Deconstructing Old Ads with Bill Sonnett

World's Record Bass caught on Pikie Minnow?
 

Having had a long time interest in the story of George Perry's world record largemouth bass, I did a double take while looking at this ad for the introduction of the Creek Chub Wiggle Fish. The Wiggle Fish by the way, was misidentified for years as the lure on which George Perry caught his 22 lb 4 oz monster. We now know that lure was in fact the Creek Chub Fin Tailed Shiner. So what's this business with the Pikie Minnow?
 
When Whitefish Press recently published Remembering George W. Perry by Bill Baab, I sent for a copy and quickly read it. Until then, I could not have told you who held the world's record for largemouth bass before George Perry. Luckily there was a chapter in the book devoted to this former record holder. It was only when I read the name Fritz Friebel in this ad that it dawned on me that I was reading a magazine that was printed seven years before George Perry caught the big one in 1932.


This ad is from the May 1925 issue of Outdoor Recreation Magazine. I have blown up the insert portion of the ad so we can get a better look at Fritz's 20lb 2oz monster! It is probably the only look we are going to get because as Bill Baab's book tells us, like George Perry's fish, this one also ended up on the dinner table rather than being mounted.
 
-- Bill Sonnett