What was your very first fishing pole/rod???

[waterfoul]

This may have been asked before... but I'm sure it's been a while.

Mine was, get this... and I'm not making this up:

A willow branch with some kite string and a safety pin. We found out the down the road neighbors had a pond at a very early age! Well, we all had kites but no one had a fishing pole!! This pond had nice big gills in it. 4-8" every one of them. Worms, kite string, a safety pin from mom, and a nice limber willow branch and we were off! Man them gills sure could pull! Rarely got one in but we had fun. Most of us got our parents to buy us fishing poles soon after. Zebco of course!!

[GVSUKUSH]

Very first? Snoopy rod, I told my dad that it didn't work as well as his and got an Ugly Stick with a Zebco by the time I was 5 or so.

[FREEPOP]

Zebco 202, darn carp ened up breaking it after a couple years.

[uncletj]

Zebco 77 , 38 years ago!

[dtg]

Like most kids of our time, I had some sort of zebco. I remember fishing with my grandpa up East of Cadillac somehwere down some dirt roads from shore and I cast a worm out with a bobber and that boober took a HUGE plunge downward and didn't come up. Being young and not having the patience to play a fish, I immediately started reeling in, but the fish wasn't having anything to do with cooperating with me as it took line out. I pulled against it and SNAP, there went the line. I remember going from "GRANDPA I GOT A BIG ONE ONE" to a a whiney little mess. I just wanted to see what it was more than actually bringing it in.

I had that rod up until I was 13 or so and finally broke it fishing the Grand River at Knapp st. I got stuck on some garbage that people threw in there and the line held but the rod gave up the ghost. It was replaced with an ugly stick and my parents bought my brother and I each an Orvis spinning reel, that we still both own today. However that rod lasted me until 1998, up in Canada, where after a week of awsome fishing, on the last day, when I was breaking it down and putting it in a holder, I snapped the tip off, I was just glad that it happened the night I was packing up to leave the next day instead of at the beginning of the trip.

My daughter has a Shakesphere Scooby Doo pole right now and I'm going out today to get her a more suitable rod.

[waterfoul]

Get her an Ugly Stick with a good Diawa spincast (closed face) reel. That's what I let kids use when I take them fishing. Never an issue with it. And if my 6 year old nephew can't break it, nobody can!!!!!

[bluebass]

Mine was the old one piece bamboo pole 12or 14ft long. the boat my dad had was a wooden fishing boat no motor .

[thedude]

green johnson spincast reel on a bass pro pro-comp rod 5' 6" medium action with the shorty pistol grip. That rod is long gone. i think i busted it in the spokes of my bike when i was a kid riding to the pond. My grandparents got my mom and i new rods one year and they were the same rig. i have my mom's downstairs.

I got jealous of my grandpa's cool "upside down" reel.... so a few years after that i got a new shimano 3000tx on a pro-comp 6' rod. Still have both although i don't use them much. the reel is still in pretty good shape after all these years.

[Hamilton Reef]

My first rods were made of steel, 5' long, with level wind reel and black dacron line. We used junebug spinners and nightcrawlers for walleye on Muskegon Lake. My first panfish rods were 12' cane poles with noticable curve for Lake Michigan perch. I think I just revealed my age.

[RichP]

Originally Posted by GVSUKUSH

Very first? Snoopy rod, I told my dad that it didn't work as well as his and got an Ugly Stick with a Zebco by the time I was 5 or so.

Yep, same here -- Zebco Snoopy Rod.

Caught some big bass on that short rod...

[bigbob]

mine was a long cane pole

[spoikey]

Mine was a 10' or 12' cane pole my dad got at Epps Surplus in Southfield. They only cost a quarter.

[outfishin_]

10ft cane pole....then a K-mart Zebco 202 rod comb....

[outfishin_]

My daughter who is 3 yrs old...now has her first pole....Its a Sponge-Bob Zebco rod and reel combo...she saw it and wanted it real bad..so I caved in and bought it for her... How could I say no...

[LilyDuck]

I am going to third the snoopy pole I think. It was white and red if I remeber correctly. I remember catching a bass in the green aluminum boat that my grandpa gave my parents, I dont know what ever happened to that boat.