Fishing for History: The History of Fishing and Fishing Tackle

Teal

Trout Unlimited celebrates a golden anniversary...Mercury Marine workers take a historic vote...vintage Irish rods anyone?...robotic fish to patrol our waterways...Pacific Ocean "garbage patch" killing fish...Great White Sharks are terrible show offs...a compilation of birds-eating-fish images...listen for strikes when night fishing...pink salmon are back...better split rings mean better fishing...a record Mako...and a New Zealand tuna...pacu in the Savannah River...little girls uses barbie fishing rod to catch massive fish (again)...it must be THE NEWS OF THE WEEK!

The Big Lead: Trout Unlimited celebrates its 50th anniversary. Here's to 50 more!

Union workers at Mercury Marine vote to reject proposal company deems necessary to keep factory in Fond du Lac...and consolidate in Stillwater, OK.

If you're in County Kerry, Ireland, you can pick up some nice vintage Irish rods, pretty cheap.

From the Future Is Here Today Files: Robotic Fish to patrol our waterways.

Baseball blog notes that you can now fish out of your car.

Reason #237 why Human Beings Suck: the Pacific Ocean "Garbage Patch" is growing.

Great White shark vaults for photographers. Show off.

A fairly amazing compilation of birds eating fish photos.

5 Questions with Carroll Ware.

Why you need to listen for strikes at night.

In Detroit, a bridge strands a bait shop owner.

Clayne Baker is Boise's fly fishing legend.

The pink salmon returns to Vancouver Island.

Sam Burbank argues that Fly Tying 101 begins with an organized bench.

A mother and son both catch a bit of history at a fishing derby.

As always, Bass Pro Shops engenders interest, and competition.

Why Leland Ranch is a fly angler's dream.

Field & Stream's John Merwin argues better split rings mean bigger fish.

Outdoor Life reports on a record Mako Shark.

More on the mako here.

One man goes fishing in an ocean of memories for a daughter, now grown up.

A female angler smashes the New Zealand tuna record.

Rob Pavey reports a Georgia angler lands an Amazon-native Pacu fish...in the Savannah River!

Finishing With a Flourish: From the Deja Vu Files--Little girl using Barbie pole lands 20 pound carp. You may now gently weep.

-- Dr. Todd

Teal

Dealer Display Cards, Part 7

This week in our overview of Point-of-Purchase cards, we get a nifty piece submitted by John Etchieson. He writes:

I know that you like the trade houses and their private label items, and as I know you are aware, the Hiawatha was just such a brand of the Gamble's Stores. The Hiawatha BLACK SWAN brand was a line made for them (if my research is correct) by the B F Gladding Line Company, which was essentially their INVINCIBLE brand of Nylon line.

The display card is somewhat unique in that it actually hold a box of the line spools which can be inserted in the cutout space provided on the counter top display card. You will note the code "1-54" that is printed in small size in the lower right corner, which I have surmised means "January 1954"

Cool! Thanks for sharing, John!

-- Dr. Todd

Teal

A Thousand Words

Some huge fish in this vintage photo, courtesy of Doug Jobe...anyone know what kind of fish those are?

-- Dr. Todd

Teal

Deconstructing Old Ads with Bill Sonnett

The Bite-em Bate (note spelling of "Bate") is seldom seen in advertising. In this April 1917 issue of National Sportsman, the magazine followed a practice that is still seen today in outdoor magazines. As long as you buy an ad for a new product, the magazine does a promotional "write up" under the guise of informing the sportsman of a new and exciting product. When I showed this ad to a very prominent student and collector of Indiana baits, he got a bit excited and felt there was new information as regards the Bite-em Bate Co. Notice that though it is being promoted as "new to the trade" it is also stated that it has been used by "expert fishermen" for the last two years

-- Bill Sonnett

Teal

The Video of the Week
Your video of the week is this clever fly fishing video parody.

Things I Would Buy If I Could Only Afford Them
A nice early Kent Frog Floater? Yes, please.

A pair of vintage Phillipson casting rods has attracted a lot of bidder interest.

The Hardy Fortuna is the largest reel Hardy Bros. ever made.

I'm not a creel collector, but this one might make me see the error of my ways...

We've not featured a Shakespeare Rhodes Mechanical Frog in some time. This is about as nice as they come.

This Outing's Getem in the box is a really beautiful combo.

A Heddon Stingaree dealer display is a great find.

A T.H. Bate & Co. New York ball handle reel is a super rare find!

Bronson made some great reels, and this is maybe their best: the Invader.

Your Texas Lure of the Week: the Doug English Super Bingo.

The Millsite Spin Size Daily Double is a pretty tough find, especially in the box.

I would love very much to fish with a Husky Dinger. I think it would be a fabulous lure catcher.

OScar Peterson was an incredibly talented decoy carver. This one is a classic.

The Pflueger Par is an ocean reel easy to overlook.

Storm has caught fire lately, and this Glop Lure is leading the way.

A Heddon Spin Diver in Green Crackleback will always have legions of fans.

The only thing that would make this CCBC Wiggler cooler would be a Toad van Houton lip!

This 1980s Hilberbrandt Salesman's Sample book is a nifty piece of tackle history.

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

-- Dr. Todd

Teal

Patrick Daradick, the noted Canadian tackle collector, was asked by the Heritage House Museum to display his wonderful Canadian tackle collection. Patrick has graciously sent us the following photographs of his exhibit, which looks tremendous by the way. It runs through Nov. 01 so if you get a chance to see it, definitely don't pass it up!