reel to have. I wonder if anyone here still has a true temper steel casting rod.


I DID have one. I think I bought it at Western Auto. Seems like only the butt section was steel. Had a Mitchell 300 on it and later a DAM Quick Finessa.


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## MAK (Dec 15, 2017)

Funny how you don’t initially look at the stuff you purchased and used as an adult as old or vintage. Then you think about how many years you have had some of that stuff, and realize you are now an old fart... and so is your stuff. 😂
The first rod and reel that I got which I considered an “adult” setup was given to me by my grandfather in the mid 70s. It was a birthday gift to him from the guys he worked with, but he wasn’t a fan of spinning reels. He was a Zebco man although he had a sweet Garcia Ambassador on a Daiwa Millionaire rod which he liked to show off and occasionally backlash🤣. I still have my prized Garcia Mitchell 330 with the automatic trip bail on a Berkley “Cherrywood“ rod. It’s my oldest childhood rod/reel that I still have. 
I was bass fishing and reading all the fishing magazines from the 70s, so I collected enough lures to open a small tackle shop. Not enough room to drag all that crap out but I do have some stuff that I viewed as old even back when I got it as a kid from a friends grandfather. Also a handful of Heddon lures and a Pike Creek Chub that were already several years old when they were given to me as a kid. Still have a bunch of ancient Mirrolures that are now in my inshore box...


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## BassFlats (Nov 26, 2018)

Flyby as I remember they made several models, steel butts and fiberglass rod and a all steel version baitcasting.


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## BassFlats (Nov 26, 2018)

Very nice Mak. Well preserved


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## topnative2 (Feb 22, 2009)

Net 30 said:


> Boynton Beach Inlet 1964
> 
> View attachment 150507


who was running the boat back then?


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## BassFlats (Nov 26, 2018)

I can't make out the name on the boat @topnative2 . A little help please


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## Mako 181 (May 1, 2020)

BassFlats said:


> I can't make out the name on the boat @topnative2 . A little help please


Southern comfort


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## lemaymiami (Feb 9, 2007)

Don’t have time for photos but still have the old Mitchell 304 I was given as a present in 1962 when I was 14 as well as the Ambassadeur 6000 for my 15th birthday (but over the years it was heavily modified...). It’s had three different sets of gears and back in the seventies finally got a solid machined spool (the factory spools were kind of fragile and wouldn’t stand up to deep jigging and big fish)...

I still have that first aluminum tackle box I was given as a kid - but for many years it’s been used to hold Penn reel parts. Lastly, going back in time I still have the very first rod I ever made back in 1971 when I’d only been back from Vietnam a few months...

‘Spose most would call me a pack rat...


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## cusnooking (Jan 17, 2007)

Tournament pin from 1961 Harbour Heights Florida I fish there a lot in the winter.


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## Mako 181 (May 1, 2020)

I have a pair of ambassador 6000C on Jim Usland fiberglass rods. 
I also have some additional Usland glass rods.


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## topnative2 (Feb 22, 2009)

Mako 181 said:


> Southern comfort


I wonder if it was old Capt. Mike Zubak before he got the "Elf"


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## BassFlats (Nov 26, 2018)

My reference book had a picture of the Southern Comfort, but didn't list the Captain. Great book.


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## BassFlats (Nov 26, 2018)

My buddy, who I built the wooden tackle box for ,







gave me one of his Pikies


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## Backcountry 16 (Mar 15, 2016)

Not old but I came into my storage unit today and found this. That's the joys of having a wife who'







s a picker/trader know telling where she got it . But pretty cool non the less.


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## Net 30 (Mar 24, 2012)

BassFlats said:


> Nice pic @Net 30 . Are you from Boynton?


In the 1960s, I spent the majority of my summers as a kid at my grandparents home in Boynton. Every day at 3pm my grandfather would take me to the inlet to watch the charter fleet come back from a days fishing. He was the public works manager for Boynton and he knew all the captains and mates. In those days the south side the inlet had a charter boat marina and those afternoons with _Poppi_ are some of the best memories in my life.

Thanks for the heads up on that book about Palm Beach County!


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## BassFlats (Nov 26, 2018)

Of course the mecca of nostalgic items in my area is the historic West Palm Beach Fishing Club. If anyone is visiting downtown WPB, stop by.


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## BassFlats (Nov 26, 2018)

@cusnooking ,I watched a YouTube video recently called Silver King : the birth of big game fishing. Highly recommend. Different locals had pins similar to yours.


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## georgiadrifter (Jan 14, 2009)

I collect old/vintage fishing related stuff. One of my favorite pieces is a 1947 Shell Lake Snipe. I found it in an estate sale in Chattanooga, TN about ten years ago. It had copious amounts of rot and decay that had to be removed. New transom and gunnels, and a few new ribs and she’s almost good as new.


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## cusnooking (Jan 17, 2007)

BassFlats said:


> @cusnooking ,I watched a YouTube video recently called Silver King : the birth of big game fishing. Highly recommend. Different locals had pins similar to yours.


Thanks bassflats I just watched that video it was a great video full of information


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## BassFlats (Nov 26, 2018)

@georgiadrifter beautiful skiff, do you keep it stored inside.


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## lemaymiami (Feb 9, 2007)

For Mako, the correct name for the shop that built your rods was Uslan and it was quite a place all those years ago. Abe Gaspar, when he worked there, was the one that taught me the finer points of building fly rods... Old Nat Uslan, the founder, started out up north hand crafting split bamboo fly rods - and they were the only five sided rods ever produced (all other split bamboo was six sided models...). Uslan rods back in the seventies could be found in many different shops (including the first tackle shop I ever worked for - Reef Tackle on 79th street in Miami (started winter of 1972...).

When Uslan finally changed hands I stopped by one day and the young guys behind the counter might not have fishing on their minds... They wanted to show me the heavy hardware they'd bought for "protection" over in the islands. Once I realized what they were up to I never went back (and I was a cop back then...). A few years later the local rep for a big rodbuilding hardware outfit contacted me to ask if I had any info about their whereabouts since they disappearing owing big bucks... It was like that down here back then...


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## georgiadrifter (Jan 14, 2009)

Y


BassFlats said:


> @georgiadrifter beautiful skiff, do you keep it stored inside.


Thanks.....yes stored inside.


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## devrep (Feb 22, 2009)

georgiadrifter said:


> I collect old/vintage fishing related stuff. One of my favorite pieces is a 1947 Shell Lake Snipe. I found it in an estate sale in Chattanooga, TN about ten years ago. It had copious amounts of rot and decay that had to be removed. New transom and gunnels, and a few new ribs and she’s almost good as new.
> 
> 
> View attachment 150702
> View attachment 150703


that's a lot of ribs. my dad had that same motor, will never forget the smell from it. thing never failed us.


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## JIMMYZ750 (Feb 20, 2007)

Came across this at a garage/estate sale about ten years ago. The guy said he thought it had belonged to his grandad



































but he didn't fish or knew anybody who did. He also said it probably didn't "work" so he would let me have it cheap. I got the impression it was going in the trash with all the other stuff he couldn't sell that day. I was not a fly guy at the time but just couldn't understand how a grandson could allow a rod that had obviously been well used to just disappear from a family. Of course I had to save it from the trash. I didn't clean it or do anything to it but put it up in the garage until I saw this post. I checked it out and seems to have been a common item and although still seems to sell well on Ebay that seems almost like throwing it in the trash and then what would be the point to save it? 

So if you used to have one or want to share with someone who will not throw it in the trash let me know and its yours!
I live in Orlando, Jimmy


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## lemaymiami (Feb 9, 2007)

When I was a kid in the sixties Heddon was a very prominent manufacturer and did everything from rods to lures. Those old fiberglass rods coupled with an automatic fly reel (the Oren-a-matic was popular - but just one of several automatic fly reel makers back then...) was just the ticket for warm water fly fishing (bass bugging, or tossing small poppers for panfish) where all day long you were simply lifting the line then laying it back down at fairly close quarters...

When you stripped line off of that reel you were loading a circular spring inside the reel - then when you wanted any line back on the reel you simply touched the trigger lever and the reel would sort it out for you. Great for the uses I describe but you could get in real trouble very quickly if you hooked a big fish and it took off with your fly... I could never afford one so my fly reel way back then was a much cheaper and very simple light cage unit with only a single clicker to keep the spool from over running... 

That old rig makes a great wall mount - left just like it is - or completely restored (almost any rod can be restored by a competent rodcrafter...).


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## BassFlats (Nov 26, 2018)

My first baitcasting reel was a Heddon that I purchased at Woolworths 45 years ago.


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## BrownDog (Jun 22, 2019)

Not sure if they are old enough but for nostalgia these are the most important fishing items I own.

I grew up in a non outdoors family. After months of begging my parents bought me a learn to fly tie kit when I was a young child, young enough I had to tie on Christmas ornament hooks when unsupervised. This went on for years, I tied countless “flies” but never had a rod to cast them on besides under a float on a zebco.

then one day I convinced my mother to take my to a fly tying class at Bill Jackson’s. I was by far the youngest one there but talked a lot with the instructor. Fred told me to come back next week if I could.

that next week when I returned he had the rod on the left waiting for me. He made it himself, a 2 piece short 5 weight. I proceeded to come back every week I could to tie and tell him the stories off all the bass and panfish I was tearing up in the neighborhood ponds.

months later when I came one night he had the 7 weight on the right for me. I have caught hundreds of fish on this rod, bass, snook, trout, redfish... the list goes on. It was my go to rod for years and years.

despite all the thanks I gave him I don’t think he can understand what impact these rods have had on me.


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## devrep (Feb 22, 2009)




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## BassFlats (Nov 26, 2018)

Devrep,I can't read the side of the reels. But it looks like the old Pflueger Medalist I have. The first fly outfit my dad bought many years ago was a Ted William's combo from Sears.


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## Buffalo Bob (Aug 28, 2019)

BrownDog said:


> Not sure if they are old enough but for nostalgia these are the most important fishing items I own.
> 
> I grew up in a non outdoors family. After months of begging my parents bought me a learn to fly tie kit when I was a young child, young enough I had to tie on Christmas ornament hooks when unsupervised. This went on for years, I tied countless “flies” but never had a rod to cast them on besides under a float on a zebco.
> 
> ...


Really cool Brown Dog!


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## Str8-Six (Jul 6, 2015)




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## devrep (Feb 22, 2009)

BassFlats said:


> Devrep,I can't read the side of the reels. But it looks like the old Pflueger Medalist I have. The first fly outfit my dad bought many years ago was a Ted William's combo from Sears.


correct, more of my dads stuff, there are 4 or 5 different sizes.


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## devrep (Feb 22, 2009)

BassFlats said:


> Devrep,I can't read the side of the reels. But it looks like the old Pflueger Medalist I have. The first fly outfit my dad bought many years ago was a Ted William's combo from Sears.


here's some Ted Williams spinning reels.


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## devrep (Feb 22, 2009)

here's a







salt water Ted I collected years ago. someone loaded it but I don't think it ever got used.


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## fishnpreacher (Jul 28, 2018)

An old bamboo boat rod and Penn 209


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## gixxerbrad (Apr 6, 2015)




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## BassFlats (Nov 26, 2018)

Gixxerbrad, you need a Chittum skiff to compliment the fly box.


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## lemaymiami (Feb 9, 2007)

I started tying for Hal when he was still a salesman at Bob Hewes Boats when he wasn't guiding.. When he opened the first store in Islamorada I was the one tying for them initially as well... I recognize some of those patterns but couldn't say whether I did them or someone else.... all those years ago.

Back then it was before fluorocarbon and all those heavy bite tippets were mono and really really needed to be stretched out properly so they wouldn't curl up on you in use. Fluorocarbon changed all of that and I haven't reached for my stretchers in years... Various outfits made really fancy stretchers and stretcher boxes back then. Haven't seen a stretcher in a store or catalog in years.


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## gixxerbrad (Apr 6, 2015)

Thanks for the info Bob. I actually didn’t know much about it when I acquired it. I saw it at an auction several years ago and was fascinated by it. It seemed so elaborate for what it was. I tried to find info on it and couldn’t find another one. What exactly are the long glass tubes for?


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## lemaymiami (Feb 9, 2007)

Those should be plastic tubes and you would cut lengths of mono bite tippets in 60,80, and 100lb strengths and place them in the tubes to encourage that relatively stiff mono to begin to straighten out until they’re needed. One other advantage was that you not only didn’t need to keep extra leader spools with you but each bite tippet was already cut to the right length if you were making leaders to IGFA specs for record or tournament requirements... 

These days with the advent of fluorocarbon and the lessened interest in trying to set a world record... that seems like a long time ago.


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## Chasntuna (Mar 21, 2016)

My uncle fly fished along out west, I moved him to a new place this weekend and he passed on to me two Orvis Green River fly rods, a 4wt and 6wt, and two Orvis Battenkill reels. I also have one of his old Fenwick 3wt 6' Featherlite fly rods and a few Hardee Brothers reels he gave me when I was a kid. Also have 2 Mitchell 308s and a 300. As for lures, nothing real old but do have some River Runts, quite a few Bayou Boogies, Spinrites and a ton of old West Coast saltwater stuff for Tuna; white Bonito feathers , jackpole tuna feathers (all the old stuff was chicken feather), Bridgeport diamond jigs and a few vintage Salas jigs, Pacificas, candy bars, etc. I love that old stuff!


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## BassFlats (Nov 26, 2018)

Plug porn


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## cal1320 (Jun 6, 2007)

Picked this up last year at a car swap meet. Got it for $12. I t has no name or date on it. I was told it's a Salmon reel from the size, but I really don't know anything else about it. It pairs up well with a 1910+- 12' Bamboo Dame Stoddard fly rod my friend gave me.


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## BassFlats (Nov 26, 2018)

Nice find.


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