Streater's Thought of the Week

Every weekend Dick Streater gives us his thought of the week, culled from his voluminous files on fishing and tackle history.

Streater's Thought of the Week: The Henshall Minnow Bait Rod was 8' 3" and weighed 8 ounced with a solid metal reel seat, and 7 1/2 ounces with a reel holding slider bands, which was the way he preferred it. With a single action reel, a minnow could be cast about 20 to 35 yards. With "wind to your back" it was claimed you could cast 50 yards. The standard rod of this type was a three piece affair, the butt made of white ash, and the other two joints of lancewood, greenheart, or betharaba.

-- Dr. Todd

The UNID Files #15: The Case of the Plastic Minnow

The UNID Files #15: The Case of the Plastic Minnow

Dan Basore sent in a really interesting UNID lure. Here's what he has to say:

I usually don't bother anyone Todd...But this is one neat little plastic bait that I and my friends cant ID. It was found in the belongings of a major old angler's gear.


Can anyone help Dan out? Drop me an email if you think you know what this is!

-- Dr. Todd

Friday Funhouse

The Friday Funhouse
And you thought "Flight of the Conchords" was the coolest thing to come out of New Zealand...

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Things I Would Buy If Only I Could Afford Them
A nifty Heddon Pal-On Fly Line cleaner round tin would make for a nice add-on to a Heddon fly rod collection.


An awesome Atom saltwater lure with glass eyes is driving the salties crazy.


This Tommy Brayshaw painting is simply gorgeous.


Heddon Bat Wing spearing decoys don't show up very often, especially in the box.


Yawn. Just your average, every day 18th century fish hook tied to the Captain Cook expedition of the 1760s. Nothing rare here...


This B.C. Milam #3 is a sweetheart of a reel.


A Heddon Dummy Double in a gorgeous color is an amazing lure.


A really nice Kent Frog would make a wonderful First Day of Spring present.


This Julius vom Hofe casting reel is one of the sharpest JVH's I've seen in some time.


This neat F.C. Woods lure in a wooden box would make a great addition to anyone's collection.


In honor of Bob Miller's new History of the Pflueger Akron & Summit Reels comes this nice Summit 1993J in the box.


Love this Moonlight bait in the box.


This brass Shapleigh has attracted a ton of interest, likely from hardware collector guys.


This nice Heddon No. 40 Westchester Bug is an excellent example of a classic fly rod lure.


This Moonlight Sea Gull would make a Paw Paw, Moonlight, or Schoenfield Gutter collector very happy.


This Springhook Mftg. Co. Springook in the box is a super rare Ohio bait.



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

-- Dr. Todd

Last Chance to Fill Brackets Out: Noon Today!

Don't Forget to Fill Out Your NCAA Brackets! See post below the last for the full details or go directly to our ESPN group by CLICKING HERE.

You will need to create an ESPN.com account to join. It only takes a minute or so.

The password to join the group is: vomhofe

Thanks to everyone who's filled out a bracket already!

-- Dr. Todd

Thursday Review: ORCA's Reel News (March 2009)

A review of the ORCA 2009 Reel News

The latest issue of The Reel News, the official publication of ORCA, has hit the mailboxes and it is a good one.

We lead off to a really cool article by Mark E. Baker about the making of the S.E. Bogdan poster that was so incredibly well received last year. For those who haven't had the pleasure of seeing one, they are gorgeous.

Ed Slane contributed another neat article on fishing in Florida, this one entitled "The Trout are Bigger in the Bahamas." Ed's remembrances of fishing history are a great contribution to the magazine and one of the things that differentiate it from other publications of its type.

My own selection this issue was "Congressional Reels: The Reels of Supplee-Biddle Hardware Co.," which was an expanded version of the short section on reels I published a few years ago in The NFLCC Magazine. Editor Richard Lodge miraculously was able to include pictures of 24 different Congress reels.

Michigan's own Terry McBurney gives us a great article in "Lawyer, Architect, Auto Builder and Reel Maker: Charles H. Wisner, Renaissance Man." This great, great article about the man behind one of the neatest (and rarest) reels around allows us a glimpse at the reel maker as an actual individual--and a well-rounded one at that. Judge Wisner was truly a fascinating character.

Bob Miller--whose highly anticipated History of the Pflueger Akron & Summit Casting Reels went to press today, gives us the skinny behind an overlooked Pflueger reel in "Norka: Even Spelled Backwards, a Great Little Reel Made in Akron!." Like all of Bob's work, its meticulous in its details and entertaining to read.

Jim Madden offered up one of my favorite kinds of articles for his South Bend Bits column: a reel mystery, in this case, two South Bend reel mysteries.

Regular columnists include Ben Wright, who contributed an article entitled "Early Shakespeares and their Unique Drive-Gear Systems," Jim Schottenham who pens the highly anticipated "Auction Report," Stu Lawson who wrote "San Diego Area Tackle Swap Meet" for his More Reel Stuff column, Col. Milton Lorenz gave us the Zebco 40 Series Reels in his "Reel Fix column, and Richard K. Lodge opines on the big Lang's move to the virtual world.

Phew. Seem like a lot? Well, IT IS. And if you're not a member of ORCA, I ask again--in all seriousness--why not? Every single issue of The Reel News has information that can help you in any area you collect, from rods and lures to ephemera and misc. items. If all you got from this issue was how to spot a Yale surf reel marked Congress, you might have been able to pick up said reel, which would sell for $200 or more, off of eBay for $15. I know, because in the month leading up to the article I did just that.

The Reel News is capably overseen by Richard K. Lodge. You can learn more about ORCA and join by Clicking Here.

-- Dr. Todd

Don't forget to Fill Out Your NCAA Brackets! One Day Left!

Don't Forget to Fill Out Your NCAA Brackets! See post below the last for the full details or go directly to our ESPN group by CLICKING HERE.

You will need to create an ESPN.com account to join. It only takes a minute or so.

The password to join the group is: vomhofe

Thanks to everyone who's filled out a bracket already!

-- Dr. Todd

Christening the Jamison Raider

Christening the Jamison Raider

How do lures get their names? Well, in just about every way imaginable--from the sound they make to the person who invented them to the completely made-up. The Jamison Company of Chicago, however, decided to try something different in 1941 when they introduced the No. 1500, a River Runt style casting lure. They held a national contest to see who could come up with the best name.

"Jamison's No. 1500 lure," a 1941 Sporting Goods Dealer article declared, "has been christened the Raider by the three prominent judges in the contest." The winner was Howard L. Tollefson of Inglewood, California, who received a $100 cash prize which was to be publicly presented by Jamison G.M. Orville Cullerton.

Jamison did not skimp on prizes, and got thousands of entries as a result. In fact, second and third prizes were outboard motors, while fourth prize was a radio. 50 other prize winners received a Jamison landing net.


Seated in the chair is Edwin McK. Johnson, the outdoor writer for The Chicago Daily News, handing a Western Union telegram to a delivery boy to be sent off to the winner of the contest. Standing behind are, from left to right, Orville F. Cullerton (Jamison's general manager), Ken Reid (Izaak Walton League executive secretary), and Norman Ross, a Chicago-based radio commentator.

The lurer itself was billed as a "vivid chipproof plastic bait made in two sizes (3.25" and 2.5") and six patterns." It is a pretty lure and certainly not as commonly found as, say, the wiggle twin. Here is the announcement ad for the newly christened lure:



So a neat lure got a neat name through a neat national contest. My thanks to J.K. Garrett & L.P. Brooks for sending this my way.

-- Dr. Todd

Don't Forget to Fill Out Your NCAA Brackets!

Don't Forget to Fill Out Your NCAA Brackets! See post below the last for the full details or go directly to our ESPN group by CLICKING HERE.

You will need to create an ESPN.com account to join. It only takes a minute or so.

The password to join the group is: vomhofe

Thanks to everyone who's filled out a bracket already!

-- Dr. Todd

Voices from the Past: Texas Lures (1969)

Voices from the Past: Texas Lures (1969)

Well, technically this isn't a Voices from the Past, but it is about one of my all-time favorite subjects: Texas Lures. This time it is about a small company I ran across in a 1969 Fishing Tackle Trade News advertisement. It was for Speed Cast Fishing Tackle Manufacturers of Denison, Texas. At the time, they were offering four lures -- an unnamed topwater spinner, a Chump spoon (a knockoff of a Champ Spoon from Weber), the Fandiver and the Fantail.





Anyone know anything about these guys? Better yet, anyone have one they'd share a picture of? Note two of the lures claim patents and a third is patent pending.

Got to love those Texas lures!

-- Dr. Todd

Pick the NCAA Brackets!

Just for fun I thought I'd put together a little bracket contest for Fishing for History guys and gals. I'm guessing a few of us will be obsessing this week about the NCAA basketball tournament. Test your acumen by joining the Fishing for History pick 'em group on ESPN.com -- it's free and will give you bragging rights if you win!

The group name is Fishing for History and you can access the page by CLICKING HERE.

You will need to create an ESPN.com account to join. It only takes a minute or so.

The password to join the group is: vomhofe

To the winner--I'll send a couple of free books from The Whitefish Press! Maybe some of you others will donate something in addition to make the prize a bit sweeter.

And as an added bonus, I'll even give you the winner ahead of time. In honor of my late friend Jack Bright, here is your 2009 NCAA National Champion:



-- Dr. Todd

News of the Week: 16 March 2009

Massive 45 pound 8 ounce northern pike is landed...no lead in the state parks...rockfish surprises...Disney's ESPN starts saltwater fishing magazine...the Norman Fishing Tackle Choir...25th anniversary of the founding of the Big Bass Splash...and the passing of Horrocks-Ibbotson's Richard Balch...a new musky lure company...sharks, sharks and more sharks...why one man fly fishes...it must be THE NEWS OF THE WEEK!

The Big Lead: Broads angler boats 45 pound 8 ounce Northern Pike, releases it back into the wild. Cue the stampede. More on this amazing catch here and here.

Roanoke loses popular bait-and-tackle shop owner Mel Crewson.


The National Park Service is now set to ban lead sinkers in all its parks.

Noted saltwater angler Dr. Einar F. "Doc" Grell passes away. Thanks to Bill Britt for forwarding me this link.

I have no idea what this is, but apparently this is a list of all the fishing tackle you can get in the World of Warcraft on-line game. Sheesh. No wonder my students show up to lecture with blood-shot eyes.

The 411 on Pennsylvania's regulation trout program.


A rockfish surprise.

The Norman Fishing Tackle Choir will perform at this year's St. Patrick's Day Parade in Roanoke, VA.

The Mouse is on the Loose: Disney's ESPN to start saltwater fishing magazine.

The Steuben Courier outlines the first bass tournament designed especially for high schoolers.

The Big Bass Splash celebrates its 25th year.

Your IGFA records for March.

Fishing Pasedena Pond requires patience.


Walleye pro quits tour to teach, fish nearer Montana home.

Forgetful Australian angler leaves behind tackle box, causes bomb scare that forces evacuation of several city boxes. What are the odds he'll call in to claim it?

Two innovative Waseca, MN anglers are starting up a musky lure business.


Shakespeare issues recall notice over its "Shakespeare Casting Game and Fishing Kit" due to lead content in the rod's label.


This is one ripping good Idaho fish tale.

The draw of centre-pin fishing.


Brian Clarke opines on why he's hooked on fly fishing in the august pages of The Times of London.

Louisiana angler boats massive shark.


Speaking of sharks, Alabama.com has launched a new "Monster Shark" picture site.


More on the massive 1149.5 pound Mako shark caught in the gulf.


Finishing with a Flourish: Today is the 25th anniversary of the passing of Richard H. Balch, long-time president of Horrocks-Ibbotson and a big-time politician.

-- Dr. Todd

Poll Results: Which Lure had the Best Finish?

Well, it was a dogfight right down to the end. Who had the best paint jobs on their lures? It was a two dog race: Heddon and Creek Chub. In the end, Heddon nosed out its Garrett, Indiana rival by just 4%. The only surprising thing was that Shakespeare only got 2 votes. Have you SEEN the photofinish Shakespeare lures? They are awesome. And only 75 years ahead of time.


This week there is a poll asking whether you have insured your tackle or not. Thanks to everyone who has voted in the past!

-- Dr. Todd

Streater's Thought of the Week

Every weekend Dick Streater gives us his thought of the week, culled from his voluminous files on fishing and tackle history.

Streater's Thought of the Week: Spanish explorers wrote about the black bass in Florida as far back as 1515.

-- Dr. Todd

A Thousand Words

A Thousand Words

This week we have a New Jersey composite sent in by Tim Clancy. Here's his description: "Todd, Here's a group shot, all baits & boxes and even the reel are of New Jersey manufacture.  I've sold or traded most since this photo was taken and just held onto (and expanded) my Decker & Donaly collections.  Enjoy."



What a lovely shot and the fact they were all manufactured in the Garden State makes it even neater. Thanks Tim!

-- Dr. Todd