your 1st bass fishing set up and 1st lure you used?

Another post made me think about those days and I thought I would run with it.
My first set up was a Zebco 33 classic combo (I still have it)
and my dad would rig a popping cork with a jig trailer. I have to admit that I miss those simple days!
My dad had/has an old Browning rod with a Abu Garcia 5000 on it and he always threw a TX rig.

I remember when I really getting into it my dad bought me a zebco 33 with the rod. This was probably about 1 years ago. We went to a pond he used to fish growing up that next morning and I let him try it out. He set the hook on one and it snapped in half. Oh well haha

Abu 5000 D Heddon worm rod. Black flip Tail worm

Berkley lightning rod with a cheap quantum baitcast reel! Stren line, with a spinnerbait!! Good ole days.

Zebco 202, not sure what rod, then I moved up to a Zebco 404, then to a 33.

First baitcaster was a Garcia 5000 on an Eagle claw solid fiberglass rod.

First good rod and reel was a matched set. A pistol grip 5.5ft Shimano M action rod with a Bantam 1000. I still have this one to this day, but it is no longer used.

For some reason, I have developed a pattern of constantly upgrading equipment although I still have some very good stuff that has been long since discontinued. Like the Daiwa TDZ, I have several. and a couple of the old Lews reels. and one old BB1 NG brand new in a box. LOL


First bait to catch a bass on was a plastic worm.

Old green Johnson reel. Whippy rod that weighed about 5# and probably a Lazy Ike or Hula Popper.

SE Kansas grass grower

Cane pole & a minnow got me started. Open face spinning rod & a Rapala minnow shortly after.

In Tennessee they make a long 20 ft. cane pole called a Danville Pole. It was used to fish off the rocks at night for catfish.
It would hang way out over the water and keep the bait up out of the big bolders that the catfish would come in to spawn on off the railroad tressel.

I would use this long pole with 20 ft. of mono line and walk the pond bank holding it out over the water. I would have the Bass hook baited with two big Night Crawlers doug from around the barn.
I kept them in a coffee can.

No weight just walked as slow as possible with those 4 Night Crawler tails hanging down. The Big Bass would tear it up. Just turn and drag them out on the bank. What fun I had.

Zebco 33 - black and yellow H&H spinner bait

Zebco 404 and a purple cream worm with white dots down its back. Those were the days.

I used a Zebco 33 on a 6ft medium action no name rod for a year or so. Always had a spinner bait tied on. I still remover casting around docks bank fishing and catching my first keeper bass around 2lbs I was so excited that small fish felt so big then.

1958: Mitchell 304 spinning reel (left handed), inexpensive spinning rod (name unknown), 6 lb. mono, pre-rigged brown Cr�me worm with red beads and spinner on the front. Caught many a bass with a slow reel speed!

Old green Johnson reel on a solid fiberglass rod. Fished lots of strawberry and blue ice plastics from TG&Y. Loved using a Midge-O-Reno top water as well. Favorite color was Red & White.

Biggest 1 day stringer growing up was after a storm one day at a pond, my dad and I (not proud of this now) but we took 20 bass home out of that pond that weight collectively 102 lbs. filleted them and had a fish fry. Man I loved that pond, no matter how many bass we took home, there were always big fish in it. It finally went dry a few years ago but lots of memories made.

5'10" Berkley Lightning rod, Shimano Bantam Citica, and it was a dead tie between buzzbaits, spinnerbaits, and senkos. I was about 9 yrs old. 10 years later, and I'm still just as excited about bass fishing as ever!

1st setup: Zebco 202 Combo

1st lure that caught a fish: Speck Rig( Speckled Trout) Chrome/Black back Cordell Super Spot was my 1st Bass on a lure. My Dad and I were leaving a Crappie spot in Halls bayou and I was sort of trolling that Spot behing the boat, checking out the action when a 1-2 lb bass crushed it going about 2mph..lol I was like 9 or so.