The Sole-Source for Bass Fishing History
Click to see the full ad.
With all the fancy new lines at our disposal as anglers, we sometimes forget a little about the beginnings of the most basic, yet arguably most important component of many a bassin’ outfit – monofilament line. Can you guess when one of the most popular brands of monofilament, Trilene, hit the market? This black and white ad should get you close to the answer. [Read more...]
Photo Bassmaster.com
Congratulations to Art Miller for giving the correct answer to this week’s trivia contest sponsored by Gary Yamamoto Custom Baits! For the answer read below.
Denny Brauer’s victory in the 1984 Bassmaster Texas Invitational was the first of his 17 wins with B.A.S.S. Over the next three decades, he achieved just about every milestone possible, including a Megabucks win, a Superstars win and a Classic win. He even won at Rayburn again, just two years later, but that was his last B.A.S.S. victory in the Lone Star State. He liked the Nation of Texas enough to retire there upon leaving the Elites and managed an EverStart Texas Division victory on Toledo Bend earlier this year. [Read more...]
Heddon Rod ad 1940.
Yesterday we showed a couple of ads taken from a June 1940 issue of Hunting and Fishing magazine and today we’re going to continue on that track. This time, though, we’re going to talk about another company, possibly the biggest company with respect to bass fishing – Heddon.
First off we have a state-of-the-art rod ad featuring the Heddon Pal rod. Made entirely of steel this rod was compared with bamboo in lightness, balance and feel. Now although I’ve never cast one of these exact rods before, I have used a couple of bamboo rods and steel rods before and neither of them are a joy to fish with. It’s times like these where I am grateful I wasn’t born in the 20s, 30s or 40s. These rods are an absolute beast to cast with and are about as sensitive as Archie Bunker. [Read more...]
Arbogast Jitterbug ad circa 1940.
Here are a couple of cool ads from the June 1940 Hunting and Fishing magazine. Both are from the Fred Arbogast Company out of Akron, Ohio and one features a bait that is still manufactured by PRADCO, the Jitterbug, and another that hasn’t been made for going on 30 years, the Hawaiian Wiggler.
The Jitterbug ad is neat for a couple of reasons. First off, it lets you know that this bait has been around a long time. Also, back then the baits were all made out of wood. The bait also features the option of double or treble hooks – all for the cost of a Washington. The pictures of the anglers are also interesting. That’s a nice string of fish Mr. Webster is hanging on to but I really wonder if that fish Mr. Sutton is holding really weighs in at 10 pounds. I guess we’ll never know. [Read more...]
Photo Bassmaster.com
Denny Brauer’s victory in the 1984 Bassmaster Texas Invitational was the first of his 17 wins with B.A.S.S. Over the next three decades, he achieved just about every milestone possible, including a Megabucks win, a Superstars win and a Classic win. He even won at Rayburn again, just two years later, but that was his last B.A.S.S. victory in the Lone Star State. He liked the Nation of Texas enough to retire there upon leaving the Elites and managed an EverStart Texas Division victory on Toledo Bend earlier this year. [Read more...]
Headline in the Spring 1970 Bassmaster issue describing rookie angler Roland Martin.
Editor’s note: This is part one of a two-part series on the 1970 Bassmaster Tournament Trail. Part one will cover the first three events of the season while part two will cover the last four events. Because there was no Bassmaster Classic this year, there will be no part three.
The 1970 Bassmaster Trail was the third full year of Bassmaster tournament competition and would be the year of a number of firsts. To start off it was the year where the Bassmaster Angler of the Year would begin, an award that would be presented to the most consistent angler on the trail for the entire season. Although this award, at the time, didn’t offer much more than bragging rights and a nice piece of hardware, it’s become arguably the most-cherished award on any tour.
The second thing to happen was it would be the first year where a single angler would win three events in the season. For those of you that know your history, I’m sure you can figure that one out pretty easily but for those of you who either don’t remember or just don’t know, I’ll save it for later. [Read more...]
Jack A. Smithwick, Sr.
That’s the moniker given in a June 1965 Fishing News article (Surface Fishing: Tips from a real expert) detailing the topwater expertise of one Jack Smithwick Sr.. If you’re familiar with the old black, red and white packaging of Smithwick Lures, you might realize that Jack A. Smithwick’s father, Jack K. Smithwick, was the original founder of Smithwick Lures back in 1947. Jack A., Sr. was the “& Son” on the box. [Read more...]
Photo Bassmaster.com
Congratulations to Jay Davis for winning this week’s trivia contest sponsored by Gary Yamamoto Custom Baits! This makes his third and unfortunately final win. Read below for the answer.
Florida angler Tom Jurkewicz competed in 28 B.A.S.S. events between 1980 and 1992, making the money 15 times, including five Top 10 finishes. He also qualified for the 1982 and 1983 Bassmaster Classics, finishing 14th and 27th respectively.
His two best finishes were both runner ups, first on the Ohio River in July of 1982, then less than a half a year later closer to home on the Kissimmee Chain. [Read more...]
As far as I know red and white wobblers exactly like this one are no longer being made. That’s too bad because it’s a dandy. It didn’t produce on all of the bass water I’ve fished. But years ago when I was fishing the big Columbia River’s sloughs it could be great.
I’m not at all sure I should even be writing what you are about to read.
Why would I say something stupid like that and possibly discourage a visitor to this part of the Bass Fishing Archives? For just one reason: The lure I’m fixin’ to share thoughts about is more than likely going to be darn difficult for you to find.
If you’ve read my last Let’s Look Back column you know what I’m talking about. That column details how a very good friend had shown me I didn’t know near as much as I thought I did about catching bass in the Columbia River log pond I was fishing every chance I got.
If you did read that last column you’re aware I took a dim view of my friend’s intention to show those log pond bass a metal wobbler. I’d never fished wobbler there myself, but I “just knew” it wouldn’t work. The truth of the matter was I didn’t know squat! [Read more...]
The first issue of what would eventually become Western Bass magazine. Photo courtesy of Bill Rice.
For the early western bass angler, there was only one option to get up-to-date information on how to bass fish prior to 1973. That was by subscribing to Bassmaster Magazine. Of course you could subscribe to Sports Afield, Outdoor Life or Field and Stream but you had to wade through a lot of meaningless jibber having to do with hunting along with other species of fish.
Then in 1973 Western Bass Fishing Association filled a niche for the western angler by debuting the first western-centric bass journal called the Bassman’s Tournament Journal. In this newsprint publication they gave tournament results and some tips on how the best western pros of the day were catching their fish.
The photo here of Volume 1 Number 1 was provided by Bass Fishing Archives supporter Bill Rice and is the only photo I know that exists – let alone an actual copy of the paper. The text is difficult to make out at best but I was able to read the photo caption and transcribe it for you to read. It reads: [Read more...]
Recent Comments