I got up this morning and made a trip around the pond and caught a mess of bass for dinner tonight. Caught most of them on my dad's old vintage tackle. The Nip-O-Diddy and the rod are only about 40 years old, but I'm thinking that the Plueger Supreme baitcaster was made in the 30s and is over 80 years old. I remember that my dad said he bought it in a pawn shop in the early 50s, but I think was probably 10 or 15 years old by then. I found a brochure on the internet that shows this exact model being made in 1939, but I haven't found any way to date it closer than that.

It still works very well, and this 2 pound bass gave a good fight on it. It is definitely hard to get used to fishing with a reel with no anti-reverse on it.

The only issue I'm having with it is that the spool edges are worn and if I get a backlash, the line will get caught between the spool and the frame. I first tried a braid line, but it was really bad about getting in between the gap. I tried putting less than a full spool on it, and that helps some. I currently have a 17 lb fluorocarbon line on it, and works better than anything else I've tried. I'm not really up on the newer lines; what do you guys recommend that I try? It needs to be something that is stiff and has a large diameter, but will still cast ok. I only use it for fishing topwater baits of 5/8 oz or more, and the rod has plenty of action to get the lure started well on the cast.

I'm thinking of something like 25 lb Trilene XT, but is there a better option? Thanks for any ideas.