Now don't get me wrong I love all my fancy new lures, rods and reels as much as the next guy...but part of me has thought about what it would be like going old school. Here's what I would do: 2-7ft medhvy fast lightning rods casting with Abu Garcia C3 5500s loaded with 15lb big game. Only baits I'd carry for those- spinnerbait, buzzbait, jig and craw and stuff for Texas rigged lizards and worms. 1-7ft medium moderate fast lightning rod spinning with a daiwa tournament ss 1300 with 8lb trilene xl. Only baits I'd carry are 1\8oz ball heads with 3in white twisters, zoom finesse worms, rebel pop r's and shad raps. Get me a 3 tray Plano tackle box with a bottle of classic bass baitmate attractant and a pair of old rusty a$% pliers in the bottom.

 Obviously I don't plan on doing this anytime soon if ever...but I gotta be honest there is some appeal to it. Pairing down to bare essentials would force a guy to really get good at techniques and capitalize on bites as there would be very few others options. Also I can't imagine how dialed into a setup I'd get having on 3 in the arsenal 2 of which are identical. Yeah its not fancy or glamorous but I bet I'd still figure out how to catch some bass!

No sir. My Going Old School is paddling a 12' jon around the beaver pond but I still take my Curado 70 MGL's & Aldebaran 50's. I bet you'll still catch them but after years of fishing rounds reels I ain't going back.

While not this severe, I have pared my bass tackle way back. I use 3 rods 95% of the time now.

"Old school" or "minimalistic"... old school and your rods would be 5' 1/2" fiberglass using braided dacron or very stiff nylon line throwing wooden "plugs" or live bait.

 

oe

FYI you're on the rods, reels, and lines forum ... ain't no one paring down here. We enjoy the gear as much if not more than the fish. 

I don't have Old School and New School tackle and lures, I have stuff that works well, and stuff that doesn't, I fish old and new things side by side as the situation requires.

1 hour ago, OkobojiEagle said:

"Old school" or "minimalistic"... old school and your rods would be 5' 1/2" fiberglass using braided dacron or very stiff nylon line throwing wooden "plugs" or live bait.

 

oe

Is there a thing as new old school? That's what I'm aiming for. Stuff I saw guys using when I was a kid in the 80s and 90s.

I get it. I’ve bought several new bows over the years, but a few years ago I retuned my original compound bow (with blistering 285 IBO speeds lol) and set it up shooting XX75 2514 aluminum arrows (like telephone poles) with 125 grain Wensel Woodsman broadheads, to bowhunt semi-old school (true old school would have been using a longbow or recurve but my shoulders are past that stage). My goal was to use it to arrow a doe after I killed a buck, but that didn’t pan out. But I did kill a 4 pointer with it last year. It felt good to get back to my roots. 
 

So I can see your point with bass fishing. It would likely be fun to go fishing a time or two with some older fiberglass rods, old school mono like Berkley XL or Stren, and casting some lures that have existed for decades (Hula Popper, Jitterbug, Rebel crankbaits, Mr. Twister grubs, etc.). 
 

Maybe I should break out my Eagle Claw rod and Mitchell 300 again. Just need a pistol-grip 5-1/2” rod for my Daiwa Millionaire 3H lol. 

No "old school" for me. I am a fan of "The Next Big Thing".