The Friday Funhouse

Video of the Week

This is an outstanding fly fishing-themed video from Indy band Active Child called Hanging On. It was directed by T.S. Pfeffer and Robert McHugh and has some beautiful and haunting imagery. I love it. Reminds me of early Style Council!



12 Things I WOuld Buy If Only I Could Afford THem

This B.C. Milam No. 4 Narrow Spool is a fine find.


What is up with this Lucky 13???


Instant Collection Alert: Heddon Hi-Tails.


Instant Collection Alert 2: Pennsylvania License Collection.



A Musky Walton Speed Bait…the original Alabama Rig???


Wow. This Bug-N-Bass is on fire!



A Heddon Spin Diver is always a nifty lure.



These Little Sac minnows are great contemporary folk art.


A Lew's Speed Spool in the box has attracted a lot of interest.


The Giant Heddon Runt is a BIG Runt.


A Coptes Mascotte Italian spinning reel is very nice.



On the other side of the globe is this Aussie Clasmi Crouch reel.



As always, have a great weekend -- and be good to each other, and yourself.

-- Dr. Todd

Ben Wright's Spinning Reel Report (January 2012)

JANUARY 2012

NEW YEAR STARTS WITH MORE SUPER RARE MITCHELL'S AND A FEW OTHER REELS OF INTEREST

FEATURED REELS:
We now know that one of the worlds premiere mitchell spinning reel collectors Dan Hawks has decided to sell some of his super rare reels on the bay.
Dan's descriptions are some of the best I've ever seen on ebay, but were some of his prices a bit high for todays market ?
what we do not know is if any of these have been sold privatley by Dan ?
Here is a list of a few of Dan's reels that have ended with
"NO BIDS"

Blackfish B30 exc+ @ 650.00
Kilt-o second version exc- @ 600.00
1974 Comm. 300DL e+wb @ 4,275.00
306 made for French market exc @ 500.00
408G #029 NIB ended early by Dan !
488 salesman sample w/clear plastic side plate exc+@1,500.00
Torunament Wedding cake like new @ 9,000.00
and the late Bill Arp's unused tournament @7,000.00
for those who do not know Bill was known as the grandfather of mitchell collecting here in the US.

Here is a list of a few of Dan's reels and others that did sell on the bay.
408DL Special exc++ @ 1,800.00
ORCA 300like new @ 425.00
Rapid first version ewb @ 435.00
908 bronze color like new @ 900.00
304 w/yellow garcia sticker decal nib @ 256.00
330 quartz gold nwc @ 355.00
410A nib @ 242.50
396 pum w/white spool like new @ 343.98

OTHER REELS OF INTERSET !

Mepps baby Vamp first version w/mpu exc @ 1,183.14 wow
Fin Nor no 4 NIB w/pouch and extra spool @ 1,575.00 holy--
Australian Acme side caster model H finish wear @2,125.12
an odd ball Thommen Tomsurf mostly ss construction
Prototype ?? exc+ @ only 280.95

ABU:
rare 333 red&black exc- @ 463.00
Abu Garcia Black/gray cup exc- @ only 37.00
Abumatic 90 e+wb @ 90.00
Cardinals:
52 nib @ 182.50
3 Black/tan 3rd version nib @ 521.44 wow
44X dark brown fully restored (what ever that means?) @278.58

Dam Quick:
Super 270 nib @ 135.00

Danish:
BMV model C first version gold exc @ 71.00
" " " second version Green exc- @ 26.50

Daiwa:
SS5000 ewb only 53.17
minimite GS-0 nib started @219.00 no bids
whisker tournament SS1300 exc @ 53.00
minimite e+wb @ 82.00

English:
Allcock Stanley e-wb @ 127.51
Hardy Exalta mk 2 e-wb @ 200.00
illingworth no 3 polished w/case @ 279.00

French:
Doperr exc- @ 279.10
mepps super meca R/H retrieve exc- @ 165.00
Luxor mer saumon nib @ 113.37

Heddon:
220R nib anti reverse don't work @ 102.50 WHY???
205R ewb @ 45.00
spin pal 230 ewb @ 51.00

Japanese:
arnold palmer exc @ 10.49
Lew's speed spin 1 paint wear w/box @ 76.00
spin lite nib @ 61.01 wow
trojan 201 nib sold in Sweden @ 89.00 holy cow!
Lew's gold spin GS1 nib KOREA @ 153.49 wow

Italian:
cargem 33 mignon salesman sample need bail spring @142.50
orvis 175A nib @ 142.50
Holliday 30 exc @ 152.51
Holliday 40 e+wb @ 203.10
Cargem 44/M w/clear plastic sideplate exc+ @ 113.53

Penn:
700 first version w/early two piece box exc+ @ 305.00
710 exp color green text. is the reel deal! like new starting @ 249.99 NO BIDS
707 exc @ 322.00
712 exc @ 100.95
716 nib @ 150.00

Pflueger:
Pelican 1020 nib @ 155.00 why??
1020 ewb but has wrong handle and knob @ 44.70

Shakespeare:
Pres 11 2910 exc- @ 79.00
2068 e-wb @ 66.10

Swiss:
Record Recordette 21 aqua nib @ 103.50
later version record nib @ 69.00

Zebco:
3 3rd version e+wb @ 165.51
4 second version like new only 162.50
4 5th version nib @ 152.00
4 6th version e+wb @ 150.50

Other Reels:
Airex mastereel no2? nmwb @ 61.00
Tokoz tap exc- @ 86.00
Wordens belt reel jet caster wxc+ poor box @223.49
ocean city 350 yellow exc+@ 56.00
Feurer bro's Larchmont fb412 nmwb @ 47.66
victory 110 by bretton exc- @100.60
American Classic 1V like new with cloth bag @ 236.39
last a Fin nor no 4 like new @171.05 didn't know that the box,pouch and extra spool were worth that much more??
see other reels of interest.
I would like to wish Dan good Luck on the sales of his super Rare Mitchell's .
Ben

52 Trade Houses Part 44: J.H. Wiggers, the Dean of Poughkeepsie Anglers

Over the course of the next year, we'll be detailing the history of 52 companies that sold branded fishing tackle. 52 trade houses in 52 weeks -- some obscure, some famous, and all available exclusively here on the Fishing for History Blog! If you have any items from the week's entry you'd like to share with us, please send it my way and I'll make sure it makes it on the blog.

For a discussion of what exactly trade tackle is, Click Here. Enjoy the 52 for 52!

o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o

Trade House Tackle, Part 44:
J.H. Wiggers: The Dean of Poughkeepsie Anglers

I just can't seem to stop researching and writing about these old, obscure tackle sellers. Today we focus on one from an old Dutch part of New York--Poughkeepsie--run by a gentleman with an old Dutch Name.

The store in question was owned by John Henry Wiggers, and he ran a classic old-world shop for a number of decades in the heart of fishing country.


Wiggers (1861-1937) owned an all-purpose general store in Poughkeepsie, New York from the 1870s through the 1930s. His obituary notes he founded his first store--a cigar shop--at the tender age of 18. "He had probably engaged in the sale of sporting goods as long as any merchant in the state," the paper noted, which can be interpreted as the fact he was selling sporting goods, and tackle, very early on.

He carried all the kinds of general goods you would come to expect from such a store: newspapers, magazines, paper goods, toys, sporting goods, and of course, fishing tackle.

He exploded on the scene on July 4th, 1887 when, as the Poughkeepsie Daily Eagle reported, an explosion set off when someone threw a lit firecracker into his fireworks display threatened to burn down the store. Fortunately for Wiggers, the loss was only about $30. "The meanest part of the whole thing," the paper reported, "was that some person carried of Mr. Wiggers money box which contained between nine and ten dollars."

John Wiggers was sometimes called the "Dean of Poughkeepsie Anglers" and his store seemed to be the center of the local fishing world. He was certainly a fine angler, if the newspaper records can be trusted. One blurb in 1929 notes that he landed 21 brook trout from the Duelle Brook in Dover in one afternoon. He was often consulted on the opening of trout season as well. "Saturday Night at Wiggers" became a bit of a catch phrase, as anglers would congregate at the store after a day's fishing and swap yarns well into the night. In addition to being a fine angler, he was also the city champion checker player and a boxer of repute, having trained many local men in the "fistic arts."


Wiggers ran a fishing contest for many years for largest smallmouth and Oswego bass caught within 30 miles of Poughkeepsie. The June 10, 1919 Daily Eagle noted the past year's winner had been a five pound, nine ounce fish. A list of tasty prizes included a Shakespeare Reel for 1st place, a Wiggers steel casting rod for second, W.H. Sharpes Casting Line for 6th-9th, and a half dozen White Hat casting spoons for 10-12th. As someone who owns a White Hat spoon on the card, the only thing nicer would be a half dozen of them!

The family pops up from time to time in the pages of the Poughkeepsie Eagle-Herald, the local newspaper. For example, on 08 January 1924, "Two strangers got away with $150 from the cash box of J.H. Wigger's store." That would be the equivalent of a loss of around $2000.00 today--a tidy sum to have stolen, to be sure. We know his wife Mrs. J.H. Wiggers was a member of the Women's Council of the Reformed Church and active in its affairs until at least the mid-1930s. They resided at a home on 59 Clinton Street for many decades.

John Henry Wiggers died suddenly on May 18, 1937, after only a few hours' illness. He was 75 at the time. His son Howard was equally active in the local social set and continued the store until at least 1940. We see here a small advert from 1939 indicating the store was still selling toys, at least, after the founder's passing.


The only fishing tackle I've seen marked for Wiggers has been snelled hook packets, both regular and in envelope form (see below).



John Henry Wiggers served his community faithfully for over six decades, dedicating his life in large part to the sporting trade and putting fishing tackle into the hands of tens of thousands of local anglers during his lifetime. Revered as the Dean of Poughkeepsie Anglers, it is likely there are only a handful of people around who remember him at all.

What do we have left as a measure of such a man? A couple of musty pieces of ephemera and a cloudy picture on microfilm.

Let's pause and remember the John Henry Wiggers of the world, for every community has had one or more, their names likely lost forever to the march of time.

But they all lived. They all died. They all sold fishing tackle. And they all passed on their love of the outdoors to anyone and everyone they could.

If that's not worth remembering, and celebrating, than nothing is.

-- Dr. Todd

Voices from the Past: Charles A. Singler (1914)

Bill Sonnett sent this in to me and thought it was delightful. It comes from Outer's Book March, 1914.

Boast of the Black Bass

by Charles A. Singler

I am the Bass, the big black bass!
The king of swamp and cool morass!
The city sends it hordes of men
To drag me from the reed-swept den.

With silken line and weedless hook
They strive to lure me from my nook.
A chunk of pork with crimson flag,
Or hook transfixed through scented bag.

Perhaps a dummy fish they take,
And then proceed to drag the lake.
Why needs this "fish" of hooks a mass
To capture but a single bass?

A rubber nipple some will use
And some a baby frog abuse,
While others yet will use a worm
Methinks 'tis but to see it squirm

With chicken-down and fluted spoon
Some chumps will troll; some like the moon
To woo me from my lilied lair,
While others swear by badger hair.

Of foolish men from city streets,
Who haunt the reedy bogs in fleets.
Though other species, biting, pass
To death, you cannot fool the bass.

News of the Week: 30 January 2012

Don't have time to read 50+ fishing and tackle collecting blogs and web sites? Well, let us do it for you! Follow all of the latest news, articles, and stories on our Whitefishpress Twitter account! Hint: You don't need to be a member...just bookmark the Twitter Feed Page or click on latest links to the right!

Jeremy Wade is profiled…a new record Yellowfin Tuna…another week, another 'Bama rig…lead debate reaches Iowa house floor next week…how to unhook a pelican…fixing Lake Winnipeg's fisheries…fishing tackle parties are the latest rage…the Virgin Mermaid…man creates exotic fish sculptures…fly fishing for musky…burglary forces closure of tackle shop…the Bachelor TV show goes fly fishing…it must be THE NEWS OF THE WEEK!

The Big Lead: Jeremy Wade of River Monsters fame recounts his search for the Wolf Fish.


Yellowfin Tuna may break the world record.


Another week, another Alabama Rig article…


Lead debate may reach floor of Iowa house or senate this week.

How to unhook a Pelican.



Minnesota, North Dakota work to fix Lake Winnipeg's fisheries.

Fishing tackle parties are the new rage!

Your Field & Stream Vintage Fishing Tackle of the Week winner is the Stream-Eze Virgin Mermaid.


Man creates exotic fish sculptures.


John Merwin on fly fishing for musky: what's new?


The Big Snake of bass rods.


Sad news from across the pond: burglary forces closure of tackle shop.

Finishing with a Flourish: The Bachelor TV show goes fly fishing. Really.



-- Dr. Todd

1000 Words

1000 Words

One of the great classic actresses from Hollywood's Golden Era was Ava Gardner. Acclaimed as one of the most beautiful women in the world, she was also very talented, nominated for an Academy Award in 1953. Here she is in a 1940s publicity still with a saltwater casting rig.



-- Dr. Todd

Deconstructing Old Ads: The Heddon River Runt Spook Part II (1936)

The River Runt Spook is a BIG Success! Part 2

After a very subdued start in 1933 --- it was not mentioned in the "New Products for 1933" notice to dealers and only obscurley mentioned (with no illustration) in the 1933 catalog as "perfected as we went to press". It was obvious that the type of success that this bait was about to receive was wholly unexpected by the folks at Heddon. By 1934 it received some mention in the catalog and appeared in a few magazine ads. By 1935 It made the front cover of the catalog and building upon this success a new floating model as well as a jointed model were added.
 
The full page black & white ad presented here appeared in July of 1936 in Hunting & Fishing Magazine and illustrates that the River Runt was now considered to be the number one bait in the Heddon line.
        

 In 1939 full page color ads appeared such as this one on the back of the July 1939 issue of Sports Afield. Only one thing can account for this sudden and unexpected rise in popularity -- the darn thing caught fish like crazy.
 

 As a boy in 1957 I was about to go with my father and an adult friend on my first Canadian fishing trip when my next door neighbor  (a man that seemed old to me at the time but who in fact was 44) called me aside and told me he was going to lend me his best fishing lure for the trip. If I lost it to a big fish that was OK, but otherwise I was expected to return it to him when we returned home. It was a  Floating River Runt Spook in Yellow Shore Minnow pattern. I was assured that it was deadly on all fish. To make a long story short, I caught more fish on the trip with this bait than my father and his friend put together. After returning the bait to my neighbor, I could not wait to go down to the hardware store and buy one exactly like it. I was a "dyed in the wool" River Runt man for several years thereafter. I seldom use it today, as I prefer to fish "top water" but when asked what I caught my largest bass ever on, I still have to confess it was a Midget Digit River Runt in an Ohio farm pond in 1976.
 



-- Bill Sonnett

The Friday Funhouse

The Video of the Week

A stunning video about catch-and-release fly fishing…in Morocco?



11 Things I Would Buy And One I Would SMASH WITH A HAMMER

All Super Strike shrimp are very cool!


Instant Collection Alert: Snake skin lures by Dave Hodges and Sam Griffin.


A Leonard Bi-Metal is always a nifty find.



We haven't had a nice Bronson Invader on eBay in some time.



I like this Victory A54 Swedish free spool casting reel.



Wow. WOW. WOW!!!!! Heddon 700--the Big One.


This Chippewa is a great find.


Presented without comment.


Love this Tarpalunge!


A Thoren Minnow Chaser in the box is a great find.


This Shakespeare Punkinseed is a fine lure.


This H.J. Frost Senate Wooden Minnow is just superb.



As always, have a great and a safe weekend -- and be good to each other, and yourself.

-- Dr. Todd

Thursday Review: The Mystique of Ambassadeur: It's Unexplained Stories

This week in our Thursday Review we feature a book that was brought to my attention by Ambassadeur guru Fred Ribb--Simon Shimomura's The Mystique of Ambassadeur: It's Unexplained Stories. It's the third in a series of detailed works from this Ambassadeur expert.


Like all of Simon's books, this one is for the real Ambassadeur nut. It is very technical in places and sometimes delved into things of which I was fairly lost. But there are more than enough engaging stories to tide over the Ambassadeur novice like myself. I particularly enjoyed the little tidbits like learning the Ambassaduer 4500 (which I had when I was younger) came in two different spool sizes.

The book is a series of essays brought together between the covers of a book, and as this my favorite kind of tackle book, I was able to delve into it over the course of several weeks. I talked with Simon at the recent Milwaukee show and discovered him to be as open and engaging as his books are.

Shimomura is a very good writer and researcher and his newest book belongs on the shelf of anyone who considers themselves even a slight Ambassadeur fan.

It is available directly from the author. More information can be find by Clicking Here.

-- Dr. Todd

52 Trade Houses Part 43: Eckerd Drug Stores

Over the course of the next year, we'll be detailing the history of 52 companies that sold branded fishing tackle. 52 trade houses in 52 weeks -- some obscure, some famous, and all available exclusively here on the Fishing for History Blog! If you have any items from the week's entry you'd like to share with us, please send it my way and I'll make sure it makes it on the blog.

For a discussion of what exactly trade tackle is, Click Here. Enjoy the 52 for 52!

o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - o

Trade House Tackle, Part 43:
Eckerd Drug Stores

The Fishing Tackle of Eckerd Drug Company

Today in 52 for 52 we feature a company that sold a ton of fishing tackle that I've never seen a marked piece of tackle from--even though I know they sold them. The company comes from one of my favorite categories of trade house tackle: drug stores.

The firm in question is the Eckerd Drug Store chain. It was founded in 1898 by J. Milton Eckerd and Z. Tatom in Erie, Pennsylvania. Like many apothecary shops, it was a one-stop shop for its customers, selling everything from aspirin to fish hooks.

Eckerd's Drugs expanded to Delaware in 1912. In the 1930s, under the leadership of son Jack Eckerd, the company expanded greatly, and after World War II they began to open shops all across Florida and later the South as a whole. At its height, Eckerd Drugs had 2800 stores in 20 states and did $13.1 billion in business. Yes--that's billion with a "B."


Jack Eckerd, the man behind the drug store.

Jack Eckerd's first new chain store in Jamestown, NY in 1937.

Typical 1950s Eckerd Drug in Columbia, SC.
If Eckerd always carried a little fishing tackle, it shocked the entire industry in 1973 when the firm went "all-in" in the tackle market. With 165 stores in just Florida alone, the company launched what it called the "Eckerd Tackle Center" in every store--a full 21-foot display chock full of tackle from top to bottom. It vaulted overnight Eckerd into one of the major players in the tackle field. In just a year, tackle sales were making up 2.5% of total revenue in Florida stores--which doesn't seem like much until you realize just how many kinds of items a store like this carried.


Eckerd's Tackle Center
They even offered a free booklet by the "Eckerd Angling Advisory Staff" to prospective buyers. Using the huge marketing machine behind the company, they advertised on tv, radio, and in newspapers and magazines. They also pushed tackle, particularly to tourists looking to buy a rig for saltwater fishing. One could argue by the mid-1970s no national chain was moving more saltwater tackle than Eckerd's Drugs.


Many Tackle Centers were near the coffee shop.
Their private label was the "Super" brand of tackle. As a 1973 article in The Fishing Tackle Trade News reported, "Eckerd's own private brand Super Rods, built to rigid specifications, are heavily advertised and guaranteed, 'If it breaks, Jack Eckerd Drugs will give you a new one.' So states the ad commercials. A Super Reel is now in the works."


Eckerd President Harry Roberts (right) inspect an Eckerd's Super Rod.
The company continued selling fishing tackle throughout the 1990s. In 1996, the chain merged with J.C. Penney, and all the Penney's brands (Thrift, Kerr, Fay's, and Rite Aid) were rebranded as Eckerd's Drug Stores. This gave the firm 2800 stores nationwide, making it the second largest drug store chain. In 2004, after losing a great deal of money, Penney's sold all East Coast Eckerd's to Jean Coutu Groups, while the remaining 1200 stores were sold to CVS Pharmacy and their name changed. in 2006, Rite Aid purchased Jean Coutu and rebranded all Eckerd stores, bringing an end to the 109-year old brand.

Although in the tackle business as a force for only about 25 years, Eckerd's sold a ton of fishing tackle and are worth remembering for their efforts to serve the American angler.

-- Dr. Todd