Langley Streamlite! Whats that? You don't want to know!

Shimano Bantam Citica which I recently sold. I bought when I was about 12 and determined to fish one, just like they did on TV. Been an addiction ever since!

Shimano calcutta

Abu Garcia Revo S.

I got my first baitcaster in 81 or 82. It was a Shimano Bantam Mag Plus 250SG. I abused the heck out of that reel and I still have it.

Must be nice to have started out with such high tech equipment

Penn 209M 3.2:1 gear ratio weight 19 oz

Try burning a H&H spinner bait with that puppy!

Shimano Beastmaster EX. Those little graphite Shimanos fit the hand perfect. Always wanted one of those jumpsuits. But I did have one of those pro's basket weedguards over my trolling motor prop.

Shimano Bantam Crestfire in the 80's. Have tried other brands since but always come back to Shimano.

My first was a Shakespeare which I sold to someone here on the board to use as a crankbait reel. My next was a Cabelas Prodigy and that was 4 or 5 years ago and still going strong.

Shakespeare Alpha 1982. I still have it, and it still works. No magnets, just your thumb and spool tension. I still have one of those Ryobi micro V-mags and it's Lew's clone. The Lew's still works thanks to donor parts from the Ryobi.

I started with a Shakespeare 1920 Wondereel Model FK that my grandpa gave me, along with a Shakespeare steel rod. No free spool, no bearings. I learned to cast that thing without backlashing and every other baitcaster I had after that seemed easy.

Tom

Bass pro compitition series, i had always had open face reels and was reserved on going to a bait caster, the reel was only like 45 bucks cuz it was on sale and i got 10% off for being military. after some small adjustments and minor bird's nest's later i come to love bait caster reels. i look forward to geting another

Dawia Strikeforce 100H, best reel I have so far, I own 5. Love them.

x2 on the strikeforce....and its been a joy fishing it

abu garcia Ambassadeur 1003LP casting reel my cousin gave this reel to me for free it was a good reel to get me to love baitcastin reels but is not running anymore had to retired it but my second favorite was my Pflueger cetina lp baitcaster reel that i bought from Gander Mtn and it still running strong with my other reels . http://www.bassresou...Ambassador.html

An ABU EON reel about 11 years ago. Not a good baitcaster at all and it never worked very well for me.

Then I got an ABU D5, which was not durable, but it was "easy as pie" to cast and I learned on the D5.

The first reel I learned to fish with AND caught ny first bass on was a red Ambassadeur 5000c back in the 70's.The first reel that I could call mine was given to me as a gift from mom and dad for by birthday and it was a black Abu 6000 on a custom built rod sometime between 1979 and 1982.

Shimano Bantam Magnumlite 2000 GT. I was about 12 years old when my mom sprang for that reel and surprised the heck out of me. I spent hours standing on our front porch stoop casting into the puddles at the end of the driveway with a practice plug. I could have knocked the knees out from under a junebug! I got so good at casting that thing that I was picking out individual rocks to hit from about 60 feet. I was so proud of that reel! I was on top of the world!

What was your first baitcast reel?? Mine was a Ryobi V-Mag 3

Same here BD,it was on a pistol-grip combo which served me well for many years.

Shimano B-Mag 100, and a 5'6" Berkley Lightning rod. I did everything with that combo, and by everything I mean the only two or three things I did LOL. Spinnerbait and t-rigged plastic worm, usualy a Mann's Augertail. Occasionaly I would mix in a top water, like a jitter bug.

An Abu Garcia 5600 Plus followed shortly with a Shimano Bantam Black Magnum 100 GT: I still have both and still fish with them.

Mike

Ambassadeur 5000D. A direct drive winch !

An Abu Garcia Black Max

The 6000 was my first (I have 2) I still use them for Catfish.

The Black one was my first low profile reel.

BassProShops Johnny Morris series love it

In the mid 80's I started using baitcasters. My first one was the black Shimano Bantam Mag Plus BMP 350. Wish I still had it. Found a BMP250 that was in great shape and sent it to a reel service and had new bearings and it tuned. I love this reel and fish with it most of the time. I will reach for it before I will use my Zillion or Core. It really brings back the memories.