Category Archives: Fishing For History

Creek Chub Jointed Midget Pikie

Creek Chub Jointed Midget PIkie

Creek Chub Jointed Midget Pikie The Creek Chub Jointed Midget Pikie  antique lure was first introduced in 1934 and lasted until 1961. This lure made by the Creek Chub Bait Company of Garrett, Indiana was given a model series number 4200. Expounding up the great success the Pikie line up continued to be one of […]

Heddon Luny Frog Lure

Heddon Luny Frog Lure

Heddon Luny Frog Lure Initially the Heddon Luny Frog Lure was introduced around 1927. Changes in material would influence the way Heddon of Dowagiac Michigan would do business for decades to come. Making a switch from the standard wooden material, Heddon would evolve into a colossal giant making artificial baits with plastics. It widely known […]

The History of the O’Shaugnessy Fish Hook

Voices from the Past Fishing for History

I ran across this great history of the O’Shaugnessy fish hook in Limerick; Its History and Antiquities by Maurice Lenihan (Dublin, 1866). He notes that the once great reputation of Limerick hooks had all but died by the 1860s, with only one master hook maker left. It’s a fabulous history and I’ve not seen this […]

Fishing For History September 2019

Fishing For History September 2019   IN THIS ISSUE Deconstructing old Ads with Bill Sonnett: The Dying Flutter & Dying Quiver ………………………………… 1 The Bon-Net Musky Bait by Matt Lollman ………………………………………………………………………. 3 Fred E. Bailey (1854-1890): Maine’s Long-Time Maker of Flies & Spinners by William Krohn …………… 4 Reel Restoration with Dr. John Elder: A […]

Voices from the Past: Scarf Joint Fly Rods 1838

Voices from the Past Fishing for History

The following excerpt is from the article “Fly-Fishing” published in the American Turf Register for June 1838. It argues the best fly rods are those made with a “scare” joint — a scarf joint in today’s lexicon. There are some who still subscribe to this theory, and a few makers, like Bob Clay, are manufacturing […]

Voices from the Past: Christmas Fishing 1877

Voices from the Past Fishing for History

The following blurb came from the Indiana School Journal for December 1877. It was written by Charles Wackford of Shawnee Prairie, Indiana, and retells a very charming Christmas tradition mixed with fishing. I love it. We reached home at ten o’clock, receiving an invitation on the way to eat Christmas dinner with the Graham family. […]

Voices from the Past: Bilkin’s Electric Frog

Voices from the Past Fishing for History

The following story by F.L. Harding from Outing Magazine (August 1908) is a charming story about a fishing contest and a special lure. I enjoyed it very much, and wish now to have a Bilkin’s Electric Frog of my very own. Bilkin’s Electric Frog by F.L. Harding ENTERPRISE was the slogan of the Parmacheenee Piscatorial […]

Voices from the Past: Charles Kewell

Voices from the Past Fishing for History

The following note was sent to the editor of the Sporting Goods Dealer and published in June 1906, and illustrates the fact that the sheer number of named fly patterns a century ago had already reached into the thousands. Note that Charles Kewell, a reputable sporting goods dealer and inventor of a casting spoon that […]

52 Trade Houses Part 21 Oklahoma Tire & Supply OTASCO

Trade House Tackle, Part 21:Oklahoma Tire & Supply Co. One of my favorite subcategories of trade tackle were those marketed by auto supply stores. Today, most collectors are puzzled by the connection between automobiles and fishing tackle, but in the early history of the car little distinction was made between motoring and sporting pursuits. For […]

Voices from the Past: Boston & Maine Railroad Fishing & Hunting

Voices from the Past Fishing for History

It’s 1897. Imagine yourself having worked a long week in an office in Boston, penning correspondence, reading over the latest telegrams from branch offices, and overseeing the work of the dozen or so employees you’re responsible for. You’ve likely put in a solid 50 hours this week, which is the norm — you often work […]

52 Trade Houses Part 20 F.W. Woolworth’s

The Duluth Woolworth's where my father got his first job in the late 1930s.

Trade House Tackle, Part 20:F.W. Woolworth’s Frank Winfield Woolworth founded a true American iconic institution, and changed the way American business conducted their affair. The company he founded, F.W. Woolworth & Co., also sold a ton of fishing tackle, some of it branded. Born in upstate New York in 1852, he began working in a […]

Voices from the Past: South Bend’s Customer Service

Voices from the Past Fishing for History

The following article appeared in the trade journal The Printer’s Ink for October 1921. It covers in enormous detail the customer service department for South Bend Bait Co. of South Bend, Indiana. If you ever wondered why the firm grew so large so quickly, look no further than the manner in which they tailored letters […]

52 Trade Houses Part 19 Scheel’s Hardware of Minnesota

Trade House Tackle, Part 19:Scheel’s Hardware of Minnesota Scheel’s is a name that is very familiar to most people from my part of the country–Minnesota. They also sold fishing tackle for a great number of years. The firm was founded in 1902 by Frederick A. Scheel, who opened a general store in the small town […]

52 Trade Houses Part 18 Bigelow & Dowse

Trade House Tackle, Part 18:Bigelow & Dowse of Boston With companies such as Shapleigh, Simmons, and Hibbard staunchly midwestern, we don’t often associate the great eastern cities with wholesale hardware. However, there were a number of large hardware concerns on the East Coast that trafficked in a whole lot of fishing tackle. One of these […]

52 Trade Houses Part 17 JC Penny

James Cash Penney (1875-1971)

Trade House Tackle, Part 17:J.C. Penney & Co.James Cash Penney (1875-1971) founded the store that bore his name in 1902 in Kemmerer, Wyoming. A lumberjack by trade, he saw the future of retailing long before most others, and by 1912 owned 34 stores across the Rocky Mountains. He began expanding eastward and by 1929 there […]

Fishing For History Vol 3 No 4 July 2019

  In This Issue Deconstructing old Ads with Bill Sonnett: The Kazoo Pork Minnow … 1 Rangeley Spinners Sold by Early Tackle Dealers of Portland, Maine by William Krohn … 3 Canada’s Fishing Tackle by Patrick Daradick … 14 A Few Lines about Lines by John Etchieson: A Pair of South Bend Line Spools … […]

52 Trade Houses Part 16 HC Reed Milwaukee

Trade House Tackle, Part 16:Henry C. Reed Co. of MilwaukeeToday’s 52 for 52 entry is an interesting old sporting goods house from the Cream City. I’ve written a lot about Milwaukee’s tackle trade, but I’ve yet to broach the subject of H.C. Reed Co. Today, we’ll talk a bit about this mysterious tackle vendor. Henry […]

Louis A. Paeth: The Man Behind the “Fish and Feel Fit” Logo by Peter Paeth

Louis A. Paeth: The Man Behind the “Fish and Feel Fit” Logo by Peter Paeth Recently I received a wonderful series of emails from Peter Paeth, the son of painter Louis A. Paeth. Peter has graciously agreed to allow me to reprint pieces of this correspondence on the blog to share this information with everyone. […]

Louis Paeth and Harley Davidson: Fishing for a Connection

Louis Paeth and Harley Davidson: Fishing for a Connection by Peter Paeth In January ’09, I had bought a reprint of a 1926 Harley advertisement featuring a farmer in bib overalls on a motorcycle.  The illustration had the “feel” of my father’s work, and when I scanned and compared it with his verified work from […]

52 Trade Houses Part 15 Canadian Tire Corporation

Trade House Tackle, Part 15: The Tackle of the Canadian Tire Corporation, Ltd.Today we get another Canadian company that sold a ton of fishing tackle over the years, but often gets overlooked as a trade house.The Canadian Tire Corporation, Inc. is a massive company (they employ nearly 60,000 people today) with hundreds of branch operations […]

Fishing For History March April 2019

About This Issue Rewind: The David Lewis Patented Float by Dr. Todd E.A. Larson…1 Deconstructing old Ads with Bill Sonnett: Ice Fishing… 2 The Early History of an American Favorite: The Rangeley Spinner by William Krohn… 4 1000 Words: Ava Gardner (1924)… 17 Focus on Folk Art with Chance Dunlap: Primitive Musky Baits…18 Randy Pavlack: […]

52 Trade Houses Part 14 The Tackle of General Merchandise Co. of Milwaukee

Trade House Tackle, Part 14:The Tackle of General Merchandise Co. of Milwaukee This week in 52 for 52 we are featuring one of the many mail order catalog companies that exploded in the post-war era. General Merchandise Co. of Milwaukee, Wisconsin grew from humble roots into a massive conglomerate that eventually got purchased by one […]

Alonzo H Fowler Forgotten Pioneer of the Bamboo Fly Rod Part II

Fowler Reel Ad 1884

Alonzo H. Fowler: Forgotten Pioneer of the Bamboo Fly Rod, Part II Alonzo H. Fowler:Forgotten Pioneer of the Bamboo Fly Rod, Part IIBy Dr. Todd E.A. LarsonCopyright 2019, all rights reserved.As tournament casting was the premier way to advertise a fine bamboo fly rod in the 1870s, the 1876 tournament was shaping up to be […]

The History of the F.C. Woods Expert Minnow in Ads

1901 Hozwarth Expert Lure Ad

The History of the F.C. Woods Expert Minnow in Ads The History of the F.C. Woods Expert Minnow in Ads Ads can often be misleading, especially when older pictures are used from years prior. The most famous example of this is the use of illustrations from the 1920s in Heddon catalogs from the 1950s. However […]

Alonzo H. Fowler Forgotten Pioneer of the Bamboo Fly Rod Part I

Fowler Gem Antique Fishing Reel

Alonzo H. Fowler Forgotten Pioneer of the Bamboo Fly Rod Part I Today and tomorrow, I am happy to share with everyone an article I have been working on in bits and pieces for the past seven years. It deals with a forgotten pioneer of the split bamboo fly rod, and will hopefully be the […]

Decker Lure Box Chronology

Decker Lure Box Chronology by Tim Clancy

Decker Lure Box Chronology by Tim Clancy Today we are all fortunate to have a guest author here on the blog, Tim Clancy. Here, he illuminates one of his passions: Ans. B. Decker history. Ans. B. Decker and his father and three brothers were all well known fishing guides on Lake Hopatcong, a huge resort […]

Tight Lines Tuesday Fred Arbogast

Tight Lines Tuesday Fred Arbogast

Tight Lines Tuesday Fred Arbogast Tight Lines Tuesday by John Etchieson – Fred Arbogast made fishing line too – Among the collectors of antique and collectible fishing tackle the name Fred Arbogast is well known. Fred Arbogast was one of the true pioneers of the fishing lure industry. As with so many who enter the […]

Voices from the Past The History of the Nottingham Wooden Winch

Nottingham Winch Reel

The following article came from the London Fishing Gazette, 07 September 1895. It details the background history of the famed Nottingham Wooden Winch. History of the Nottingham Wooden Winch Anglers throughout the country are by this time familiar with the qualities of the Nottingham wooden winch, and a few facts in connection with its invention […]

52 Trade Houses Part 13 Manhattan Marine & Electric Co

This colorful 1953 Manhattan Marine catalog was typical of the company's fare.

Trade House Tackle, Part 13:Manhattan Marine & Electric Co. of New York City One of my goals in 52 for 52 is to show everyone the sheer diversity of fishing tackle sellers in American history. So far, we’ve covered discount stores, department stores, wholesale hardware concerns, a bookseller, a plumbing supply store, and today, we […]

Voices from the Past: A Tour of Abbey & Imbrie’s Fly Factory

A Tour of Abbey & Imbrie's Fly Factory

A Tour of Abbey & Imbrie’s Fly Factory A Tour of Abbey & Imbrie’s Fly Factory; The following description was published in the June 12, 1897 issue of Forest & Stream magazine, and describes as well as anything to date a trip through a fly tying factory in Brooklyn. The fly tying factory was that […]

Friday Fun House February 22nd Edition

Good Reads The American Angler’s Book: Embracing the Natural History of Sporting Fish, and the Art of Taking Them Over one and a half centuries after its original publication, Thaddeus Norris’s The American Angler’s Book remains a classic heavily sought after by fishing enthusiasts and collectors. Considered father of American fly fishing, Norris’s encyclopedic compilation of nineteenth-century […]

52 Trade Houses Part 12 Davidson’s Firearms of Greensboro NC

52 Trade Houses Part 12 Davidson’s Firearms of Greensboro NC Trade House Tackle, Part 12:Davidson’s Firearms of Greensboro, NC This episode of 52 for 52 will deal with one of my very favorite kinds of trade houses: gun dealers that sold fishing tackle. Throughout history many legendary gun names–Winchester, Remington, Browning, etc.–lent their names to […]

Voices from the Past James Grant

Voices from the Past Fishing for History

Voices from the Past James Grant There is nothing more delightful than coming across a reference to a fishing tackle maker in an unexpected place. In my “other job” as a history professor I try to keep up on recent research. A fairly recent book I picked up called Gwen Raverat: Friends, Family and Affections […]

Yankee Doodle: The American Humorist’s Take on Victorian Angling

The cover of Yankee Doodle showing the trademark character.

Yankee Doodle: The American Humorist’s Take on Victorian Angling When I was working on my dissertation (which dealt with the überexciting subject of British travel writing in the Balkans), I would consistently be distracted by the British humor journal Punch. Punch was a legendary satirical political journal that took swipes at all aspects of British […]

Friday Fun House February 15th Edition

Dr. Todds Friday Fun House Video of the week Sites & Social Media www.facebook.com/groups/NAVTC/ If your on Facebok, you need to drop by and say hello to the folks @ National Antique & Vintage Tackle Collectors Cody, Chris, Rick, Clay & Cindy moderate a large and continually growing FB Hangout. With over 580 active members, […]

52 Trade Houses in 52 Weeks Part 11 Henry C. Lytton’s The Hub of Chicago

Henry C. Lytton's portrait ca. 1904.

52 Trade Houses in 52 Weeks Part 11 Henry C. Lytton’s The Hub of Chicago Trade House Tackle, Part 11:Henry C. Lytton’s “The Hub” and its Fishing Tackle This week we get a fun little history of a venerable Chicago iconic institution–Henry C. Lytton’s “The Hub” stores and their foray into fishing tackle. Henry C. Lytton […]

The Fishing Valentine

The Fishing Valentine: A Photographic History Valentine’s Day started as a Victorian British tradition but really began to take off in America around the end of the nineteenth century. By 1910, the tradition of bringing Valentines to school to distribute to classmates began and created a long-running tradition here in the United States for school […]

Friday Fun House February 8th Edition

Dr. Todds Friday Fun House Good Reads ABOUT THE BOOK Back after constant demand, and fully revised and expanded! It’s Don Wheeler’s Frog Lure Collector’s Guide, and it has been expanded by a full 30% (now coming in at a loaded 352 pages. It’s the largest color book we’ve ever done, or will ever likely […]

52 Trade Houses in 52 Weeks Part 10 Van Camp Hardware of Indianapolis

52 Trade Houses in 52 Weeks Part 10 Van Camp Hardware of Indianapolis Trade House Tackle, Part 10:From Blacksmith Tools to Tackle:–Van Camp Hardware of Indianapolis Van Camp hardware is one of the legendary names in the wholesale hardware field. Founded in the nineteenth century in America’s heartland, it served the middle west for over […]

Christening the Jamison Raider Antique Lure

Christening the Jamison Raider Antique Lure

Christening the Jamison Raider Antique Lure 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 […]

The Strange History of the Fizgig and Wibble Wabble

The Strange History of the Fizgig and Wibble-Wabble

The Strange History of the Fizgig and Wibble Wabble Chicago’s Wartime Fly Rod Lures By Dr. Todd E.A. Larson The Summer of 1942 would seem by just about any measure to be the worst time to launch a new business concern. But considering the state of affairs concerning the outdoor world, it might be considered […]

Friday Fun House February 1st Edition

Dr. Todds Friday Fun House Were testing out a few new columns in the fishing for history magazine so I thought I would add a few samples to the Friday Funhouse News & Noteworthy ORCA announced the Dates of its National Convention in Oklahoma in concert with the folks from Zebco for their 75th anniversary. […]

52 Trade Houses in 52 Weeks Part 9 Bostwick-Braun Company

52 Trade Houses in 52 Weeks Part 9 Bostwick-Braun Company Trade House Tackle, Part IX: The Bostwick-Braun Company of Toledo, Ohio The Bostwick-Braun Company is one of the oldest surviving corporations in the state of Ohio. Founded in 1855 by a pair of brothers–William and Charles B. Roff–from Racine, Wisconsin, it has served the Ohio […]

Thaddeus Norris, Profile of a Rodmaker, Part 3

Thaddeus Norris, Profile of a Rodmaker, Part 3By Dr. Todd E.A. Larson© 2008 The AuthorThe Sad Demise of Thaddeus Norris From humble beginnings in January 1874, over the past three years Thaddeus Norris had labored long and hard to establish his name as synonymous with quality. But just as he was put into a position […]

Thaddeus Norris, Profile of a Rodmaker, Part 2

Portrait of Thaddeus Norris, from Fred Mather’s Men I Have Fished With

Thaddeus Norris, Profile of a Rodmaker, Part 2   By Dr. Todd E.A. Larson   Rodsmithing 101 Thad Norris’ importance went far beyond just the fly rods he made with his own hand. His Chapter XVII in The American Angler’s Book entitled “Rod-Making” gives a succinct overview of the contemporary state of rod building that is the […]

Thaddeus Norris, Profile of a Rodmaker, Part I

Thaddeus Norris, Profile of a Rodmaker By Dr. Todd E.A. Larson Introduction What would convince a successful businessman, internationally respected author, and an icon in his field to begin a new career at the age of 63 that promised enormously long hours, excruciatingly exacting work, and precious little pay? At a time when most of […]

2019 NFLCC National Lure Competition

2019 NFLCC National Lure Competition Rusty Jesse announced today, the NFLCC is once again holding a national lure competition at the 2019 National Lure show in Fort Wayne, IN this July. All NFLCC members are welcome to enter. There will be three classes of competition Musky Class: Musky lure has to be at least 8″ […]

The Angling Marketplace January STA

The Angling Marketplace January STA The timed auction catalog will go live and bidding will commence this Friday, January 25 at 7:00pm. After 10 days of bidding, on Monday, February 4, if any lot receives a bid during the last 10 minutes of the auction (6:50-7:00pm), an extension timer will start on that lot for […]