Who’s Your Daddy (of finesse fishing)

[Tennessee Boy]

Finesse fishing has a very long history and apparently has several fathers.  I’ve heard several people referred to as “The Father of Finesse Fishing”.  Charlie Brewer,  Don Iovino,  Ned Kehde are the usual ones that are mentioned.  Ray Fincke is a name that is associated with early midwestern finesse.  I’m not that familiar with midwestern finesse history because I’m from Tennessee and around here we recognize Charlie Brewer as the father of finesse fishing with a nod to Billy Westmorland.  So who’s your daddy of finesse fishing?

[J Francho]

Rich Zaleski. 

[bowhunter63]

Billy Westmorland , To catch big Smallmouth like he did with equipment he had. Hair Jig guru   

[Deleted account]

Some unknown crappie angler cussing at the dumb green fish keeping him from catching his dinner.

[FryDog62]

My dad. He was an only child whose dad died when he was 8, raised during the Depression by a mom who had to work 6 days a week to make ends meet. When he turned 12 he started hitchhiking (unbeknownst to her) 35 minutes away several days a week to the Mississippi near Wabasha, MN. Did this for years...

 

Live bait was too expensive. So he found some old flies and learned to re-tie them and fish for smallmouth. "Smallmouth?" the locals would ask him, why the hell would you want to catch those? "Because they're fun."  He honed his fly making craft and gerry-rigged light action rods. Later, he learned to make his version of a fuzzy grub that he caught smallmouth, walleyes and everything else on. 

 

Fast forward to the past 30 years until he passed away - many times there were 3 of us in the boat fishing together. He'd sit in the middle and out-catch us 3:1 even though we were fishing within 3 feet of him. We'd get frustrated and he'd just smile. One of us would finally ask him what he was doing different. He'd say "slow down and go with a lighter jig..."

 

Still works today. Whenever I get skunked or struggle I can hear him tell me to go the finesse route. 

[QED]

I figured it out on my own in the San Joaquin County delta system and at Lake Comanche and Pardee Reservoir.  I do note that there was mention of some Billy Westmoreland branded (or endorsed?) UL spinning rods in the BPS catalogs that were around when I was in Jr. High.

[WRB]

Dick Trask won 7 fully rigged Ranger Boats and Don Iovino is in the Fishing Hall of Fame as the Father of Finesse fishing, also won several Ranger Boats fishing west coast tournaments.

Trask taught Aaron Martens how to finesse fish. Trask, Iovino and Martens a trio of the top finesse bass anglers. 

Tom

[TnRiver46]

I never really knew all these finesse names until I joined bass resource in 2016 or so. We just always used 6 lb line and finesse worms/tubes because they work and most everything else just hauls water

 

i had heard plenty about billy westmorland growing up but I never even knew he was a finesse fisherman. For some reason I imagined him as a silver buddy and little George type of fisherman. 

[ajschn06]

Ned

[Chris Catignani]

I feel really fortunate to have been school up on finesse fishing by Charlie Brewer and BIlly Westmorland.

[Tennessee Boy]

3 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

I never really knew all these finesse names until I joined bass resource in 2016 or so. We just always used 6 lb line and finesse worms because they work

Yeah,  I think that's pretty common.  When I was a kid I fished for bream because they were easy to catch.  I would occasionally catch a bass which was exciting.  I slowly changed my techniques to catch more bass while still catching plenty of bream.  I was finesse fishing and I didn't even know it until later when started reading about bass fishing.  Charlie Brewer said he got the idea for his techniques one day when he ran into two boys who had caught a bunch of fish on very small tackle.  Maybe those boys are the real fathers of finesse fishing.  It just comes natural to downsize what you're doing when the fishing gets tough.  Most people can figure that out on their own.  I think the different regional finesse techniques probably developed independently of each other for the most part. 

 

In my world there are two regional forms of finesse fishing. There's Eastern Finesse,  that I use when I go 50 miles east and fish the Cumberland Plateau lakes that Bill Westmorland fished.   Then there's Southwestern Finesse that I use when I go 50 miles to the south west and fish the lakes of the Tennessee River that Charlie Brewer fished (Wilson, Pickwick, upper Kentucky).   Being a world traveler has served me well.  

[QED]

BTW, the Charlie Brewer book on "do nothing fishing" is available on his site for cheaper than at Amazon.  Just bought it about a month ago.  https://www.sliderfishing.com/ - thanks to a fellow BR site member who posted their URL.

[fishwizzard]

Ned Kehde for me.  I stumbled into MWF very early in my bass career and it was what helped me start catching bass “on purpose”.  

[Mobasser]

I too recognize Charlie Brewer as my own finesse king. I still use the Slider jigs now. Others, Billy Westmoreland, Don Iovino also made great contributions to finesse fishing. I'm sure there are more. One example is Roger Moore from Branson Mo. He used Mithchel 308 reels and 6lb line fishing the B.A.S.S. trail years ago. He never once got skunked in many tournaments he fished.            Guido Hibdon was a great light line fisherman as well.

[N Florida Mike]

Myself. I never studied any kind of bass fishing much. I just went out and fished and learned. Everyone around here either fished texas rigged worms or live bait. Kind of like how I fish now a lot . ?

I never heard of any of those guys , except very faintly remember hearing of Charlie brewer. 

I started finesse fishing not knowing it had a name. And it was mostly because a friend gave me several smaller combos he didnt want. I just sized down to accommodate the combos. I love the extra variety in the baits and presentations. And of course, the good fishing it provides…

[QED]

In the San Joaquin County delta, we had so many different types of fish that you might catch, including some salt water varieties, I found that using UL caught you more fish of all types without precluding large fish, so that is the only way I fished in middle school and high school.  My first baitcasting rig was a UL Shimano setup in high school.

[king fisher]

Fred Young the inventor of the Big-O Because that is as close to finesse as I like to get.

[Mobasser]

I think that in the Missouri Ozarks, guys have been throwing light line for a very long time, probably before anyone ever really heard the term finesse. Some Ozark lakes are deep and clear, so they adapted with lighter line and smaller baits.

[schplurg]

Probably some guy around 5000 years ago.

[Team9nine]

Jason Lucas, 1947

Chapter XIX; The Fine-Line Caster

 

"The beginner at bass fishing, and the man who gets to fish only occasionally, might as well skip this chapter, for it will not concern him: it is addressed only to those who fish a good deal all through the season, and so can hope to refine their tackle and methods to the utmost possible.

 

How much must a man fish before he can think of getting down to the lightest tackle?"

 

I have studied this subject quite a bit, and there is no simple answer in terms of who to consider the Godfather of what we consider finesse fishing for bass now days. The answer of who coined the term "finesse" is a bit easier to answer, though.

 

The above example is one of the earliest references to using light tackle (spin or casting) specifically for bass, an entire chapter dedicated to it in his (Jason Lucas') book, "Lucas on Bass Fishing." Another very early example from someone who is considered a bass fishing pioneer (historically speaking), came from Robert Page Lincoln's 1952 book, "Black Bass Fishing," and the chapter titled, "THE GENTLE ART OF SPINNNING."

 

Billy Westmoreland's name was brought up, and I have found newspaper articles dating back to 1958 mentioning the Hoss Fly, which means he was using light tackle to fish the bait at least that long ago. In fact, some of the articles even picture large trout being caught on Hoss Fly's, and Billy would later go on to become renowned for his prowess with hair jigs for smallmouth. He could certainly be considered the Godfather in that specific sense (hair jig smallies in clear highland impoundments).

 

Also in the 1950s and 1960s, the Ozark greats enter the discussion, and where you pick up guys like Guido, Ned, Ray Finke, Drew Reese and Chuck Woods, and see the birth of things like the Beetle (Spin) and the Puddle Jumper. That time frame is also where you can peg the start of marabou jigs, Bass Buster and Virgil Ward.

 

In 1966, Bill Binkelman penned what might be considered the first treatise on light line fishing exclusively with the publishing of "Nightcrawler Secrets." Though it was specifically a live bait technique, it's focus was on using the smallest hooks, the lightest split shot, and 4 to 6 pound line for trophy bass and walleye. He was centered in the upper Midwest, Milwaukee to be exact, and was the guy who created Fishing Facts magazine. Back in December 1963 when he started it, it was originally called Boston Store Fishing News and Wisconsin Spoonplugger.

 

The late 1960s was when Charlie Brewer developed Slider Fishing. It didn't really catch on until the first articles he was asked to write on the method appeared in Fishing Facts back in 1971/1972. This is where we can also peg the term "finesse" to bass fishing, as he and another gentleman, Charlie Ritchie of Texas, both wrote articles on Slider fishing for bass using Charlies lures and first applying the term "finesse" in print to the technique. According to Charlie Jr., "The name 'Finesse Fishing' came about because Charlie Sr. was forced to play Bridge with his wife of 56 years, and it was a term that applied to their card game and he applied it to fishing." The term 'Finesse' in bridge goes back to the 1930s, so this makes sense.

 

As WRB mentioned, this is also the time that Dick Trask and Don Iovino were doing their light line specialty fishing out West, split shotting and deep doodling. To the best of my knowledge though, they didn't refer to what they were doing as 'finesse fishing', at least not quite as early as Charlie, and I've been privy to a few conversations with Ned and George Kramer, noted Western fishing author.

 

So, in summary, I can't really peg a specific person with creating finesse fishing and being the Godfather, though I have mentioned the most prominent names, but I would hang my hat on Charlie at this point as being the person who coined the term first to his Slider bass fishing as being "finesse," at least until someone can come up with something definitive showing otherwise.

[Chris Catignani]

27 minutes ago, king fisher said:

Fred Young the inventor of the Big-O Because that is as close to finesse as I like to get.

I caught plenty of smallie's wading fishing a Little-O on 6lb test.

[Catt]

Bobby Murray & Roger Moore

 

Bobby Murray qualified for eight consecutive Classics and won two using light tackle.

 

Roger Moore started a streak in 1974 on the St. Johns River," Moore recalls. "I never got skunked my first four years of fishing B.A.S.S., including four BASS Master Classics. 

[DitchPanda]

For me because of when I got serious about bass fishing I'd have to say Aaron Martens. Wasn't really the techniques but more his mindset behind finesse and the way he approached it. Also his commitment to it kinda instilled confidence in me.

[Columbia Craw]

I would add Bobby Garland and Mike Folkstad.  

[WRB]

Jason Lucas was my mentor pen pal, big influence on my bass fishing. 

Robert Page Lincoln was the editor of Outdoor Life magazine, Lucas Field & Stream. If you haven’t read Lucas on Bass or Lincoln’s Black Bass Fishing books you should. The comical illustrations in Lincoln’s book are outstanding?

Dick Trask is unknown outside of California but considered the top finesse angler by everyone who fished tournaments against him including Iovino who Trask beat consistently using split shot and dart head Flutter Craft and Mister Twister 4 1/2” curl tails.

Trask’s boat control skills in the wind was legendary.

Tom