Fish-Hawk.Net

I was at the cottage last weekend and I stumbled upon a box of my late Grandfather's old fishing gear.

I was really impressed with his collection. I knew that my grandfather on my Dad's side was into fishing, and I've seen his gear and his collection of pictures (including a 54" muskie) and skin mounts (the tail of the 54" muskie, a big smallie, and the head of a 20lbs pike). But I never knew that my grandfather on my mothers side was really into it as well.

Anyhow, I came upon some neat stuff including some old mepps spinners, a Rapala Original floater and a nice "True Temper" fishing reel.

The stuff was in awesome condition and he even kept the original receipt.

Here's one of the reels:





Here's the receipt, its hard to read but it was bought Feb 24/1975 at Pascal Hardware Co. in Montreal, Quebec. The total was 19.95

Here's the Guarantee slip... it doesn't have an expiry date, maybe I should break it and see if it they will steal fix it! Thats if True Temper is still around...



Here's the other reel he bought, this is the booklet.


And something I found that is REALLY cool, an old tournament entry form! Its in awesome condition, and there's no marking on it... I guess he never entered.



I thought I'd share this with you folks, and maybe if any of you have any information on some of this gear, feel free to tell me all about it.

The TT reel is still good, maybe it will make a good muskie reel; however, its VERY heavy!

I always love looking at old fishing gear and baits. All our lures these days are "scientific" and really have a lot of research put into them. My grandfathers only ever used Mepps spinners, and that didn't stop them from catching some BIG fish!

Hi There SnagThis,
The reels are certainly collectables, the level wind almost looks like a penn. It's even spooled with German Line by DAM Quick which is tri-colour line to identify distance when trolling.
At one point, the company Mitchell and Garcia were one company from yesteryear and produced the 300 and 400 series from france....did you have a reel with the manual? They are very popular reels prior to 1984 and some still use them to this day.
That molson entry form is from the 70's to early eighties fishing contest and it was very popular back then on a provincial level and at the begining of the year, all the winners were posted with their trophies accross the province. Local tackle shops and the beer/liquor store used to carry them.
If you happen to have old wooden lures...they are also highly collectable.

Very Cool Snag!

If you are thinking of selling or trading them....do some research first....Ebay can give you an idea...

RJ

Awsome stuff..gotta have a look at those for sure!!

I didn't think the reel was that old :shock:I still have one and a few 300's.......good stuff Snag, keep it don't sell it....it's family history

i think i have been dated. old huh. that was cuttung edge at one time. boy am i glad my nursing home has a computer to use. george

Nice stuff snag! That reel looks like one I have. Mine is a Penn 209 MF which looks identical to that one in the pic. I bought mine in the late seventies also and paid $29.99 at K-Mart. ....Man that makes me feel old all of a sudden Interesting stuff though! Cheers!

cool pics snag~! you should check for old musky baits... saw some on ebay that were going for a few G's

That Mitchell spinning reel is the exact model of reel I have on my non muskt rod! I never knew who it was made by until you posted it! It was an old thing I got from my dad, things works li a charm! I use it whenever I'm not going for muskie. It's an awesome reel!!!

Too funny!!

MuskieWannabe

Hey Snag very cool stuff. That is a great find.

Hey Big-O was that a nice walk through the past for you
(Comon Bacon that was your chance)

Gordo

Thanks for sharing snag! I love that old tourny flyer.

Here's the oldest peice of fishing equipment I've personal seen. Still works great, it's not effected by moisture or cold and as far as I'm aware it still has all it's original parts.

Wow, that is great stuff Snag.

Unfortunately, the way I abuse my gear, my kids would be lucky to find my retired equipment, never mind my grand kids.

Hope you keep it in the family. But, if push comes to shove, that stuff may help off set the cost of university.

M.T. Livewell

Gordo....Markus said it all...

Great stuff!

Looks like it would definetly make a nice Muskie reel....And to think, if you caught one on Grandpa's reel

Nice stuff

It's nice to have old fishing gear that dad or grandpa used - don't sell it. When you get a place of your own, build a basement bar and put the reel on a rod and hang it on the wall! The mitchell 300 is probably one of the most populr reels of all time, I have come across them throughout europe and north america, I have 1 that was my dads and I have been given another since. The only problem with using older tackle is the spare part availability. On the Mitchell, the bail arm return springs wear out and the line rollers will suffer with high tech lines - these maybe difficult to replace. I don't know the TT.