Thursday, May 31, 2012

Thursday Review: Art Dollosso's Where Trout Sing and Other San Francisco Stories

Reading Where Trout Sing and Other San Francisco Stories, the new book by California fly angler and author Art Dollosso, is like sitting around a campfire listening to a master story teller weave a series of overlapping tales. I swear at times I can actually here the hissing and popping of the fire while absorbing the engaging prose that makes this book so entertaining.


Books like this rarely get published these days, and that isn't just a shame--its a damn shame. There was a time fifty or more years ago when books like this would have been published several times a year, and one could fill in the gaps between good fly fishing writings by gleaning the pages of Field & Stream, Hunting & Fishing, and National Sportsman for the latest exploits of Lee Wulff or Ray Bergman.

No more, at least when it comes to magazines. However, a few writers like Dollosso and fellow Californian John Parmenter have sought in recent years to resurrect these autobiographical fly fishing epistles that so many of us devoured in years past.

Dollosso's path to fly fishing was not easy. Growing up in a tough part of San Francisco, where most of the stories take place, he took to fly fishing early -- or perhaps it's best to say that fly fishing took him early. All the evidence one needs to support this particular theory can be found in the chapter "Dan Bailey's Vest," a charming story about Dollosso as a young man and the expensive fly angler's vest he purchased with the kind of toil and sacrifice only a teenager who's friends were tossing rocks in the river and cracking wise with the girls while he was delivering papers can understand. He writes of his beloved Dan Bailey vest:

It is safe to say an angling accoutrement is not quite like, or as sentimental as, that first kiss, or that first love. Yet it does have meaning, like a long life, or hope. Pass it on.

Aspiring fly angling writers take note. This is how you write without pretense about a sport all too full of pretentious snobs.

I could go on, about his take on opening day, about the peculiar Italian-American community in San Francisco where he came of age, of his tough childhood that keeps pulling him back like a magnet, helping him to make sense of the present and the man that he became. But that would be spoiling it, and Dollosso is a writer who should be read in a comfortable chair on a quiet evening when the kids are sleeping over and the spouse has gone to bed. In a perfect world, you would have a hunting dog curled up at your feet and a double finger of a single malt by your side.

(Just so you don't think I'm a pretentious snob, while reading this book I had a half-Australian cattle dog/half long haired dachshund rescue dog snoring away on the couch next to me, and a glass of orange juice to drink. True story.)

If you like writing in ALL CAPS, strings of expletives in place of descriptive dialogue, gratuitous "grip and grin" fishing photos and other tropes of the internet generation of fly angling scribes, I'm afraid you probably won't like Art Dollosso's writing. Too each their own. But if you're looking for a book that deftly melds autobiography, history, fly fishing, and the meaning of life, than you will love Where Trout Sing.

It's been a really good couple of years for books like this, but we who love this kind of writing should not become overconfident. We should celebrate every single time a book like Where Trout Sing gets into print. They are too few and far between to grow complacent.

Art Dollosso is a great story teller and has written a charming book that transcends its California setting.

This hardcover (with dust jacket) book is privately published and is 163 pages in length. It has a brief foreword by fly fishing icon Russell Chatham, and is available exclusively through Jim Adams at Adams Angling in San Francisco. The price is $24.95 and Jim offers free shipping. You can contact him at the link above or by calling 510-849-1324.

-- Dr. Todd

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Ben Wright's Spinning Reel Report (May 2012)

MAY 2012

SPRING HAS SPRUNG WITH SOME PRETTY HIGH PRICES PAID ON THE BAY !!!

Featured Reel:
An Australian CEDER SEAMARTIN that looked to be in exc + condition sold @$ 1,675.00
I can't help but wonder if this is the same reel that was found at a flea market their not long ago. it was bought for $50.00

A few HIGH priced reels:
Allocks Superb ewb @ 182.50
Zebco cardinal 3 second version nib @ 330.00
Alcedo Micron later version w/curved leg nib @ 305.01
Orvis 50A FB exc- @ 315.99

ABU:
Garcia Abu-matic 170 CF ewb @ 86.00
Suveran S4000M nib @ 265.00
Abu (not Garcia) 505 scf nib @ 177.49
Cardinal 6X e-wb @ 234.00

English:
J. W. Young Ambidex Deluxe exc @ 141.97
A rare Bercol parts reel, missing parts @ 210.09

French:
Centaure Pacific exc- @ 77.01
Ru Pacific nib @ 77.00
Luxor Saumon mer e+wb @ 78.77

Italian:
Orvis 75A nib @ 178.49
Holliday 30 second version e+wb @ 182.50
Holliday 40 first version exc @ 193.50
Holliday 30 first version e+wb @ 247.58
Zangi Pelican 75 exc+ @ 250.00
Cargem 55 steel head paint wear @ 234.00

Mitchell:
498X Pro Annun. exc- @ 316.12
508 w/rod exc but rod tip was replaced @ 710.00
common 304 e+wb @ 80.79
408 e+wb @ 152.00

Penn:
BLACK 710 nib @ 250.00
Green 710 e-wb @ 62.25

Zebco cardinals:
3 first version exc @ 277.00
3 second version exc+ @ 167.51

Other reels:
Shakespeare scf 1785 exc- @ 29.99
Airex Astra ewb @ 15.50
Johnson Century 100B CF e+wb @ 42.00
Swiss Benora e+wb @ 77.55
and a FB 202 flip reel salt water wear @ .01 and thats not a type-O
Ben

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

News of the Week: 28 May 2012




Don't have time to read 50+ fishing and tackle collecting blogs and web sites? Well, let us do it for you! Follow all of the latest news, articles, and stories on our Whitefishpress Twitter account! Hint: You don't need to be a member...just bookmark the Twitter Feed Page or click on latest links to the right!

The Bud Snyder collection is profiled...one tackle shop owner tells some stories...British ire is up over salmon netting...why you should balance your tackle...bass fishing in Lodi...fishing turf war brewing between Georgia and South Carolina...build a better tube fly...Michigan's Operation Healing Waters...film makers get profiled...so does Toledo luremaker Dennis Bryant...it must be THE NEWS OF THE WEEK!

THE MONDAY 10: The Ten Fishing Stories of the Week You Need to Know

The Big Lead: Bud Snyder collection gets profiles…at a million dollars?!?


One tackle shop owner's vast inventory and insight give his venue atmosphere and history.

The Brits are in a huff over early salmon netting.


Why you should balance your tackle.


Bass fishing in Lodi is off the hook.


Why a fishing turf war is brewing between Georgia and South Carolina.


How to build a better tube fly.


Nifty article on Michigan's Operation Healing Waters Fly Fishing.


Kiwis behind the film Once in a Blue Moon get profiled.


Finishing with a Flourish: Dennis Bryant of Toledo--noted luremaker--gets profiled.



-- Dr. Todd

Monday, May 28, 2012

A Memorial Day (Re)Post

A Memorial Day (Re)Post

Today you may be expecting the News of the Week. However, here at Fishing for History we never work on Memorial Day. Instead, I want everyone to reflect on the meaning of this holiday. For too many, it is just a convenient day off from work. But the reality of the matter is that this is a day when everyone should reflect on what it means to be an American.


As I was driving through Indianapolis yesterday on my return trip back home, I looked up in the sky and saw four planes flying in formation. It was the Blue Angels, getting ready for their fly by at the start of the Indianapolis 500. As I listened to the invocation at the start of that great race on the radio, it struck me that those of us interested in fishing history have as much to remember and memorialize as everyone else.

It was, after all, Civil War veterans like Capt. Thos. H. Chubb who helped found many of the tackle companies in the wake of that great conflagration that first popularized the sport of fishing. It was men such as Major Charles Conover of the Kansas City wholesale hardware firm of Richards & Conover that helped distribute this tackle across this expanding nation. And it was the host of veterans who, seeking a moment of solitude to forget the horrors of war, turned to the peaceful art of angling by the legion. It did not matter which side you fought on; fishing was the great equalizer.

In the wake of the Spanish-American war, noted firms such as the Shakespeare Company and Abercrombie & Fitch--who hand-tailored Col. Teddy Roosevelt's personal uniform--plied the growing nation with the tackle it needed and desired. But it was really the First World War that transformed fishing. Returning veterans in 1918 and 1919 created the greatest demand for fishing tackle to that point in the nation's history, and a plethora of companies ranging from Thos. E. Wilson (who created a special fund to care for the families of employees at Wilson Meatpacking who were wounded or died in the war) to the ever-present Winchester Repeating Arms Company entered the fishing tackle field with a grand flourish.

Fishing and the Second World War is a subject of great interest and one I plan on penning a significant work on one day. But suffice to say the contributions of tackle makers was extremely valuable, as noted tackle makers made everything from the Norden Bomb Sight to survival kits. One manufacture--Montague Rod & Reel Company--made everything from bamboo ski poles to intricate firing pins for machine guns, all under the same roof. It was not unique. Back home, the tackle makers like Creek Chub and Pflueger continued to advertise, press for the purchase of war bonds, and remind Americans that brighter days were ahead. And in the wake of the war, returning veterans once again kick-started the American fishing industry and propelled angling to a position as the most popular past time in America.


Hand-made lure fashioned by US Navy Sailor during WWII from an oil tin, engraved with various stops across the Pacific.

So no News of the Week today--you can come back tomorrow for that. Today we remember the sacrifices necessary to preserve our freedoms. My father came back from the war and the occupation of Japan to start a family and fish once again. Others were not so lucky and their absence is still felt today. Is it too much to ask that one day every year we remember the contributions of soldiers past and present?

Have a safe and happy Memorial Day.

-- Dr. Todd

Sunday, May 27, 2012

1000 Words

1000 Words

This week in 1000 Words, we get a nifty picture of a man very important to the tackle industry, but who's impact is almost universally overlooked: J.G. Taylor Spink. Spink was the owner of the famed Sporting News, but was also the publisher of the Sporting Goods Dealer. It was in the pages of the Sporting Goods Dealer where new tackle was always introduced to buyers and companies big and small. It is not an understatement to say that only a handful of people impacted the tackle business as much as Spink. Here he is ca. 1930s fishing from a boat.



-- Dr. Todd

Saturday, May 26, 2012

Deconstructing Old Ads: Artistic?…Simplex?…Simple? (1907)


Artistic?…Simplex?…Simple?

There are many ads for the Heddon Artistic Minnow that appear in outdoor magazines through out the year 1907. This one is from the July 1907 issue of National Sportsman. It is difficult to find an ad for the Heddon Artistic Minnow in a magazine from any other year. You will also find the Artistic Minnow only in the 1907 Heddon Catalog. It may have been in the 1908 catalog but that is one of two early Heddon catalogs that have never been found. The other missing catalog is 1904.
 


There was much conjecture at one time as to where the name “Artistic” came from including the story that Heddon possibly had the bodies made by the Artistic Wood Turning Works in Chicago. Words go in and out of style and at the turn of the last century the term “Artistic” was a commonly used term meaning “refined, cultivated or in good taste.” In this case using this small wooden minnow was supposed to represent the height of refinement, the same way a dry fly fisherman thinks of himself as someone more cultivated or refined than a bait fisherman. The Artistic Minnow, despite being small, is listed at 1/2 oz. and came with a weighted buoy that was to aid in casting as 1/2 oz. was then thought of as a very light weight bait. It is even suggested that the bait could be handled successfully on a fly rod. The very idea of slinging a 1/2 oz bait around on a bamboo fly rod makes me cringe!

The Artistic Minnow presents several mysteries in my mind. Occasionally, an Artistic minnow is found with two or three belly weights. I have no explanation for this other than a special order as these are somewhat rare and I have never had a chance to weigh one. Another mystery is that the bait was only offered for a short time then was gone forever to be replaced in 1909 by the first model of the Heddon #20. That first #20 used an identical sized body and came in the same small maroon colored boxes as Artistic Minnows. Upon close inspection, almost all of the small maroon boxes for the earliest Heddon #20 prove to be overlabeled Artistic Minnow boxes. An explanation for the Artistic Minnow's short run is found in a 1927 interview with Will Heddon that was published in the Clermont Press, Clermont, Florida.


Asked what was the most popular bait ever marketed Mr Heddon said, “Styles in our business change as completely and just as quickly as women's clothing. I remember one bait that I perfected in a lake north of Minneola which had only small fish in it, knowing that this bait would sell well in the North where many fishermen are glad to catch any Bass that escapes the legal length. This bait met with a wonderful reception. We were unable to meet the demand, but by spurring production finally were able to catch up with orders for it. Suddenly the public fancy veered and we were caught with 50,000 of this one model on our shelves. We finally sold them to a wholesaler for 10 cents each taking a heavy loss on them that ate up our profits during the time they were in vogue.

In my mind this explanation of the Artistic Minnow's short life contains the answer to another supposed mystery. It has been stated (in print) that the Heddon Artistic Minnow is virtually indistinguishable from the Pflueger Simplex Minnow. Every possible theory has been posed to explain "perceived" differences. The very few Pflueger Simplex's I have seen (less than ½ dozen) are obvious Pflueger products. The paint jobs, the gill marks, the hardware and overall appearance all scream “Pflueger” to me. I personally have never seen one of the “Artistic” appearing baits show up in the wild in a Pflueger box. If it did happen I would suggest that Pflueger simply purchased the “wholesaled” Artistics and put them in their boxes. It would certainly be cheaper than making them themselves. The first pair of pictures below show a true Pflueger Simplex Minnow and box paper. These photos are compliments of NFLCC member Wayne Jansen. The second set shows a Heddon Artistic Minnow and a copy of the Artistic Minnow box papers.




Heddon Artistic Minnow:




You be the judge!

-- Bill Sonnett

Friday, May 25, 2012

The Friday Funhouse

The Video of the Week

A nifty video on the history of the Needlefish style saltwater lure, by Dennis Zambrotta.



12 Things I Would Buy If Only i Could Afford Them

This neat 1902 Vom Hofe reel with leather case is a great find.


A Fin Nor Model 3 Spinning Reel is a fantastic reel.


This neat Worden Combination Minnow is a beautiful lure.


It's not often we get to feature a Bronson reel, but this Biltwell in a classic art deco box is a nice example of an early reel.


This Thos. J. Conroy reel with case is as nice a trade reel as you'll find.


This nice pair of Frank Mizera decoys are fine examples of this legend's work.


This H.L. Leonard salmon reel is about as nice a reel as you'll find this year.


When's the last time you saw a Jack Welch Heddon 3-30 tournament reel for sale?


A Shakespeare 5-hook muskie minnow is a massive chunk of wood.


My favorite eBay photo of the year: Big Boy Pikie.


Who wouldn't like a nice musky revolution from Shakespeare?


Moonlight Seagulls are great lures.



A Jim Donaly Redfin in the box is about as nice as they come.



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

-- Dr. Todd

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

The Robert Page Lincoln "Bob Lincoln" Fly

The Robert Page Lincoln "Bob Lincoln" Fly

So it's Robert Page Lincoln week here on the blog. For those who've read Bill Sonnett's great piece on the Robert Page Lincoln spoon last Saturday, you know that this popular casting spoon was named after Lincoln. As the advertising copy from Superior Door Catch noted, "no greater tribute could be paid to a fishing lure than to have it recommended by a sportsman as famous as Robert Page Lincoln."

As an aside, having grown up in Duluth, Superior Door Catch Co. was in my back yard. K-B spoons were so common you could not buy a tackle box without finding a half dozen K-Bs inside. You can find them with different stampings--for a brief time they were made in Duluth and stamped as such, and later ones are stamped Mankato--but the lure itself was made on the same stamping press. They also caught fish, which is why they are still being made today, eighty years after their introduction from old Ben Gallinger. My brother works with the grandson of the founder of Superior Door Catch so one of these days I'll get an interview with him and set the record straight about this interesting company.

But we're talking Robert Page Lincoln today. Noted collector and historian Doug Bucha sent in an email after Bill's article ran and brought up an interesting fact. Doug wrote:

Saw your clip from Bill today on items named after Bob Lincoln so I thought you might like to see one more.  Edith Nieboer was noted for the development of two flies, the Max Sandy and the Bob Lincoln.  This is a page from her 1933 catalog and a photo of one of the flies. The photo of the fly is from her MASTER FLY SET.



Edith Nieboer was a wonderfully gifted tier and probably best remembered for tying all of Paw Paw's flies, which come in the great "Indian Head" boxes. Doug recently penned a fascinating article on Nieboer in the NFLCC Magazine.

This was a popular fly for its time and its name is a bit of a play on words -- A bobolink is a common bird that is sometimes referred to as a "Bob Lincoln." It has almost receded from memory that the only google reference I could find to the fly was a lone Northwestern fly tier looking for a recipe to tie it, and getting no response.

Robert Page Lincoln is well worth remembering today as one of the leading outdoor writers in American history, and the namesake of both a casting spoon and a dry fly.

Thanks to Doug Bucha for sending in the pictures!

-- Dr. Todd

==========================================

UPDATE

==========================================

Count Bill Sonnett as another fan of Robert Page Lincoln. He sends in one of his favorite RPL quotes, from the article “Daybreak Fishing” by Robert Page Lincoln in Sports Afield, April 1945:

“Several advantages obtain to this early morning fishing. First your bass hit hard and without any canvassing as to whether the lure is 'Vittles' or hardware. Second, as in night fishing the light is poor and it is difficult for the fish to size up the lure. Therefore it strikes first, aiming to make out afterwards if it is friend or foe. Third, and most important of all, is the fact that many fish are inshore, more probably than you would dream possible. Therefore the competition is hot and heavy, the law of nature being everyone for himself, the devil take the hindmost. When you get more than one fish heading for your lure at the same time as you often do, you can rest assured you are not going home fishless.”

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Voices from the Past: Robert Page Lincoln (1918)


Bill Sonnett's nifty piece this past Saturday on Robert Page Lincoln got me thinking about this legendary outdoor writer. Growing up, there were only a handful of fishing writers my father felt were "worth their salt." They numbered Dixie Carroll, Ray Bergman, Jason Lucas, A.J. McClane, and Robert Page Lincoln. They did NOT number Bob Becker (for reasons I will one day relate).

What's not to like about Lincoln? He was knowledgable, prolific, and very funny. Perhaps this is why he's been featured so often on the blog, like here and here and here.

The following tongue-in-cheek piece was run in the August 1918 American Angler magazine, and shows off his sharp wit. It was featured in the same issue as a detailed article he wrote on black bass fishing, one of his favorite pursuits. It's a nice biographical wrap up of the first part of his writing career.

The Autobiography of an Angler

By ROBERT PAGE LINCOLN



"ROBERT everybody knows you!"

Robert H. Davis, the great Waltonian sage, and Director-in-Chief of the Munsey publications, is the author of the above. He dedicated the line to Robert Page Lincoln, alias, myself. Elsewhere he has stated that: "Mr. Lincoln has a rare familiarity with everything that swims, and flies, and walks." I like the ring of that. It's tingling. Since "Bob" Davis wrote that I have read the Munsey publications vigorously, with the most reckless abandon, giving myself over freely to a determined perusal of the delightful and wholesome stories found within those gilded covers constructed at 280 Broadway, New York. I recommend the Munsey magazines cheerfully.

I have for a long time suspected that I am well known. I live, though, just the same. A fisherman living in the year 1960 will pick up his magazine on the news-stand and will turn to the most recent article by Robert Page Lincoln and will read about how to use the dry-fly on the carp; or, "Spinning for Bull-heads."

I write on angling, not to cause men to go out and butcher huge quantities of fish. It is the spirit of angling that I hold foremost. Let the joy of it permeate your blood; repress your cave-man emotions; catch a fish and surround it with a world of fascination and charm and you have found the key to the greatest pleasure that ever descended like manna from the heavens. (What manna is I refuse to know.)

I have fished variously all over the country. My home State is Minnesota, the Fisherman's Paradise. I know a lake in Minnesota where no one fishes. The muskies go to thirty-five pounds in that lake. I am going there again.

I have contributed for years to the outdoor press of the United States, Canada and England. I was with David Edley Allen on "Trapper's World" to begin with, in my 'teens. Since then 1 have spent most of my days writing on outdoor life; studying every nook and cranny of it.

My biggest trip will go into effect next spring the situation permitting—and when it is printed I will prove that for interest (as to locality and the wide variety of fishing and scenic splendor), it cannot be equalled. This trip, if written down in detail, as I hope, will be my second book. My first book appears next spring and I want everybody to buy it--Otherwise I will have to go back to my old trade with the shovel.


-- Dr. Todd

Monday, May 21, 2012

News of the Week: 21 May 2012




Don't have time to read 50+ fishing and tackle collecting blogs and web sites? Well, let us do it for you! Follow all of the latest news, articles, and stories on our Whitefishpress Twitter account! Hint: You don't need to be a member...just bookmark the Twitter Feed Page or click on latest links to the right!

Tim Coleman has passed…NASCAR's Rick Hendrick's first fishing rod…Billy Pate's fly tackle got auctioned…John Riggins has a new tv program…a few moments with Fred Kretchman…13 pound bass is record…retired outdoor writer collects tackle…40 pound fish jumps in boat…Lynx hires its first employees…he flat sided crank bait…do you love swimsuits?…British tackle shop closes…idiots steal disabled man's tackle…remembering Mark Whitlock…it must be THE NEWS OF THE WEEK!

The Big Lead: Remembering Tim Coleman, outdoor writer.

Rick Hendrick still has the first fishing rod he ever bought…sort of.

Lynx hires its first employee.



Billy Pate's fly fishing gear went to auction May 19.

John "Diesel" Riggins has a unique new sporting show.

A visit with Fred Kretchman, bamboo rod maven.

Man breaks lake record with 13 pound bass.

Retired outdoor writer collects tackle.

40 Pound barracuda jumps in boat (with video evidence).

This would be a trophy trout.

The flat-sided crank bait.

Why do you love swimbaits?

A British tackle shop closes for the last time.



Collectors get profiled in the Chicago Tribune.

Idiots steal disabled man's tackle.

The Big Lead: A touching tributer to Mark Whitock, tackle shop owner.



-- Dr. Todd

Sunday, May 20, 2012

1000 Words: Fishing Tackle on TV

1000 Words

This week in Hollywood Goes Fishing we get a great photo ca. 1950 of screen legend Gloria Swanson holding a pair of fish (11 pound King Mack and a Bonita), with an Ocean City surf reel in the background. It was taken at the Flamingo at Miami Beach, Florida. Swanson (1899-1983) is best remembered for her iconic role in Sunset Boulevard, but she was also nominated two additional times for Academy Awards. A tremendously gifted actress, she was truly a legend of the screen.

Saturday, May 19, 2012

Deconstructing Old Ads: Robert Page Lincoln: the Man and the Spoon (1938)


Robert Page Lincoln: the Man and the Spoon

From the 1938 Sports Afield Fishing Annual comes this ad for two “Famous Spoons” made by a company with the unlikely name of Superior Door Catch Company of Superior, Wisconsin. Most folks are familiar with the K-B Spoon as it was a long-time standard for trolling for Lake Trout. The Robert Page Lincoln Spoon is named after a fishing author who would have needed no introduction at the time of this ad.


Robert Page Lincoln started writing magazine articles as early as 1909 when he was in his late teens. There is not an outdoor magazine in the twenties, thirties and forties that at one time or another did not feature many of his articles on every aspect of freshwater fishing. He was in fact the Fishing Editor of several of the major magazines at various times. Robert Page Lincoln always seemed to have a bias toward Bass, Pike and Musky fishing when most writers in the days before World War II concentrated on trout.

In 1912 at the age of 21 he wrote a four part article on different aspects of Bass fishing in the May through August issues National Sportsman. His two most famous books are Black Bass Fishing (1952) and The Pike family (1953). Both were published at the very end of his life and contain a lifetime of experience. Black Bass Fishing is of interest to tackle historians as Mr Lincoln fished with many pioneers in the tackle industry and relates several stories concerning Fred Arbogast, Charles Stapf, Hank Werner and others. His book is a good account of developments in lines, rod materials,and other aspects of tackle evolution in the first half of the twentieth century. It also contain an appendix entitled,"Who's Who in Bass Fishing" which should be of great interest to anyone interested in Bass fishing history and tackle development.
  


In his books and articles, one was seldom left wanting more information as the amount of detail provided is astounding. An example would be the April 1952 article “The Porcine Attractors” in Fur-Fish-Game. It covers the use, history and manufacture of pork rind baits. It spans nine pages and leaves no stone unturned. With the sad state of today's “outdoor magazines” it is safe to say that any page of this article contains more print and facts than one is likely to see in most complete, present day articles .

If you like collecting old tackle, fishing with older tackle and approaching bass fishing from a more traditional, non-tournament direction, I highly recommend getting a copy of Black Bass Fishing as it is usually available for $5 on the used book market. I never pick it up that I don't learn something new.


Robert Page Lincoln on July 17th 1949


-- Bill Sonnett

Friday, May 18, 2012

Presented Without Comment, Part II

Click Here to see your animated .gif of the day.

The Friday Funhouse

Video of the Week

Kathy Scott gets profiled by the American Museum of Fly Fishing. Great job, Kathy!



12 Things I Would Buy If Only I Could Afford Them

This is a really classy Leonard aluminum reel.


Well, this is one weird combination.


A Bob Ross Reflecto salmon lure has really made a splash.


Point Jude made some very nice surf lures.


Who wouldn't like a Bingenheimer minnow?


This Heddon 150 is beautiful.


A Bingo made for Markle Steel is a great example of an advertising bait.


Scott Power-Ply are early and desirable Scott fly rods (named after a fly reel that never made it into production).


This modified H&I/Johnson Striker is the Hannibal Lecter of lures.


Zebco alert! Early Model 33 in box has attracted a lot of interest.



This Heddon Simson line spool is super rare.


Wolverhampton may have just been relegated in the English Premier League, but this nifty 1928 Angling medal is a nifty reminder of past greatness.



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

-- Dr. Todd