1958 Heddon Sonar Comic Book

As a weekend bonus, I thought I'd post a neat Heddon piece I found in a 1958 Heddon catalog I recently picked up. What's cool about this is that it is a comic book--and a diminutive one at that. It measures 2 7/8" x 2 7/8" square, comes in at eight pages, is printed on stock rag comic paper, and is copyrighted 1958. Its an introductory piece of advertisement for the Heddon Sonar, not the most collectable lure, I'll give you that, but a real revolution in fishing, especially for lake trout and other deep water freshwater species. Also, I believe it is one of the few 1950s Heddon lures still being manufactured today.

Does anyone know if there are any other of these little Heddon comic books out there dating from the 1950s or early 1960s?



-- Dr. Todd

Friday Funhouse

I am starting a new series of posts on the blog I am going to call "The Friday Funhouse" as it will concentrate on more entertaining subjects. Part of it will be sharing a series of links called "Things I Would Buy If I Could Afford Them" on eBay, which is just my series of links of interesting, cool, and bizarre live eBay auctions. I will also try to post a video of the week, although the quality of videos on YouTube and other places concerning fishing is not very good.

Video of the Week

Today, we have a very interesting video on the history of Alvey Reels from Australia, Part I.



Things I Would Buy If I Could Afford Them

I love old magazines, and this is one of the better lots of Outdoor Life magazines I have seen in some time.

Has there been a nicer Spinno-Minno offered lately than this one?


One of the truly rare reels to show up on eBay is this Bryant Crestmont hinged baitcasting reel.


An extremely nice Edward vom Hofe reel reel should brings some good coin.

Own a piece of the Heddon factory board. No, its not the part with the original James Heddon frog and Moonlight Radiant.

Heddon collectors will definitely want to check this one out.



And a late addition to the Funhouse, this charming auction from one very angry woman selling her "ex-moron's" tackle boxes. Sounds like an amicable parting...breaking up is hard to do, especially if she takes your fishing gear.

-- Dr. Todd

Review: The "Unofficial" Rapala Message Board

Having been born and raised in Duluth, Minnesota, I have always had a predilection for Rapalas. For those who don't know the story, it was a small shop on London Road in Duluth that began the Rapala revolution back in 1960. The clothing store imported items from Finland and brought in a handful of original Rapalas from the old country, and when these lures fell into the hands of a couple of Duluth guides, record catches resulted. As news spread, the demand for the Rapalas went through the roof, and rumors (apparently true) of guides requiring a $50 deposit to use a Rapala abounded. When Life Magazine ran a feature on the Rapala in 1962, the mania grew, resulting in the formation of Normark, the importation of tens of millions of Rapalas, and one of the great success stories in the history of fishing.


Original 1938 Lauri Rapala hand-made lure
So I was not surprised and more than a little pleased when I discovered a couple of years ago there were a small but growing cadre of Rapalamaniacs on the internet, who, thanks to the work of Steve "Rapala-Guru" Wight, now have their own chat board in cyberspace. The "Unofficial" Rapala Message Board has pretty much everything you'd ever want to know about the collectable Rapala. From how to fish the Rapala, to how to distinguish rare Rapalas from the common, to a trading forum and an ebay discussion board, this site is pretty much the end all of Rapala collecting.


Vintage Fat Raps like this sometimes sell on eBay for $50

Rapala collecting offers both unprecedented opportunity and incredible challenges. As perhaps the best-selling brand of lures of the second half of the twentieth century, there are lots of them out there. But many, many of these Rapalas (particularly the early ones) were fished nearly to death, so finding them in decent condition can be a problem. In addition, color collecting offers its challenges, as a cursory perusal of the forums shows an almost surreal number of color variants. Add to this rare models that didn't sell well, advertising lures, signed Rapalas, and other variations, and you can spend a lifetime collecting this lure.

The great bonus in collecting Rapalas is, in my opinion, that if you need to catch a fish, you can always pluck a lure out of your collection and outfish any other lure ever made. This is reason enough--if any is needed--to think of the Rapala with more respect.

For those interested in a detailed history of the Rapala, check out The Rapala Guide (Normark, 1976) and Rapala: Legendary Fishing Lures by John Mitchell (MBI, 2005).

-- Dr. Todd

Voices from the Past: Frank and I

'Twas a time when Americans of all socioeconomic levels and ethnic backgrounds wrote poetry, and poets were the most respected writers. Quickly: can you name a modern, living American poet? Most probably can't, and that's a real shame.

Not surprisingly, fishing was a very common theme for poets of all styles and ability, and one of my favorites is the following charming poem, printed in the 13 October 1892 Forest & Stream under only the name "Carey." It is a poem about enjoying the outdoors, fishing for the right reasons, and most of all, about friendship. It immediately reminded me of my friends Jim and Skip, but also could be applied to a number of friends I know such Warren and Bill, Marc and Tom, and many others. It always makes me smile.

Frank and I
by Carey
Where the hoarse frog clears his throat
And the redbird's crimson coat
Gleams like livid fire afloat
Where the gilled oriole,
Wing of flame and singing soul,
Floats and sings in uncontrol--
In the lakes and streams near by
There we cast the spoon and fly--
Frank and I.

When the romping girl of May
To her sister, June, gave way,
Substituting work for play--
When the rainbow-spotted trout,
Eager, vigilant, is out
On a fly-destroying scout--
Under such a sun and sky
Fished we, with the spoon and fly--
Frank and I.

Land of nature's treasures, rare!
Garden land of lakes, so fair
As the gems a queen might wear!
Land where red does hide from prey
Polka-dotted fawns away--
Animated blossoms, they,
Agile, graceful, sweet and shy
There we fished: good reasons why--
Frank and I.

In Gogebic's faultless tides,
Where the knightly bass abides;
Not a lonely one, that hides
Under rocks, a snare to shun,
But in regiments they run
Charging Skinner Spoons for fun.
There we cast our lures to try
Each the other's skill to vie--
Frank and I.

Not for shiners silver white,
Nor for sunfish, golden bright,
Not for mud-cats, out of night,
Not with worms, on Lim'rick hook,
Held by pole of dubious crook,
Not with seine, upon the sly--
No: we wanted better fry--
Frank and I.

Only royal fish were sought,
Gamy, beauteous trout were brought
Into basket, though each fought
Bravely as a brave trout would--
Bent the rod as good trout could
Whirred the reel as true trout should,
Sordid reader, ask not why
We went forth with spoon and fly--
Frank and I.

Eagle river's silver band
Holds upon its beaded strand
Loveliest lakes of any land.
Twin lakes, clear as stainless glass--
Beautiful as burnished brass,
Home of the mascalonge and bass;
Fish, that all these waters ply--
Those we caught with spoon and fly--
Frank and I.

Caught the giant mascalonge.
Saw him leap and felt him plunge,
As a prisoned ox would lunge
After freedom. What a thrill
All the throbbing pulses fill,
As he fights with kingly will,
So the golden hours flew by,
As we cast the spoon and fly--
Frank and I.

But we found still richer prize
Than a sporstman's paradise
Found the gold of sunny skies,
Found the key to better health,
Found the key to nature's wealth,
Found the strategy and stealth
Which brings joys that satisfy,
Found all these, with spoon and fly--
Frank and I.

-- Dr. Todd

The Origins of Ranger “Prizewinning” Reels

The Origins of Ranger “Prizewinning” Reels

by Dr. Todd Larson

One of the more common yet overlooked fishing reels of the post-war era are those of The Ranger Reel Company of Rockford, Michigan. This firm produced a number of neat baitcasting reels in the 1940s and 1950s, but for some reason has gotten little coverage from reel historians. Their “Prize Winning” reels had a unique origin, as laid out in a 1948 article on the origins of the "Prize Winning" reel line entitled "The Reels the Fishermen Asked For."

By late 1945, with the most horrific conflict in world history just a few months over, the great army commissioned to defeat authoritarianism in the east and west began to be disbanded, sending first a trickle and then a flood of now ex-G.I.’s back to America. These former soldiers took to the woods and waters in unprecedented numbers, and the sport of fishing began its most amazing growth period in history. It was clear that by the summer of 1946, traditional fishing tackle manufacturers could never hope to keep up with the unprecedented demand for fishing tackle. New manufacturers thus began to spring up overnight from coast to coast.

Ranger Inc. of Rockford, Michigan was just one of a number of new firms dedicated to making a name in the field. They decided to enter the fishing reel market, and their first offering to the American public in 1947 was the Model 60 baitcasting reel.




National ads for the Ranger 60 could be found in many 1947 publications

The response was underwhelming. But typical of a new breed of manufacturers, they returned to the drawing board to find out what exactly had gone wrong. As the article declared:

A unique approach to the problem of designing and creating new fishing tackle is seen in the technique used by Ranger Inc. of Rockford, Michigan. The concern planned to bring out a new line of baitcasting reels, but before they did so it was decided that rather than go ahead and design the reels, America’s army of fishermen should be given a chance to express their opinions as to exactly what they did or did not like built into their reels.

Throughout 1947, the firm began to conduct intensive research on just what the American public wanted in a fishing reel. What Ranger decided was to basically give the new fisherman—the returning soldier—as many features as possible that were popular with the fishing public. As the article noted:

The most interesting part of the whole program was the method used to obtain the data. Questionnaires were sent to virtually all outdoor and sportsman’s clubs throughout the country. These question sheets were made a part of each club’s program, and prizes were offered for the best suggestions and ideas. Anglers were invited to tell just what they wanted in a fishing reel, or what present features they considered unnecessary.

Some of the questions asked of the new fisherman are as follow:

Do you prefer a reel with a light weight spool or one which runs for a long time after spinning with the finger?

Do you like a built up cork or plastic handle on your reel axle, or do you prefer to fill up the extra space with backing line?

In a free spool reel the handle does not spin when you cast, but engages when you reel in—does such a feature appeal to you?

The article declared that "club members were outspoken as they expressed their preferences." Fishermen were also queried on such subjects as the finish on the reel, spare parts (pawls in particular), antibacklash devices, and most importantly, a "perpetual service policy" for the reel.

Ranger was flooded with responses, which ran "into the thousands," and which came from all corners of the nation. The Ranger staff then carefully compiled the results until "it became possible to assemble a coherent body of data covering just what the average bait caster wanted in his level wind reel. Ranger engineers then set about designing a new reel which incorporated those features most in demand by the fisherman."


The New Ranger Prizewinning Reel
The results were given over to the engineering staff at Ranger, who designed a series of reels based on the survey results. As the article concluded:

Evidence of the success of the survey is seen in the recent announcement by Ranger of an entirely new line of casting reels. Typical of the new line of reels is the No. 78 Prizewinner which embodies such features as a featherweight low-inertia spool, extra line capacity for trolling as well as casting, a new antibacklash device that does not slow down the lure while it is being cast, a life-time hardened steel pawl in the level-wind, and a beautiful new chrome finish. This reel and all other Ranger Prizewinner reels are guaranteed for one year against defects in their manufacture, and for a nominal charge each owner of a Prizewinner reel can register his reel under a perpetual service guarantee that covers all charges for replacement or broken parts.


Ranger Ad accompanying the early 1948 article, announcing the Prize Winning reels

Later Prize Winning reel ad
Thus the "Prize Winning" reels of Ranger were those models that best reflected the desires of the new American fisherman. Ranger had given the new American fisherman the reel they had asked for, and for a time would flourish in the wildly fluctuating fishing tackle market of the immediate post-war era. Eventually Ranger was sold to Pioneer Bait & Tackle of Harbor Springs, Michigan, but since this is a tale of the firm’s origins and not its demise, that part of the story will have to wait for another day.


An affordable Ranger 1st Award fishing reel
Ranger Reels do not get much respect on the collector market, and that's a shame. They were an interesting company that offered a diverse line of fishing reels, and collecting a complete set of them would make for a wonderful display.

-- Dr. Todd

News of the Week, 10 September 2007

Lots of interesting fishing and fishing tackle news this week.

Stocking program aimed at saving endangered Greenback Cutthroat Trout ruined because Fish & Wildlife officials stocked the wrong fish for the past twenty years. U.S. Fish & Wildlife claims "black eye" for its stocking program--no response from Greenback Cutthroat Trout population as they are pretty much extinct now.

CNN covered something called "Fly Fishing." Fox News chairman Rupert Murdoch irate over being scooped.

NBC's Today Show hunky anchorman Matt Lauer loves to fish. Elsewhere, fishing becomes immediately popular with Midwestern suburban housewives.


Matt Lauer shows off his little sunfish
Eddie Bauer fails to dominate suburban soccer mom market; returns to its manly origins.


The Worcester Telegram with breaking news: women like to fish. Next week from the Telegram: ice cream refreshing treat on hot day.

Not to be outdone, Britain's Fish and Fly alerts us to the startling fact that British women fly fish too.

From The Tuscaloosa News comes an interesting article by Robert DeWitt entitled There are many ways to part with a reel. Not listed: selling broken reel on eBay as like new.

Megabass lures from Japan are a big hit.

The Pocono Fish Guy from the Pocono Leader opines on fishing in windy weather.

Gordon McHenry (pictured) tells us about the latest baits for bass fishing. Somewhere, an esnipe is being set for October 2034.


Frank Sargeant tells us how to catch Big Fish, Big Tackle At Moderate Cost.

Terry Bowden is now making plastic worms in Alabama. Crimson Tide fans riot, not realizing Terry Bowden is the second most common name in Alabama.

The Charlotte News Observer breathlessly tells us that fly fishing has allure; wins prize for 100,000th article on fishing to use the word "allure."

The Waterloo Record reports that 9-year old invents Lure Buddy lure organizers. In other news, other 9-year olds don't notice as they are too busy playing video games.


The Denver Post tells us the new product lines from Colorado rod makers. Shockingly, Wright & McGill gets top billing.

The Independent alerts us to a a pair of Reel Men. Only Reel Men use vintage fishing reels...

Richard Simms says he wants to see Bill Dance catch a bass weighing under four pounds. Somewhere, Bill Dance and his editor are laughing.

The Denver Post tells us that Rattle Baits are a big success. Also Plastic Worms. And Coca-Cola.


Large lures work. Also, small lures. And medium sized ones.

-- Dr. Todd

The Great Northern Pike Photo Myth

Recently on Joe's Board, a user posted one of my favorite big fish pictures of a truly titanic Northern Pike, reputedly caught in any number of places--I've had this picture emailed to me at least six times in the past two years, claiming it is a Minnesota State Record (from Rainy Lake, Lake of the Woods, and Lake Superior), as well as from Ontario.



The truth of the matter is that this is not a record Northern Pike, although it is huge--coming in at 54". The monster pike was caught in Holland and was written up in an article in Esox Angler Magazine by noted Dutch pike authority Jan Eggers.

The internet being what it is, the photos soon made there way to hundreds of chat boards, often attached to fabricated stories. These photos were sometimes bundled with the following amazing picture:


So although this was not a record Northern, it was a true monster in its own right. For the record, the current World Record Northern Pike was caught by Lothar Louis of Germany in 1986 and weighed 55 pounds.


Louis' Record Northern Pike
Rumors of much larger Northerns have swirled for years. A fine article dispelling some of these rumors can be found here. But it is clear this is a record waiting to fall.

-- Dr. Todd

Voices from the Past: Frederic J. Haskin Part II

The final part of the article by Haskin deals mainly with commercial fishing.
Fishing Tackle, Part II

by Frederick J. Haskin

Use of the Gill Net


In the herring fisheries the gill net is used, and some of these are of such remarkable size that they contain dozens of tons of fish when hauled in. It is ascertained in which direction a school of fish is traveling, and the gill net is placed across its path. The meshes of the net are big enough to admit their heads and to pass their gills. But the larger part of the body cannot pass through. In this predicament they figuratively back-pedal until their gills become hopelessly fast in the meshes. When the nets are full as is desired they are drawn up and the fish emptied on the deck. Many other kinds of fish also are caught with the gill net.


Beautiful painting of gill netting by the great Frederick Remington
Long-line fishing is another of the commercial methods by which the world's fish supply is captured. A single line, sometimes as much as 10 miles long, is shot out from the side of the boat. A heavy weight is attached to the end first thrown overboard, and at intervals of a few feet short lines with hooks on them are attached. The long line is then stretched across the tide, and thus the hooks are kept at a proper distance apart. When the big line has remained out long enough it is hauled in and on the thousands of hooks, sometimes 5000 of them, there are nearly every kind of fish one can imagine, a veritable Noah's ark of the deep. In miniature, this line becomes the "trot line" of inland river fishing.


Long line fishing has been tremendously damaging to the environment
Hand Line for Cod

In the great cod fisheries of Newfoundland, the simple hand line in a boat goes out and pulls them in one after the other until he gets a boat load. The long line and the nets are sometimes used. It is said that a fish has more curiosity than any other living creature, and in sport fishing for mackerel the best bait that can be used is simply a piece of scarlet flannel or ribbon, tapering to a point. There is nothing in the sea that this imitates: it is merely intended to take advantage of the mackerel's inquisitiveness.



Perhaps the most dangerous and thrilling calling in the world of marine life is whaling, though the advent of the steam whaler has tended to lessen both the danger and the romance of the chase. That the harpoon used in whaling is of very remote origin, as well as whaling itself, is shown by the fact that in the book of Job it is asked concerning the Leviathan, "Canst thou fill his skin with barbed irons?" There is a tradition that the indians of Florida, long before the white man set foot on American soil,w ould jump on the head of a whale, plug up one nostril with a wooden peg, then allow him to go to the bottom, and when he came up again plug up the other nostril, and thus suffocate the monsterl Of course, no one credits this tradition, but there seems to be no room for doubt that the ancient Eskimos would surround a whale, and at a given signal fill it full of harpoons to which were attached inflated sealskins. Thus buoyed to the surface it was only a question of time until the whale would die. The use of the bomb harpoon gun, in which a bomb with fuse attached is hurled with a harpoon into the whale, is comparatively recent. When the bomb explodes it usually inflicts a mortal wound.

Ride on Turtles' Backs

In the South Sea Islands turtle fishing is carried on in the most primitive fashion. The fishermen swim out from the vessel, climb upon a turtle's back, and, like the Old Man of the Sea, ride him to the vicinity of the ship, where a line is passed to him and hooked aournd the turtle's head, halter fashion. Then the captor swims off for another victim. Sometimes they make goiod shark bait, a fate which they doubtless deserve, as they literally burn the turtles alive, in order to get the shell off; some fiend having discovered that when the shell is taken off before the turtle is killed it makes a finer quality of tortoise shell.


For American sport fishing, the deep-sea fishing off the coasts of California and Florida and in the gulf of Mexico, where the tarpon, the black sea bass, and other large fish abound, is said to be the most exciting. Very strong tackle must be used, and the rods, reels, and lines must be of the very highest quality. It requires hours to land one of these big fish, and infinite skill and patience; sometimes it degenerates into an endurance contest. For trout and other inland game fishes, an inexhaustible variety of rods, reels, lines, and artificial bait is to be had. It is said that the Chinese and the Japanese make the finest fish lines in the world. Some of the best are made by the fisherwomen of the Straits of Magellan. They use their own hair for material. The average American angler is satisfied with a kit costing a few dollars. Some of them, however, have kits in which they have spent thousands of dollars. But whether it is the bent pin and the wad of raw cotton used by the small boy or the most expensive rod, reel, and lines that money can buy, skill and patience are the most necessary parts of a complete outfit of fishing tackle, and money cannot buy them.

-- Dr. Todd

Voices from the Past: Frederic J. Haskin Part I

Few people today recognize the name, but Frederic J. Haskin was a prominent national writer around the turn of the twentieth century who contributed a number of articles on fishing to The Washington Post and other august publications. The following 1910 article from The Post is illustrative of his eclectic approach to writing about fishing. As the author of a number of works of international flavor, Haskin's articles often had a global perspective.

Fishing Tackle, Part I

by Frederick J. Haskin

In these April days no subject so completely possesses the minds of the average American man as that of fishing tackle. The lure of the opening of the game fish season ever has been a strong one, and whether it be a hook and line fit for catching a minnow, a steampower net for catching hundreds of barrels of herring or mackerel, or a harpoon gun for laying low the mighty Leviathan of the sea, fishing tackle is full of interest to him who dreams, and in his dreams hears the faint, far, call of the wild. So far as game fishing is concerned, the present season opens up inauspiciously, and that for the sole reason that some Yankee has invented a new piece of fishing tackle, a rod, and line, which is alleged to register the weight of the fish one does not catch. Of course, no fisherman could be worthy of the name and still believe the testimony of such a cheap-john instrument as against that of his own muscular sense, but he does dread to hear the demand of the man from Missouri.

Animals that Catch Fish

In the fishing world many remarkably instruments and appliances are used, but one must go to the Orient to find the most peculiar sort of tackle. One occasionally hears in America of a trained otter, and the fisherman who is lucky enough to possess one has a guarantee for a good season's work. In the Mediterranean turtle fisheries the remora, or sucking fish, is used as an assistant fisherman. It is a curious sort of fish which attracts itself to a larger fish, to turtler, or to boats themselves, and when it gets a good grip a mud turtle is not in its same class for holding-on qualities. When it is caught a heavy ring is placed about its body just ahead of its tail and it is tethered to the boat. When a turtle is in sight the remora is thrown out, and it fastens its 40-leech-power suction apparatus to the shell of the turtle. It holds fast to the turtle until that creature has been towed alongside of the vessel, when it is pried lose and sent after another turtle. Sometimes the remora gets contrary and will not try to take hold of the turtle, but will swim back to the boat and fasten its sucker to the hull of the boat.


Akin to the remora in turtle fishing is the use of the cormorant in China for fishing purposes. The birds are caught when young, and are carefully trained. A light collar is placed about their necks, to which strings are fastened. They are thrown out into the water and taught to catch fish and bring them to the Chinese boars. It takes infinite patience, much plotting, and some boxing of ears to teach the cormorant to fish without a collar and strings attached, but when one masters the art it is a most valuable aid to the fisherman. The cormorants take a certain pride in their work, and when they are unsuccesful in their efforts they take their places shame facedly to await the next try-out. The young usually are trained to work by the assistance of the old birds. The owners are kindness itself to the birds when they work, but box their heads and hurl imprecations at them when they fail.


Spider Webs as Fish Nets

In some of the South Sea Islands a species of spider proves that it was the original fishnet maker. A bamboo sapling is bent on a round shape and tied. It stays in this position for some time, and then a spider comes alongs and uses it as the framework on which to build its web. This converts it into a sort of Brobdingnagian tennis racquet, and with this the native knocks a fish out of the water as a tennis player would strike a ball out of his side of the court. The webs are as strong as the dipnet of ordinary design.

In the commercial fisheries of the world all sorts of tackle are used. Of course, the vast majority of the world's fish supply is caught in nets. The most important of these nets is the trawl net. This is a large-mouthed net bag of gigantic proportions, with a beam of about 40 feet. At either end of this beam is a triangular hoop, which serves the threefold purpose of sinker, beam supporter, and sled runner. This net is "shot" from the stern of the boat and trawled along until it is filled with fish, when it is hauled in.


Trawl Net Fishing in Canada, ca. 1900
The seine is one of the nets which the populace owes much of its fish supply. It is a plain net, with sinker weights at the bottom and cork floats at the top. It may vary in size from the huge, quarter of a mile long and 60 feet wide Cornish Pilchard seine to the little band net worked by the fisher children along the beach. In the heavy salmon fishing of the Northwest the seine and the gill net are much used. The seine is short in a semicircle across the stream, and when it is full of fish it is hauled ashore, horse and steam power often being used in the operation. The fish wheel is also used in the salmon fisheries. It looks much like an overshot water wheeel, and over this the fish are shot into a stake inclosure.

-- Dr. Todd

What's in Your Tackle Box?

An interesting thread on Joe's Board asked the question about the weirdest thing you've ever found in a tackle box. Having been collecting in Northern Minnesota and Wisconsin since the mid-1980s, during a time when a bad weekend of garage sales meant only three or four tackle boxes, we had our share of bizarre and strange items come from the bottom of tackle boxes.



After perusing a couple of dozen responses, there were both predictable and surprising results. Some of the more common items found include lots of knives. toiletry items such as toilet paper, ex-lax, and soap, and even the odd pistol or two. Money was also a common response, including a $5 gold coin, a Mexican gold coin, and an old metal shaving tin that was full of valuable circa-1850 coins. But there were certainly some more, how shall we say, uncommon items. From the Illegal Category we find a crack pipe, marijuana joint, and dynamtite blasting caps. From the Unexpected Category, we find a box of tampax, a set of false teeth, and strangely enough, an Ideal split shot tin full of a fisherman's teeth. From the Fake-Out category comes a two pound canvas bag marked .999 silver, unfortunately filled with lead sinkers, found by Dan Basore. From the Very Interesting category comes three Julis Schmid Inc. ca. 1931 condoms (unused). From the Oh My category comes naked pictures of a guy's wife and a roll of black-and-white film photos of women in swimsuits.

Of the two most interesting responses, the first came from Robbie Pavey, who found a bundle of love letters between a lady and the former owner of the tackle box. But the winner came from veteran collector Jay Chumley, who who found a "Dinosaur egg and other prehistoric animal artifacts along with early carved head and primitive tools."


Jay Chumley's Amazing Tackle Box Find

I have accumulated some of the more interesting items from tackle boxes past which I may dig out some day and tack on as an addendum to this post. But among the unusual items we have found include a vial of prescription drugs, a loaded .22 pistol, love letters, and a woman's two-piece swim suit (inside a 2PCB box for a musky tornado spinner).

Click on the original post at the above link for more oddball tackle box remainders, but remember the link will disappear within a few days.

-- Dr. Todd

News of the Week, 03 September 2007

A few interesting pieces in the news this week; we start first with a story I forgot to mention last week about Russian leader Vladimir Putin. Seems Vlad caused a bit of a stir when he posed for pictures that showed off his physique. All I thought of when I saw the photo was "what kind of spinning reel was his using?"


Ivan Drago says "I will break you."

Putin fishing with Prince Albert II of Monaco on the Yenisei River
A nice article by Bill Thompson in The Conway Daily Sun entitled Fishing: The Old Tackle Box is representative of the kind of articles we've been seeing of late. I didn't know there was a North Country Angler Museum of Fishing.

For those of you near West Mineral, KS, there is a Sportsman' Show advertising antique fishing tackle.

More on swim baits, the "latest craze" in bass fishing, complete with the requisite hyperbolic commentary like "if you don't throw a swim bait, you can't compete."

A nice article from my home state in the St. Cloud Times on how to introduce a kid to fishing.

The Los Angeles Times breaks down the latest in portable fishing rods. You may want to print this article because in 50 years your children may very well be trying to outbid each other on an internet auction site trying to collect these gimmick rods.


The Emmrod Fishing Pole

The repaint controversy should get a boost from this article on lure repainter Tony Simpson of Alabama. Do you consider these repaints? Or since they are designed to fish is this somehow different?

Heddon fans will get a kick out of this article from The Dowagiac Daily Times referencing a color film of the 1948 centennial Dowagiac parade that includes the Heddon float shaped like a fishing lure. I would LOVE to see a picture of this.

In fishing news, there's nothing like catching a Channel Catfish while fishing for bass. My brother did this once; he came home with a 20 pound channel cat he had fought for 30 minutes thinking it was a walleye.

Last week we reported on a world record fluke; maybe we were a bit premature, as there is a storm of controversy surrounding this catch. As the first major saltwater world record in the internet age, chat boards have gone ballistic over this. It will be interesting to follow this story.

Readers know I am a sucker for old bait shops; here is an article from the Asbury Park Press about a tackle shop I'd like to visit.


Crystal Marine Shop in Point Pleasant
As always, anyone who finds an article of interest drop me a note so I can link it on the blog.

-- Dr. Todd

Labor and the Fishing Tackle Industry

Labor and the Fishing Tackle Industry

Tomorrow, the majority of us will celebrate the working man in America by watching a ball game, attending a fireworks celebration, or stuffing ourselves with burgers and hot dogs. I thought I would take a minute to reflect on the meaning of Labor Day as it concerns the history of fishing in America.

Labor Day had humble beginnings, being organized by the Central Labor Union and celebrated for the first time on Tuesday, 05 September 1882 in New York City. By 1884, the first Monday in September was chosen as the official Labor Day, and was soon widely emulated. The New York Times ran a detailed article on 07 September 1886 entitled "Parades in Other Cities: How Labor Day Was Observed by All Classes of Workmen." That year in New York City itself, 14,000 working men paraded before Mayor Grace. In 1894, it became an official federal holiday.


Labor Day Parade in Buffalo, NY, ca. 1900
The fishing tackle industry was largely built on the backs of the American working man and woman. It was one of the early industries to hire women in large numbers (almost all factory dressed flies were tied by women, and women predominated in the manufacture of fish hooks) and over the years offered gainful employment to hundreds of thousands of employees, American workers who built communities, raised families, and fought and died for their nation.

Mostly, these fishing tackle industry employees' names are lost to history. For every Charley Heddon or William Shakespeare, Jr., there were 100s of workers whose names we will never know but who designed, built, and packaged the tackle we use and collect. Fortunately, a few of their names and deeds have been preserved. People like Nettie Cruse, forewoman of the dressed fly division of Enterprise Manufacturing Co. of Akron, Ohio, who died tragically in the great fire that consumed the Pflueger factory in 1891. Louis Valentine, who worked from 1906-1958 assembling Pflueger reels by hand, and who was thought to have completed 500,000 Pflueger Supremes in his lifetime. Don Martin, who left his position on the factory line at Shakespeare to join the Marines in 1941 and died in the Pacific fighting at Tarawa. I bought some Shakespeare spinner blanks from Don's baby sister who remembered that he had the kindest eyes.


Anonymous Shakespeare worker assembling reels at the Kalamazoo, MI factory
Organized Labor and the fishing tackle industry had at times a difficult relationship. Pflueger underwent a series of turbulent strikes in the 1930s, caught up in the labor turmoil in Akron spawned at the great rubber factories like Goodyear and Firestone. Shakespeare and Heddon suffered violent strikes in the post-World War II era, and even smaller companies like The Sunset Line & Twine Co. in California had labor problems that made national news. But these were exceptions; the majority of tackle companies, big and small, had placid relationships between management and labor. In fact, in my interviews with former employees of Pflueger I conducted in preparation for my next volume of Pflueger essays, everyone I talked to had nothing but good things to say about working in the tackle factory. From what I know of Shakespeare, Heddon, and other companies, there was a similar sense of community elsewhere too.

So this Labor Day, in between trips to the cooler or during the seventh inning stretch, pause for a moment and reflect how even in your chosen hobby--whether it is researching fishing history or collecting fishing tackle--the fingerprints of the American working man and woman are everywhere. They built your fishing tackle, and they built your nation.

Have a safe and happy Labor Day.

-- Dr. Todd

Chicago Casting Tournament, Sept. 07-08

The response to my coverage of tournament casting has been terrific. I appreciate the nice words and comments, and it would definitely appear that there are far more "closet" collectors of tournament casting gear than I would have believed, as well as more than a few people interested in reading about it.

For this reason, I'd like to alert you to the upcoming Chicago Angling and Casting Club 2007 All American Casting Tournament held in Lincoln Park in downtown Chicago and Chesterton, Indiana on Saturday, September 07 and Sunday, September 08. It is a great opportunity to witness a terrific event, and if anyone is near Chicago you will not be disappointed.

Full details on the event cane be found by clicking here.

If anyone goes and wants to write a report (with some photos), send them this way!

-- Dr. Todd

Update on New Pflueger Book

Good news for Pflueger Pfanatics! The long awaited tome The Pflueger Heritage, by Wayne Ruby, is now shipping! We were first to review this book (for those who missed it the review is available here).



Wayne emailed me and said that the only place you can get a SIGNED copy is directly from him. The cost will be $39.00 plus $7.50 shipping and handling, and can be ordered directly from Wayne at pfluegerheritage@yahoo.com.

This is a fine book that any casual (or advanced) Pflueger collector will want for their library.

-- Dr. Todd