One of the reels is the same one on the same rod when I put it on back in ’84. Sort of a retirement tour for the old silver girls. They no longer suffer the wear and tear of hundred-day casts, asked only to let out line and play steelhead. But in the wayback machine, when we backtroll plugs, on each of the Lamiglas S-Glass honeys is a wood handled, circa 1984 Shimano 201 Bantam. Years and years of use saw each one I owned wear out, I am down to only four or five functional Shimano 201s, and now when I use a level wind it’s the new Shimano Bantam, an amazingly light and powerful reel. I scorned the new models of every manufacturer, as this reel was the first left-handed retrieve level wind I ever saw-and used-so it stayed in the arsenal. I used this reel almost exclusively for thirty years. Once upon a time, the fledgling Shimano company came out with a direct drive switch on a left-hand retrieve reel, the silver Bantam 201. Just the terminal stuff tied to the end is time machine material. I have three of them, none are for sale at any price.įor drift fishing and tossing spoons, we use the new stuff, GLoomis E6X 9 foot, 8- to 12-pound spinning and casting rods. Three 40 year old S-Glass rods with 38 year old Shimano Bantam reels, rigged and ready for plug pulling.

To this day, and I will stand behind this statement forever, that the Lamiglas honey-colored S-Glass is the best plug rod ever made, even better than any $500 ultra-pimp slam-diggety pow-bang high modulus graphite of today, by any manufacturer. Stiff mag taper rods retard plug movement. Graphite cannot unleash the true action of a plug like glass, allowing plugs to move, dart and dive like these. It was state of the art in 1984 and nothing-and I mean NOTHING-moves like the slow power of real fiberglass. But the 8-1/2 foot, 8 to 15#, two-piece all cork handled honey colored translucent fiberglass Lamiglas S-Glass rod did. But when we step into The Green Manalishi, these rods did not exist in 1984. I also have several of the finest rods you can find in the galaxy, GLoomis IMX rods designed for plugging that are ridiculously effective. Artistically wrapped, cork handled, nine-foot, two-piece 8 to 12s with the same color thread as my boat, they are as responsive and ideal of a plug rod as you may find today. I have a set of high modulus graphite plug rods built by Dave Kalhoun of NW Rods that are almost too nice to use.

No jigs, they didn’t show up ‘till the ‘90s…no pink worms, ‘90s again…no bobbers…how did we catch any fish? Well, we caught one heck of a lot more than we catch today with all that Buck Rogers stuff. As the great American philosopher Tony Soprano said, “It’s important the young guys know the history.” Here is the tackle I’ve saved, and slowly over the years re-accrued that we use whenever we want to take a trip down memory lane, with all the feels! When you step in my boat, a ridiculously bright green 12-foot two-man aluminum Willie “The Green Manalishi,” you step over a portal into 1984. Being early to mid-twenties, well, who wouldn’t love to re-live those days? I knew enough to be dangerous, yet still learning with every trip on the river…and boat loads of fish. From approximately 1980 to 1987 was the most memorable steelhead fishing of my life, and probably a whole bunch of folks reading this. Well, my late great Uncle Bob-you all know how much I refer to this man-told me that someday, if you want to know what it was like fishing in a given time period, use the tackle of the day. Why the recent obsession with all the older tackle? From just a specific time period, the early ‘80s. He said, looking at all my old rods and tackle on display in the post, “Do you own any gear newer than 1984?” (laughing emoji) For the time being, under certain situations, sir…that’s a hard no. Everybody loves to look at and talk about the old stuff, right? The inspiration for this article came from a comment on one of my recent posts from STS writer and well-known salmon/steelhead guide Josiah Darr. Inspired by none other than Buzz Ramsey, he started this thing of ours by posting quite a few pics from back in the day. Always entertaining, it gives me an outlet to show the followers old pics and stories. Out of all the new ways and means of the Brave New World, I think I enjoy Facebook the most. The out of production #30 Hot Shot works as well today as it did in 1984. Set the dials on your “wayback machine” to 1984, hop in and re-live steelheading’s best of times with one angler’s favorite gear of yesteryear.

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