My first fishing reel was a Japanese knock-off of the red Abu-Matic spincaster on a 5' white triggered rod. I'm sure the combo cost less than 5 bucks plus tax, was a birthday present about 1965. It served me well for a couple years and I passed it on to a younger sister.
My first spinning reel was a plastic Zebco 707, cost about $2.99 on a no-name white 6-1/2' light action rod that was $1.99. OK for bluegill and crappie, but it didn't last long after a few bouts with some carp and catfish. I scrapped it a and bought a Daiwa 7270 reel which was even cheaper--cost less than 2 bucks. It was actually better than the Zebco. At least the body was metal. I still have this functioning Daiwa somewhere, I retired it when the brake stopped working but caught some decent fish with it.
I found a couple schematics and it's obvious why these reels were so inexpensive. The Zebco only had 18 parts. The Daiwa had one less at 17 parts.
This leads to one question, if these reels with a minimum of parts had been built with some better metals and had a line roller, would they be decent reels?
I think you already know the answer to that, Chester. :D It's difficult, at best, to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. ;) Bushings, bearings, bail springs, quality internal bail trips, and the list goes on & on. :P
Did the Diawa and Zebco spinners have an ossilation system? I may have had that Zebco 707 back in the mid-60's...
Yeah....guess I gotta say those are below my cut line. Just my own personal opinion here, but I feel the cut off point for decent quality would have to include those features you mentioned, the line roller and such.
My first reel was a Zebco 77 combo...that little white/black striped combo that had the cool "flip top" reel built into the rod. You yanked back on the finger stirrup and the top of the reel hinged forward! Like a mini Neptuna cradle! I caught a four foot gar on that damn thing...that's the truth. Try to tell that kid his plastic gears ain't tough! :D
But...sadly now...that thing that made me the fishing fool I am today sadly falls below my cut line. None the less, I recently paid $45 shipped for one of those combos. Just sits behind my bedroom door. 8)
Detective Harry Callahan once remarked —
"A man's got to know his limitations"
Best,
Fred
Quote from: Gfish on March 25, 2019, 07:30:25 PM
Did the Diawa and Zebco spinners have an ossilation system? I may have had that Zebco 707 back in the mid-60's...
Yes, they had a crosswind block type of deal that seated onto a stud on the main gear.
I couldn't afford anything more than these cheapies during my early teens. We grew up on sort of a mini-farm with chickens, cattle, and garden, so we stayed too busy to have side jobs like a paper route. My sixteenth birthday I got a D-A-M Quick 220 and the rest is history.
But that old Daiwa caught some pretty good size fish later on. My first job was lab technician/plant operator for the city water department. I kept the old Daiwa at the plant. We often had to go check pumps for the wastewater system that always sat on the creek banks. Those creeks had some good size carp, buffalo, and channel cats and I got my line busted a few times but the Daiwa survived.
Most things in life are relative. To the serious mechanic or craftsman making a living, Harbor Freight equipment are thought of as "throw away" tools, but for the occasional user they'll stand the test of "a few times for lower costs". The same expectations can be had with the quality of fishing or hunting equipment, or anything else for that matter. Serious use requires serious equipment and serious investment if you want longevity.
Man, I think I mighta had as my first rig the same one as Mo's spincaster combo. I's 5yrs. old when I caught the fishin bug and that's what I started with. Loved that rig. Then again, there were probably many models of Zebco cheapo spinners & spincasters from the '60's. Gotta say that the spincaster was much more dependable than the spinner was.
had that Zebco onesie mid/late 70's -- HATED IT!!!
...so much, I never fished another Zebco, or ANY spincaster
Line rollers are always the first thing to get messed up and stuck. I had a cheap-o no-name reel similar to your Diawa as a kid and never had a moments trouble with it. I would have been proud to have grooved the bail wire on a big fish, but no such luck. It was probably shame that finally made me upgrade.
-steve
Quote from: oc1 on March 26, 2019, 05:28:13 AM
Line rollers are always the first thing to get messed up and stuck.
-steve
The only line guides that were supposed to roll that I have ever encountered that didn't were those that either had a brass insert or no insert at all because corrosion set in. A lot of the early spinners had stationary guides that were never intended to roll. I have never come across a line guide with a teflon or nylon insert that was stuck. Granted, those with teflon/nylon inserts don't exactly spin freely, but they will roll when they are supposed to, with adequate line resistance pressure.
I can vaguely recall that the first fishing reel that I used was a spin caster, probably a Shakespeare, in the mid to late 50's, for trout fishing. Since, with very few exceptions, fishing equipment was on the hand-me-down system, the spin caster was older.
My dad probably had a Mitchell 300 and my brother (8 years older than me), a Mitchell CAP/304. I ended up with the CAP/304 and my brother the 300 when my dad bought a new Mitchell 350.
That Mitchell CAP/304 was on a light green Shakespeare Wonder Rod. I didn't get the 300 until my brother stopped trout fishing on a regular basis, then went to college, in 1963.
Quote from: oc1 on March 26, 2019, 05:28:13 AM
Line rollers are always the first thing to get messed up and stuck. I had a cheap-o no-name reel similar to your Diawa as a kid and never had a moments trouble with it. I would have been proud to have grooved the bail wire on a big fish, but no such luck. It was probably shame that finally made me upgrade.
-steve
Actually I never had any complaints on the buck-seventy-five Daiwa. One day I noticed the brake wasn't working, I suppose maybe I lost the only drag washer. At the time I had no clue of reel repair. Other than that, no problem. Last few times I fished it was with 20 lb mono catching big smallmouth buffalo from the Clinch River.
My first combo was the exact setup that Mo posted pics of...It's a pretty dim memory at this point, but I obviously caught enough fish with the thing that I contracted this horrible addiction that led me to this website.... ;)
I don't remember the Zebco 77, but found an ad from 1962. My first experience with Zebco was borrowing my mother's 606 combo a few times at a coal quarry lake. I still have that combo in the garage and it will still work, clicker and all.
I still have a 606 combo that I use for bluegill, rigged for red worms and meal worms. Also have a Platinum 33 rigged for crappie fishing with minnows.
I don't know if many of you guys are familiar with them but during the late '60s or early 70's in South Florida there was a popular reel called the Spinmaster Diamond. Several sizes were available. I think it was a fairly cheap Japanese made reel, back in the day when "Made in Japan" was like todays "Made in China". My how times have changed.
Scott
Quote from: conchydong on March 26, 2019, 07:07:49 PM
I don't know if many of you guys are familiar with them but during the late '60s or early 70's in South Florida there was a popular reel called the Spinmaster Diamond. Several sizes were available. I think it was a fairly cheap Japanese made reel, back in the day when "Made in Japan" was like todays "Made in China". My how times have changed.
Scott
Scott, I've noticed those Spinmaster Diamonds on ebay. They look very similar to the 900 series of the South Bends. Check them out side-by-side, I bet they're the same reels. I don't recall seeing any Spinmasters here in East Tennessee but the South Bend was one of the most popular low end reels around here during the 1960s and 70s.
I suffered thru old Dacron filled bait casters until i got to go to a rod&gun club that had a lot of members and they had lots of kids with the latest gear for 1965-70. I felt like Huck Finn. Plus my brother mysteriously obtained a Mitchell 300 in the red and black box. Which i never saw in action (he only used it with his buddies) Finally my father let me pick out my own gear, Zebco 909! I still have it and think it's better then any 33 made :P, though i have no proof. ;D I still have a Pflueger baitcaster reel on a square fiberglass rod, REALLY! Had other rods made out of steel. Some of those kids had the bottle spincasters, think they were great lakes brand. They used Zebco's, Johnsons, and other makes, very few open bails. Any way i became friends with a older couple (Mickey and Mae) that lived next to that club and we would row out next to the channel. Stumps on one side offered crappies and channel side was catfish and saugers. Mae was probably 60 years old and really clung to her cane poles.. Me and her would row around the stumps in a wooden flatboat for crappie and any pan fish, she hated bass. Mickey bought her a silver spin cast reel but i don't have a clue what it was, looked industrial next to my gear. Those wood boats has 2 and 3 sets of oar locks and nobody rode for free! She gave me 10 dollars to help shovel fishflies one year because someone left a light on and the fishflies (mayflies?) were 4 foot deep against the house and tapered out 10 feet . She put mint oil on towels to wrap around our faces to keep from gagging, shoveled them in the river and the current took them away. Looked like a two lane road heading toward the dam downstream. Will get a pic of my 909 and square pole with the phlueger, don't think i used an open bail till i was 25 . Then there were the river camping trips in an old retired Chippewa river wooden tour boat with the WW11 vets loose on the Mississippi :o ::). Very educational to say the least.