While I was gone I received a welcome package -- the latest book by West Coast fishing historian Russell Christianson. His earlier work, Tacoma Tackle (2011), was a revelation, and since I grew up in Duluth, Minn. where we got our fair share of salmon tackle beginning in the 1950s, I was eager to learn more about such things as the Tom Mack spoon which we grew up with.
Russell's book did not disappoint. It covered just about every salmon spoon I've heard of, and then illustrated a whole bunch more. From the aforementioned Tom Mack to the Andy Reeker to the Wilson Spoon, Russell details the men and women behind these baits. It's really cool to know that there was a Tom McClanahan ("Tom Mack") who, indeed, was a great salmon angler.
It's a really interesting book. It has three sections: lure and tackle company histories (1-75), salmon spoon patents (76-174), and advertisements (175-187). The book is in black-and-white, and although some of the pictures lack detail, overall the quality is good enough to help many collectors identify metal from their scrap heap that may just turn out to be gold in the bank.
The book is self-published and modestly priced at $24.95 -- you can pick up a copy from Russell's ebay store by Clicking Here.
It's well worth the price!
-- Dr. Todd
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