Bass Fishing History

[Mobasser]

Bass Fishing has a long, rich history. Not just with tournaments, and famous tournament pros, but tackle companies, baits, rod/reel companies, and the people that made it all happen.                        These days we're lucky. Thanks to the fisherman of the past, we can fish with very high tech tackle, electronics, and scores of baits that can work in any scenario.                        We can learn a lot by learning about well known anglers from the past. These are the fisherman who paved the way for us, and came up with most all of the methods we use today.                                                      Do you think that learning about the history of our sport can make you a better fisherman?                                And, to finalize, who are some of your favourite anglers from past years, and what have you learned from what you've read about them?

[DitchPanda]

I absolutely think you can learn by reading about the history of the sport...a lot of the concepts these guys uncovered or realized without the use of electronics is amazing to me. Some of my favorites to read about are guys like Rick Clunn and David Fritts both guys are incredible crankbait fisherman and they figured out offshore fishing with very limited electronics and use of triangulation. I'm also intrigued by guys like Tommy Biffle and Denny Brauer...both guys would lock a jig or Texas rig in their hands and flip,flip,flip. That ability to put your head down and grind out bites is an incredible skill.

[r83srock]

I agree! It’s amazing the changes in just the last 10 years. I grew up watching Hank Parker, Roland, Dance, Wilson, Grigsby on the tv shows. Tournament fishing wasn’t in my veins yet, I was pretty young, but dad was doing tournaments and I just loved to fish. My dad and my uncle and guys in dads club were my first teachers, of course the shows and old BASS magazines. I remember reading bazzdozer articles in the school library computer through high school when I should have been studying, haha. I remember meeting Hank Parker, Bill Dance, Guido Hibdon at the 92 fishing fair at bass pro, I was 5. I’m not enamored by people, but adults can leave lasting impressions for a child, like it did me. It’s just a great sport.

 

Yes I think studying history can improve your skill and knowledge. All the old stuff still works, and often lures and techniques come full circle and become popular again. Ribbon tail worm fishing seemed almost on a back seat in conversation a few years ago, now it’s a popular summer time lure again! There are many examples. Obviously equipment has changed, and usually for the better, but if you read old articles on masters of a certain lure, David Fritts and crankbaits, Larry Nixon and Worms, Denny Brauer or Dee Thomas and jigs, Hibdons and finesse jigs, Monsoor and swim jigs, the list goes on, this stuff is priceless.

[BrianMDTX]

History teaches those who are willing to learn. 
 

The ones who figured out how to pattern and catch bass before the modern era learned by experience and observing the natural world. Many anglers, like hunters, tend to forget how fish, fowl and game actually live in nature vs locating them on fish finders or game cameras. 
 

Modern gear is great, but learning how things were done in the past can always help improve the present. 

[Cgolf]

I guess I don't have a favorite fisherman, but like reading old books like slider fishing, lunker love nightcrawlers, Don Iovino's finesse fishing book, old infish books etc. There is a lot of very relevant information in there that we can all learn from. I have read lunkers love night crawlers a couple of times after buying it after reading a library copy. 

 

From watching some of the bass pros episodes that bass pro sold the DVDs for Rick Clunn's approach always made me think too. I need to get through some of the DVD's I have, lots of good old info there and pros fishing with spincast reels;)

[scaleface]

Virgil Ward . I watched his fishing show every Sunday . After the show he would demonstrate how he worked the lures in an aquarium and every week he would raise and drop them . That has become my style . I do a lot more than to raise and drop sinking baits but thats a technique that is ingrained in my brain .I am extremely comfortable doing that not only with worms , jigs , blade baits ...but also with spinnerbaits , lipless cranks , anything that sinks 

[Captain Phil]

I started bass fishing in 1960.  Back then, Jason Lucas was my hero. He was the bass fishing editor for Sports Afield magazine.  This was before Bassmaster, plastic worms, electronics and bass tournaments.  Serious bass fisherman back then used casting reels with heavy woven line.  Plugs were heavy so they could be cast with the reels we had. Most Florida bass fishing was topwater. 

 

Jason Lucas was the first person I know of who talked about offshore structure. Without a depth finder or a GPS, he had to triangulate his spots so he could fish them again.  Back then, information was hard to come by.  Good fisherman kept their knowledge to themselves.

 

Tournaments and fishing magazines changed everything.  Today if someone wins a big tournament,  the next month everyone knows how they did it.   I credit Ray Scott for starting this.  Today's anglers have a huge advantage.   Bass being bass, are never easy to catch.   As an old timer in this sport, I love reminiscing about the "old times".  My favorite TV teacher is Bill Dance.  He is very entertaining. Once you get past his jokes, he can teach you a lot.

[BassNJake]

I watched a lot of guys growing up and read a bunch of magazines

I think the 2 guys I learned the most from were Al Linder/Infisherman and Rick Clunn

 

My dad would get the Infisherman magazines and we would watch the shows

He also had the Rick Clunn's World Championship Bass Fishing book.

I must have read that thing a hundred times and did a couple book reports on it too!!

I have helped my dad move twice now and have not come across that book again ☹️

[frogflogger]

19 minutes ago, Captain Phil said:

I started bass fishing in 1960.  Back then, Jason Lucas was my hero. He was the bass fishing editor for Sports Afield magazine.  This was before Bassmaster, plastic worms, electronics and bass tournaments.  Serious bass fisherman back then used casting reels with heavy woven line.  Plugs were heavy so they could be cast with the reels we had. Most Florida bass fishing was topwater. 

 

Jason Lucas was the first person I know of who talked about offshore structure. Without a depth finder or a GPS, he had to triangulate his spots so he could fish them again.  Back then, information was hard to come by.  Good fisherman kept their knowledge to themselves.

 

Tournaments and fishing magazines changed everything.  Today if someone wins a big tournament,  the next month everyone knows how they did it.   I credit Ray Scott for starting this.  Today's anglers have a huge advantage.   Bass being bass, are never easy to catch.   As an old timer in this sport, I love reminiscing about the "old times".  My favorite TV teacher is Bill Dance.  He is very entertaining. Once you get past his jokes, he can teach you a lot.

Jason Lucas was my hero also - I caught my first bass in 1948 and although I went on to fish for many species from fresh to salt - bass have always been the center of my fishing world. Still love those big old topwaters in Florida.

[Catt]

Probably the best historical website was Bass Fishing Archives, I can't seem to find it except on Facebook. Maybe @Team9nine can shed some light on it.

 

I was fortunate enough to have fished Toledo Bend during the days of the Hemphill Gang. A couple of Gang members that influenced my style of fishing was Tommy Martin & Larry Nixon.

 

While many list electronics as the biggest improvement & they are, but what opened up more areas to me was boats & motors. At 65 miles long fishing Toledo Bend in a 14' jon boat with a 20 merc was quite a task. When Skeeter, Hydrosport, & Ranger started producing 17-18' boats and Mercury's tower of power 115 the whole lake was in play.

[Team9nine]

53 minutes ago, Catt said:

Probably the best historical website was Bass Fishing Archives, I can't seem to find it except on Facebook. Maybe @Team9nine can shed some light on it.

BFA as a website was taken down by the site owner a couple years back for a few different reasons. There were 3 of us contributing to it. The domain is still owned, so I’d need to see if it’s in the original owners hands or not.

 

I have admin access to the Facebook page, so I recently fired it back up, and it is now being populated with current material.

 

Might be able to merge the two again somewhere down the road. I can tell you from my experience, and @whitwolf might be able to chime in here - and agree? But there is very little interest by today’s anglers in the history of our sport. It’s a pretty small (niche) market.

[Mobasser]

5 minutes ago, Team9nine said:

BFA as a website was taken down by the site owner a couple years back for a few different reasons. There were 3 of us contributing to it. The domain is still owned, so I’d need to see if it’s in the original owners hands or not.

 

I have admin access to the Facebook page, so I recently fired it back up, and it is now being populated with current material.

 

Might be able to merge the two again somewhere down the road. I can tell you from my experience, and @whitwolf might be able to chime in here - and agree? But there is very little interest by today’s anglers in the history of our sport. It’s a pretty small (niche) market.

I wish there was more interest in the history of bass fishing, and think there should be. I enjoyed BFA. Loved the photos and info on that site.

2 hours ago, scaleface said:

Virgil Ward . I watched his fishing show every Sunday . After the show he would demonstrate how he worked the lures in an aquarium and every week he would raise and drop them . That has become my style . I do a lot more than to raise and drop sinking baits but thats a technique that is ingrained in my brain .I am extremely comfortable doing that not only with worms , jigs , blade baits ...but also with spinnerbaits , lipless cranks , anything that sinks 

My dad and I watched Virgil Ward every week also. Always a good show. I wish they would bring it back, so I could record it.

[Bankc]

I learned from my grandfather and great grandfather.  The later was born in 1903 and had been fishing his whole life, and lived until the ripe old age of 93.  That's not only a lot of knowledge, but there were some serious transitions in the sport during that time!  And his father before him taught him what he knew.  One thing they all had in common, they farmed for a living, and fished just about every spare moment they had.  

 

They taught me to carefully observe nature.  Pay attention to everything.  The direction of the wind, the changes in the water, the sounds of the animals nearby, what they were doing, the color and size of the plants...  It's all interconnected.  If the cows in the pasture out back weren't eating, then save yourself the trip and stay home, because those cows were always eating unless something was wrong.  They taught me how to catch or use all different kinds of bait and make your own fishing poles, hooks, etc.  I've caught a lot crappie on hominy kernels and grasshoppers.  

 

They also taught me the importance of technology.  Even though they knew the old ways of doing things, and still enjoyed fishing with cane poles and homemade hooks, they also enjoyed using all of the new lures, equipment, and techniques.  And they encouraged experimentation.  My grandfather might poke a bottle cap through a hook on a jig and I'd say something like "does that actually work?".  Then he'd say something like "I'll let you know in a bit".  

 

I learned a lot of techniques from those two.  But much more importantly, I learned a mindset, a passion, and patience.  

[GReb]

Rick Scott came up with idea of B.A.S.S at Ross Barnett, my home lake, during a rained out fishing trip. He was sitting at the hotel watching other pro sports and thought why not fishing. 
 

Bill Dance and Roland Martin dominated the early tournaments at Barnett but Bobby Murray won the Classic. It’s sad that they’ve pretty much given up on coming back to Barnett after Connell’s victory back in 2017. The state fisheries department has all but ruined the lake and tournament weights have steadily dropped each year. 
 

I love watch old tournament coverage on YouTube though. It’s crazy how far the sport has come but watching guys yank in 6 pounders on spoons and worms with a 6 foot rod and ambassadors never gets old

[billmac]

My favorites were Al Lindner and Roland Martin.  I loved the scientific approach to fishing even before all the gadgetry.

[Captain Phil]

Here's a photo of Bill Dance in the sixties.  Ray Scott said when he invited young Roland Martin to fish one of his first tournaments, Roland saw Bill's stringer and told Ray he didn't think he belonged there. Bill Dance was the first Super Star of bass fishing. 

 

 

 

 

[The Bassman]

3 hours ago, Team9nine said:

BFA as a website was taken down by the site owner a couple years back for a few different reasons. There were 3 of us contributing to it. The domain is still owned, so I’d need to see if it’s in the original owners hands or not.

 

I have admin access to the Facebook page, so I recently fired it back up, and it is now being populated with current material.

 

Might be able to merge the two again somewhere down the road. I can tell you from my experience, and @whitwolf might be able to chime in here - and agree? But there is very little interest by today’s anglers in the history of our sport. It’s a pretty small (niche) market.

Big Indiana Bass had a lot of history, too but seems to have vanished.

[Tatsu Dave]

Buck Perry, Bill Dance, and local legend where I lived Roland Martin were my favorites to learn from in the early days. I never had a fishing mentor growing up so I was self taught and learned from reading and watching those that knew. Doug Hannon and Billy Westmorland also really interested me in there pursuit of the sport as they thought outside the box. Most of all I learned by putting in my time on the water and learning from my mistakes and success. Good thread!    Dave

[MIbassyaker]

5 hours ago, Team9nine said:

BFA as a website was taken down by the site owner a couple years back for a few different reasons. There were 3 of us contributing to it. The domain is still owned, so I’d need to see if it’s in the original owners hands or not.

 

I have admin access to the Facebook page, so I recently fired it back up, and it is now being populated with current material.

 

Might be able to merge the two again somewhere down the road. I can tell you from my experience, and @whitwolf might be able to chime in here - and agree? But there is very little interest by today’s anglers in the history of our sport. It’s a pretty small (niche) market.

 

I found BFA shortly before it disappeared and really enjoyed browsing it; was disappointed to see it go away -- it seemed to be a real labor of love.

 

1 hour ago, The Bassman said:

Big Indiana Bass had a lot of history, too but seems to have vanished.

 

BIB actually was... @Team9nine, no?

[Captain Phil]

5 hours ago, Team9nine said:

But there is very little interest by today’s anglers in the history of our sport. It’s a pretty small (niche) market.

How sad.  Bass were once known as the poor man's sport fish.  Enter tournaments, TV, sponsors and $100,000 prizes and we have the fishing industry we have today.  If you don't have two power poles on your $50,000 bass boat, you don't get respect at the ramp even if you never use them.

 

Where our sport came from is important.  Take flipping for instance.  Before Dee Thomas, Southern Boys were "doodle socking" bass over 100 years ago.  The buzz bait was invented by Al Foss before WWI.  Nothing in bass fishing is new.  The only truly new lure was the plastic worm in the sixties, which led to the spinning reel's popularity. If you don't know where you came from, you don't know where you are going.

[Team9nine]

3 hours ago, The Bassman said:

Big Indiana Bass had a lot of history, too but seems to have vanished.

 

Yeah, I finally deleted the site for good this spring ?

 

1 hour ago, MIbassyaker said:

 

I found BFA shortly before it disappeared and really enjoyed browsing it; was disappointed to see it go away -- it seemed to be a real labor of love.

 

 

BIB actually was... @Team9nine, no?

Yep, BIB was my personal site. I was just a contributor to In-Fish, BassBlaster and BFA pages. Still have a currently unpublished site that I might meld with/into BFA somehow down the road. Will see what kind of attention I draw first with the BFA FB page revival before doing that. Have had several industry people take notice this week already, so that’s a good sign ?

[MN Fisher]

26 minutes ago, Team9nine said:

Yeah, I finally deleted the site for good this spring

Too bad - I had it bookmarked and used it for reference often.

26 minutes ago, Team9nine said:

Will see what kind of attention I draw first with the BFA FB page revival before doing that.

Whelp - I'm not on FB...so no help with that from here.

[WRB]

I have tried to share my limited bass fishing knowledge starting in 50's to present. The fact that BR members haven't mentioned it tells me few care about the history of bass fishing helping them learn to catch bass. It's archived in this site with hundreds of posts and discussions.

Tom

[whitwolf]

7 hours ago, Team9nine said:

BFA as a website was taken down by the site owner a couple years back for a few different reasons. There were 3 of us contributing to it. The domain is still owned, so I’d need to see if it’s in the original owners hands or not.

 

I have admin access to the Facebook page, so I recently fired it back up, and it is now being populated with current material.

 

Might be able to merge the two again somewhere down the road. I can tell you from my experience, and @whitwolf might be able to chime in here - and agree? But there is very little interest by today’s anglers in the history of our sport. It’s a pretty small (niche) market.

Absolutely true. I let the Rebel thread go because there was simply little interest. To be fair @Team9nine @Cattand a few others appreciated the history and that kept me going. 

 

I love everything about fishing, including the history. I don't want to speak out of turn but it seems that very few care about the history of our sport. 

 

Team9, I'll check out the FB page for sure and should you decide to combine the two let me know how I can help.

[Team9nine]

20 minutes ago, whitwolf said:

Team9, I'll check out the FB page for sure and should you decide to combine the two let me know how I can help.

Thanks - I'm digging a little bit right now to figure out what the possibilities are. I'll definitely be in contact if things look like they might move forward.