Vintage rod and reel combo

Late last summer a family friend gave me a rod and reel, he said they were his and were never used. He said he must have gotten them around 1958-1960.

Reel is a Garcia Mitchell 305, guess it was considered a light reel back then, about a 3:1-1 gear very smooth, I put some 4 pound mono on it. Luckily I reel right handed so it's perfect for me.

The rod is a Wright and McGill, I believe what turned into eagle claw down the road. The rod is hollow glass 6 1/2' foot long in 3 pieces rod action I would say is light to medium, rod is in incredible condition, the reel is to but has a few small rub marks from sitting around.

I forgot to ask if this was originally purchased as a combo but they seem to go together very well, and balance good for a glass rod. I plan to use this quite a bit this year for crappie and trout.

I only had it out one time before winter, caught some bluegill, crappie and a 20" Pickerel. This thing cast a mile with that wide spool and 6.5' rod loads good to. The quark is the best I've ever used.

So I need to find some 50s-60s baits for this combo, opening day trout I'm sure it will have a Phoebe or a meps spinner rigged up.

Anyone know some other smaller old baits that may have been used for crappie and other panfish way back.

Sorry for the bad picture the camera on my tablet is Horrible,

Nice!

Very nice...

I had a reel like that years ago. :biggrin

I had some of my old dam quicks from when I was a kid my dad gave me,,,

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Originally Posted by TWFairweather

Late last summer a family friend gave me a rod and reel, he said they were his and were never used. He said he must have gotten them around 1958-1960.

Reel is a Garcia Mitchell 305, guess it was considered a light reel back then, about a 3:1-1 gear very smooth, I put some 4 pound mono on it. Luckily I reel right handed so it's perfect for me.

The rod is a Wright and McGill, I believe what turned into eagle claw down the road. The rod is hollow glass 6 1/2' foot long in 3 pieces rod action I would say is light to medium, rod is in incredible condition, the reel is to but has a few small rub marks from sitting around.

I forgot to ask if this was originally purchased as a combo but they seem to go together very well, and balance good for a glass rod. I plan to use this quite a bit this year for crappie and trout.

I only had it out one time before winter, caught some bluegill, crappie and a 20" Pickerel. This thing cast a mile with that wide spool and 6.5' rod loads good to. The quark is the best I've ever used.

So I need to find some 50s-60s baits for this combo, opening day trout I'm sure it will have a Phoebe or a meps spinner rigged up.

Anyone know some other smaller old baits that may have been used for crappie and other panfish way back.

Sorry for the bad picture the camera on my tablet is Horrible,

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Look on Ebay for some in-line spinners called the Shyster. Used before Rooster Tails came out.Great on panfish and trout.

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Originally Posted by happycaster58

Look on Ebay for some in-line spinners called the Shyster. Used before Rooster Tails came out.Great on panfish and trout.

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I think they still make the shyster spinner, ill have to look on eBay maybe find some other baits to.

Very nice find, and that does look like an old version of the GM. That round gear case also helps to date it.
Bob

A very nice outfit, much better than I was allowed to have at that time. Another vote for the evans shyster, wish I had a nickel for every fish the generated for me. The tie loop was an offset triangle that created a keel effect and didn’t twist like the rooster tails are famous for. If you up the line a little, there’s the tiny crazy crawler and jitterbug in small to ultra lite sizes that would be appropriate. Pop-r or similar plugs will generate some fun hits and the small hooks stay buttoned better on the softer glass rod. Have fun with it, truly a gem. Buy the giver a nice dinner.

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Originally Posted by BobC

Very nice find, and that does look like an old version of the GM. That round gear case also helps to date it.
Bob

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Thanks should be fun to use o really like old glass rods, one day I'll find/ build a bamboo rod. From what I looked up it's 1958 to about 1962. It's the deep spool, took me like 30 minutes to spool all that 4#. Think I seen some nos shallow spools online one day, I may pick one up for 6#