Fishing Facts Magazine???

[ReggieT]

Hey Guys,

 

I grew up reading Sports Afield, Field & Stream, Outdoor Life and later on got hooked on "Fishing Facts".

Fishing legends Buck Perry & Spence Petros penned some great articles for them back then.

I never see them on magazine racks anymore and can't locate anything online other than pricey older ones sold on EBay.

 

Anybody know what ever happened to this magazine?

I actually learned more from this mag than all the others combined.

 

Thanks for your time,

Reg

BTW...anybody know anything about this forgotten volume of bass lore,"LUNKERS LOVE NIGHTCRAWLERS:Live Bait Bass Fishing Secrets Fishing Facts Magazine?"

 

[The Bassman]

I read Fishing Facts when I was in college.  (Probably why I'm a painter now) @Team9nine could give you a lot of info on this.

[jebar01]

Fishing Facts was a great magazine.  The magazine no longer is in operation which I felt was a great loss.  The nice fact about it was it was not about tournament fishing but fishing!

[ReggieT]

1 minute ago, jebar01 said:

Fishing Facts was a great magazine.  The magazine no longer is in operation which I felt was a great loss.  The nice fact about it was it was not about tournament fishing but fishing!

Yes sir indeed!

The actual mechanics & practical application they illustrated were hard to beat.

[Crestliner2008]

Back a few years when they were still publishing, I subscribed for a year. Unfortunately, this newer version of the old couldn't hold a candle to what it use to be. The writers were redundant and not very well written. Probably why it finally collapsed into oblivion.

[Team9nine]

FF was started in 1963 by Bill Binkelman as a way to promote and sell Spoonplugs. George Pazik was brought on a few years later, ultimately taking control in 1970 and the official name changed to Fishing Facts. Things stayed that way until the mid to late 90s when Pazik sold the magazine. Spence Petros and Carl Malz were let go, and everything changed. Never was the same again after that. It was recently resold again. 

 

Lunkers Love Nightcrawlers was a more modern and updated version of Bill's original live bait books. It had a lot of info contributed by the new editors as well as a bunch of Buck Perry Structure stuff. Believe it was updated and revised/republished at least once. 

[Crestliner2008]

40 minutes ago, Team9nine said:

FF was started in 1963 by Bill Binkelman as a way to promote and sell Spoonplugs. George Pazik was brought on a few years later, ultimately taking control in 1970 and the official name changed to Fishing Facts. Things stayed that way until the mid to late 90s when Pazik sold the magazine. Spence Petros and Carl Malz were let go, and everything changed. Never was the same again after that. It was recently resold again. 

 

Lunkers Love Nightcrawlers was a more modern and updated version of Bill's original live bait books. It had a lot of info contributed by the new editors as well as a bunch of Buck Perry Structure stuff. Believe it was updated and revised/republished at least once. 

Yeah, I've been a big fan and follower (as many of you already know) of Buck Perry, since the 1960's. And I use to buy Bill Binkleman jigs as well. Brings back some very fond memories for sure. The 60's thru the mid 80's were truly the time of pioneer fishing. I don't think anyone gives ample credit to those folks, especially Bill. I have all of his "Blue Book" series too. Priceless!

[Paul Roberts]

On 1/4/2019 at 1:57 AM, The Bassman said:

I read Fishing Facts when I was in college.  (Probably why I'm a painter now)

I came into fishing during the Fishing Facts period too. Then came In-Fisherman... and I was... toast. I painted, carpentered, constructed, reconstructed, produce managered, warehoused, landscaped, tackle retailed,... , and then got myself into a "good" school. Not bc I was smart, or wealthy; But bc I was motivated. 

 

Got into research: Fisheries, Wildlife (population and physiological ecology), and co-founded a fishing (ecology) education program. And I can honestly say that I have Perry, Pazik, and the Lindner's -and a rock bass caught 50 some years ago now- to thank for a chunk of that... motivation. Or a direction to point it.

 

Not sure my wife would be entirely so thankful, but... those responsibilities got me into whole other lines of work. That are... far less fascinating. Still givin' it hell though.

 

On 1/4/2019 at 2:04 AM, ReggieT said:

Yes sir indeed!

The actual mechanics & practical application they illustrated were hard to beat.

Yeah, things are different now; I think it's in large part bc fishing participation grew to be commercially viable, and careened head on into the hyper-development of consumer culture. And it, as a matter of course, grew to become more high tech. And with the tech goes participant's expectations, and the expenses incurred by that kind of participation.

 

I was "in the industry" full time for a period, selling fishing tackle, but the "how to" was pretty much where my interest (ok... fascination) is still grounded. I'm guessing that's where most people's interest is based too. But, the costs of participation have made cashing checks more compelling. I'm trying to negotiate that line too, and stay focussed on my real passion. As I said above, I'm still giving it hell.

[MIbassyaker]

9 hours ago, ReggieT said:

 

BTW...anybody know anything about this forgotten volume of bass lore,"LUNKERS LOVE NIGHTCRAWLERS:Live Bait Bass Fishing Secrets Fishing Facts Magazine?"

 

I bought a used copy of this book on ebay a few years ago for around 10 bucks.  The first half is all about growing, rigging, and fishing live nightcrawlers...but what's most interesting is the second half of the book where it delves into structure fishing and finding fish. There are also chapters on fish activity, cold fronts, wind and other environmental conditions, boat control....it definitely deserves to be remembered for that 2nd half material, even if you're not a live-bait angler.

[Bluebasser86]

I always enjoyed reading the magazine when I was young, they had some of the best stories. 

[Cgolf]

4 hours ago, Team9nine said:

FF was started in 1963 by Bill Binkelman as a way to promote and sell Spoonplugs. George Pazik was brought on a few years later, ultimately taking control in 1970 and the official name changed to Fishing Facts. Things stayed that way until the mid to late 90s when Pazik sold the magazine. Spence Petros and Carl Malz were let go, and everything changed. Never was the same again after that. It was recently resold again. 

 

Lunkers Love Nightcrawlers was a more modern and updated version of Bill's original live bait books. It had a lot of info contributed by the new editors as well as a bunch of Buck Perry Structure stuff. Believe it was updated and revised/republished at least once. 

I got the Lunkers love nightcrawlers, it is a great read. That and the slider fishin book are my favorites. The infisherman series are ok, but don't touch those two books.

[Dwight Hottle]

5 hours ago, Team9nine said:

FF was started in 1963 by Bill Binkelman as a way to promote and sell Spoonplugs. George Pazik was brought on a few years later, ultimately taking control in 1970 and the official name changed to Fishing Facts. Things stayed that way until the mid to late 90s when Pazik sold the magazine. Spence Petros and Carl Malz were let go, and everything changed. Never was the same again after that. It was recently resold again. 

 

Lunkers Love Nightcrawlers was a more modern and updated version of Bill's original live bait books. It had a lot of info contributed by the new editors as well as a bunch of Buck Perry Structure stuff. Believe it was updated and revised/republished at least once. 

This post brings back a lot of memories. I always enjoyed the magazine. I bought jigs from Bill Binkelman's brother. They were called Binkleman's Jigs. We also air injected our crawlers with needles, one of the lunkers love nightcrawlers secrets. I followed Spence Petros for a lot of years as he was really into chasing the esox family.  All good stuff. 

[Paul Roberts]

20 hours ago, Dwight Hottle said:

This post brings back a lot of memories. ... We also air injected our crawlers with needles, one of the lunkers love nightcrawlers secrets. 

We used to fish for carp in the Barge/Erie Canal that bordered our backyards. One day we decided to air-inject some 'crawlers -and we immediately caught channel cats. We rarely caught cats with our bait directly on the bottom, and rarely caught carp with it suspended. That was a pretty cool discovery.

 

Oh, yes... I went on to fish air-injected crawlers for Lake Ontario's trout and salmon, along with fresh roe sacks with styrofoam tied in. We just killed fish this way. I still have that stuff stashed away in a corner of one of my tackle boxes: a Lindy "Worm Blower", some syringes, and a range of "floaters", and "floats", for several fish types and scenarios.

Edited January 5, 2019 by Paul Roberts
Oh, yes...

[slonezp]

5 hours ago, Dwight Hottle said:

This post brings back a lot of memories. I always enjoyed the magazine. I bought jigs from Bill Binkelman's brother. They were called Binkleman's Jigs. We also air injected our crawlers with needles, one of the lunkers love nightcrawlers secrets. I followed Spence Petros for a lot of years as he was really into chasing the esox family.  All good stuff. 

Injecting crawlers with air is killer for Lake Michigan brown trout. We were doing it in the 70's. My dad does it to this day when he's shore fishing for smallies in Sturgeon Bay. Spence is local to the midwest and holds seminars regularly in Chicago. Another crawler secret was to break an Alka Seltzer in half, make a small slice in the crawler, and insert the tablet. 

[WRB]

Fishing Facts magazine was availble out west on magazine shelves in the late 60's and was a informative but very few articles applied to LMB in reserviors other then trolling techniques. When the Linders came out with thier In-Fisherman study reports in '75 the first few years were the most informative series published. The In-Fisherman changed format to survive to attract advertisers becoming less informative and more and more a mid west multi species magazine. I don't recall when the Linders were bought out, sometime after '95 when I stopped writing a few articles.

Today print magazines and books are fewer and fewer, none off the shelf out west anymore where I live because anglers today have sites like this and uTube to get information.

Tom

 

 

[ReggieT]

2 hours ago, slonezp said:

Injecting crawlers with air is killer for Lake Michigan brown trout. We were doing it in the 70's. My dad does it to this day when he's shore fishing for smallies in Sturgeon Bay. Spence is local to the midwest and holds seminars regularly in Chicago. Another crawler secret was to break an Alka Seltzer in half, make a small slice in the crawler, and insert the tablet. 

Wow...Alka Seltzer in a crawler...I LIKE IT!!!?

[ReggieT]

6 hours ago, WRB said:

Fishing Facts magazine was availble out west on magazine shelves in the late 60's and was a informative but very few articles applied to LMB in reserviors other then trolling techniques. When the Linders came out with thier In-Fisherman study reports in '75 the first few years were the most informative series published. The In-Fisherman changed format to survive to attract advertisers becoming less informative and more and more a mid west multi species magazine. I don't recall when the Linders were bought out, sometime after '95 when I stopped writing a few articles.

Today print magazines and books are fewer and fewer, none off the shelf out west anymore where I live because anglers today have sites like this and uTube to get information.

Tom

 

 

Tell ya what, this whole post has got me tad nostalgia driven. This was an era of fishing print & information that has gone the way of the Dodo bird...

Wish my kids & grand-kids had this point of reference like I did...guess its up to me to, "pass it on" before I'm gone.?

[Paul Roberts]

8 hours ago, ReggieT said:

Tell ya what, this whole post has got me tad nostalgia driven. This was an era of fishing print & information that has gone the way of the Dodo bird...

Wish my kids & grand-kids had this point of reference like I did...guess its up to me to, "pass it on" before I'm gone.?

Might be a tough sell. I've been having a tough time getting my son to read, even though he was read to -and a wide range of things- every night... until he could outrun me. 

 

When he's assigned a book at school, he'll read it nearly in a sitting. So he can read! But, videos are much more engaging -a multi-sensory thing I guess. But, as I might argue, to deaf ears, there's no comparing the "the book" and "the movie". 

 

Also, it was exciting waiting for that next issue to arrive. Now, it's exciting to... simply look over at your phone.

 

[WRB]

Off topic, look up Waldorf schools, back to basics of learning without a computer.

The Silicon Valley tech executives send thier kids to learn in pencil and paper schools that don't allow computer aided learning for improved comprehension skills.

On topic, some very good books on fishing have been published over the past 75 years.

Tom

[KennyG]

Now on EBay is an auction that has the very first 10 issues of Al Lindners  “In’Fisherman” “Study Reports” up for sale, if anyone’s interested. No price given but there is a reserve on it. Check it out! 

[Ken-Potter]

The only magazine better than Fishing Facts was the In-Fisherman.  Notice I said "was".  In-Fisherman was a fantastic magazine when it was a subscription only study course.  Unfortunately, a number of years after it hit the magazine racks if became garbage.  I have many years of it in mint condition because they weren't worth reading.

On the other hand Fishing Facts remained a fantastic magazine for years until it was sold.  Here again for the later issues many of mine are in mint condition as they weren't worth reading.  

Most of the good stuff is online now!

 

 

[padon]

On 1/4/2019 at 4:02 AM, jebar01 said:

Fishing Facts was a great magazine.  The magazine no longer is in operation which I felt was a great loss.  The nice fact about it was it was not about tournament fishing but fishing!

oh man does this thread get the memories flowing. i loved bassmaster because i mean these guys were fishing for a living! but i loved fishing facts and in fisherman because they talked abot all kinds of fish. and i just wanted my pole bent. bass big bluegill , crappie , catfish whatever. i was a fishing nerd as  a kid at 12 and still am today at 53. nothing better for me on a friday night in the winter than picking up a copy of in fisherman or fishing facts and hanging out playing monopoly and talking fishing with my uncle and his neighbor.

[Darth-Baiter]

i would take my childhood allowance to buy Outdoor Life.  i was an asian city kid.  it was so intriguing to me and my brother.  

 

they always had the outdoor mags right under the porn.  hahaha..