During all my years of collecting, Simon has been the biggest influence in my collecting life and I wish to thank him for that very much. That's the day I knew if I wanted to collect them, I had to learn about them. It was a mutt! It had the wrong style handle, wrong type pillar screws for that year’s model, and so on. He was very kind to me as he explained what was wrong with a 5000 I found in the field. In 1995, about the time I realized I wanted to collect these reels seriously, I met Simon Shimomura at the Houston, Texas NFLCC show. I used a Mitchell 300 until I was about thirteen or fourteen, when my father decided it was time for me to take the next step- an Ambassadeur 5000! From then on, it would be an Ambassadeur that went on all my fishing trips. One of my father’s favorite reels was the Ambassadeur 6000. In the 1960s and 70s, Galveston, Texas was where my family spent its free time.

As a young boy, my father frequently took me fishing. My introduction to collecting tackle started with lures and quickly spread to reels. My name is Fred and I've collected Ambassadeur reels since late 1994. Original/Reproductions: Plates, Decals, Handles, etc. Table of Contents (Click on links) 5000 De Luxe #223: Where Have You Been?

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