Fishing Sea

Reels have come a long ways Jamestown Sun

When I began fishing in the 1950s the free-spool bait-casting reel had not yet been invented. Like most youngsters, I started fishing with a push-button Zebco 66, then graduated to a Zebco 33. My first bait reel was a primitive Plueger with no drag and no free spool. Naturally, it was a challenge to cast without getting frequent backlashes. With the lack of drag and free-spool features, I remember a number of times getting my knuckles whacked at Jamestown Reservoir when feisty northern pike would slam a lure, then make a run, the reel handle spinning wildly as the pike took line.

It was somewhere around 1960 when we were able to buy a handle that would fit the Plueger, and into the handle base were a number of tiny screws that you could loosen a bit and have a drag of sorts!

A few years later I bought a Swedish-made Ambassadeur 5000 that I still own and use every year. The Ambassadeur was a premier reel at the time, employs the free-spool feature and a star drag. I own three Ambassadeurs for various types of freshwater fishing and also a 7000 model for salmon fishing.

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