Fall Auction

Antique Fisherman, Antique Tackle, Antique Fishing   

by Bill Sonnett

My grandfather bought an old summer cottage in 1941 on the shores of Indian Lake in Ohio. It was a shallow, muddy reservoir of more than 5000 acres, originally built in the 1850's to supply water to the Ohio & Erie Canal. We spent our summers there and I knew from the age of 3 or 4 that I wanted to fish. My parents provided me with a cane pole, which was equipped with a line and a rubber minnow but no hook! I persevered until the age of 5 when I was allowed to use a real hook!

The cottage was located next to a stretch of vacant shore, which was a favored spot of bank fisherman. Most used solid steel rods and Pflueger Akron reels. These reels were seldom cleaned or oiled and made incredible screeching and grinding noises as heavy sinkers, followed by dropper hooks equipped with night crawlers and occasional dough balls, were heaved as far from shore as possible. These fellows always seemed to enjoy sharing fishing experiences and opinions with a young boy.  They would go through the contents of their tackle boxes and hold up this or that plug and proclaim it a real winner, illustrating the fact for me with tales of the big bass it had fooled. No one in my family was much of a fisherman, and certainly no one did any bass fishing. I was on my own, but I always had the feeling that if I could just acquire the right plugs, bass would be mine for the taking.

After noting my intense interest in fishing, in 1956 my mother subscribed to Outdoor Life and Sports Afield in an effort to get me to read more. It worked - I read every word of both magazines. At age 13, I purchased Robert Page Lincoln’s, Black Bass Fishing, read and re-read every word. One of the most memorable days of my life was when my autographed copy of Lucas on Bass arrived in the mail, and I opened the front cover to read, “to Bill Sonnett, good fishing”. It was signed by Jason Lucas, the fishing editor of Sports Afield, a man I’d come to believe had next to supernatural powers when it came to catching bass. Unfortunately, many of the lures that I had seen in those old tackle boxes and the ones discussed in my growing library of older bass fishing books were no longer made when I got to the age that I could afford them. I did have three old timers that I had found at various times laying on the shore. I cast these for endless hours with meager success.

In 1962 I left home for college, followed by four years in the Army with a tour of duty in Vietnam. There was little time for fishing. When I returned to civilian life and moved to Michigan in 1970, I picked up the latest outdoor publications. I was dumbfounded to find that the popular version of bass fishing had changed so as to be hardly recognizable. Plugs were now “crankbaits” and all forms of cover, where bass had formally hidden, were now “structure” that bass “related to”. I was put off by the new lingo as well as the emphasis on tournaments and beating the guy in the next boat, rather than enjoying fishing as an end in itself.

I continued to search older tackle stores looking for Shakespeare Mice, Clark’s Waterscouts and other favorites. In 1977 a short blurb in the local paper spoke of an upcoming meeting of the National Fishing Lure Collecting Club in Dowagiac Michigan. I was surprised to learn that there were other folks who liked old fishing tackle too! A family emergency prevented me from making the 100-mile trip to that meet. Around 1980, an article appeared in a local magazine about Walter Blue and his collection of old fishing tackle. At the end of the article was an invitation to give Walter a call if one had a similar interest. Two years later I finally picked up the phone and was invited to Walter’s home. I came home, my mind reeling from the experience. Lesson number one was: old lures are not in old tackle shops they’re in old tackle boxes. Seems obvious now, but it had never occurred to me that anyone would ever sell a tackle box.

After putting it off for two more years, I joined the NFLCC in 1985 and quickly became an avid collector and researcher of old lures. Those were wonderful days in Michigan, when early tackle boxes could be found on a weekly basis. During this entire period, fellow NFLCC member Warren Platt and I have enjoyed a second aspect of this hobby, fishing with pre-1950 baitcasting tackle and lures. Going to shows and collecting in the field has given us access to massive amounts of used tackle. We have been able to experiment with nearly every popular brand and model of baitcasting reel, rods and lures of the era. Some of the best models of reels are common enough that they can be had very reasonably, often for less than the original price.

 When I head for the lake and pull out a Marhoff or Knobby reel on a tubular steel or bamboo rod, I am often met with stunned disbelief. Otherwise competent fishermen will ask if it is really possible to catch bass on such tackle. My answer is usually something to the effect that this tackle caught plenty of fish in the 1930’s and 1940’s and bass probably haven’t evolved all that much in the past 70 years. There are of course, two points to be considered. First, men who were good baitcasters in those earlier days were not nearly as common as the occasional fishermen for whom it was a struggle to buy good equipment and to find the time perfect its use. Secondly, the large deep impoundments that most folks today think of as bass water did not exist then; and it is far more difficult to fish these deep bodies of very clear water with older tackle. I am lucky to live in an area that is covered with small natural lakes with good Largemouth populations. Shallow water and natural cover are the norm and much of the fishing is top-water. This is the ideal place to enjoy older tackle, as this is the type water it was designed for.

Many folks who grew up before 1960 look back on their experiences with those baitcasting reels as one long backlash. Many times I have had to coax a reluctant visitor into trying a well-tuned outfit in my back yard. Almost without exception they are amazed at how little effort it takes to begin making good casts with regularity. There’s no secret to their success; they're just using good equipment that is well cared for.

I have been asked to give some advice on putting together an effective “antique” fishing outfit. The most important item of tackle you will select is the reel. No one can cast respectably with a cheaply made reel. Good casters all have their own preferences in reels. Warren and I both do most of our fishing with Marhoffs and Knobbys. If you don’t mind using a reel from the 50’s the teardrop shaped Shakespeares with nylon gears and light spools are a pleasure to use. There are reels that will cast better than these, but few that will operate more trouble free while fishing and playing big fish. Once you’ve located a decent reel clean it inside and out. These reels are not that complicated inside and can be cleaned in kerosene or any good solvent. Lightly grease the gears with Lubraplate or other light grease and oil the end bearings and levelwind. When fishing, oil the end bearings at least once a day and put a drop of oil on the threaded shaft of the levelwind every 45 minutes. You will be surprised how a sudden rash of backlashes will end when this last drop of oil is applied. Why do you think there are so many old oilers?

The next item to consider is the line. Before WWII almost everyone used braided silk. It cast great until it became waterlogged and it needed to be dried after every outing or it would mildew. Many old reels seen at meets still have silk line on them. It can be easily identified by its lack of stretch. Don’t use it. It will have plenty of weak spots due to decay. Do not fill these reels with monofilament. It will not give you the pleasure derived from authentic use of this older equipment and will often ruin the reel spool due to its powers of compression. Get a good braided nylon line of between 8 and 15 lb test, 12 is my favorite. The Cortland Line Company still makes braided nylon line. You can often find a good line at a meet or on an old reel. Some brands of braided nylon have not aged well, turning stiff over the years. You’re looking for soft here. At one time I believed braided Dacron would be the answer, but it spools very poorly and as Ernst Radke said in New Angles to Bass Fishing in 1956, “good spooling means good casting”. Good baitcasters always used a trace on the end of the line. This consists of 4 to 6 feet of monofilament. Before the war silk gut was used. Without this trace or leader, the last few inches of braided line wear out very quickly while casting. Most good reels came with an arbor. It simply takes up space and makes the spool lighter, which is a very good thing. Cork arbors worked very well with silk but because nylon line stretches, plastic and balsa wood arbors hold their shape much better. Fill the spool within an eighth of an inch or so of being full. The larger the diameter of the spool the less revolutions it must turn to cast off each yard of line. This means a slower turning reel during the cast and that means fewer problems.

When it comes to rods there are several good choices. I really like the 5ft 3in seamless tubular steel rods that True temper made. The longer models always seem tip-heavy to me. Warren does most of his fishing with Heddon 5 or 5ft 6in lightweight tubular steel Pal rods. It is difficult to believe until you try one, but the 4ft 6in true temper solid steel rods in the stiffer version cast well and have provided me with many memorable evenings in Canada, fishing for Pike on the surface with Heddon Crazy Crawlers.  A longer, lighter rod will be necessary to cast ¼ oz lures. Also a narrow spool reel such as a Shakespeare Sportcast #1973 D with an 8 or 10 pound line will make casting ¼ oz far easier. A light Bamboo rod in 6-foot length will work best. Bamboo baitcasting rods are a pleasure to use but require more care than most are willing to give. I can say that I will never take one night fishing again after breaking my best one on a lily pad. I do all of my ¼ oz casting with Silaflex or Conolon brown fiber hollow glass rods from the mid-1950’s. These rods are fairly slow action and cast well with older reels. Softer rods and light lines require very sharp hooks to be effective.

On the subject of lures I can only speak from my own experience. On Indian Lake when I was a boy the Shakespeare Mouse ruled the day. I have owned more than one hundred Shakespeare Mice and tested most of them. What I have to say about them is true of most old plugs. Being wood, no two are alike. Some mice run only on the top, some a foot or so down and a few go down four feet or more. Some have a beautiful, erratic, choppy wiggle; many don’t. I bring this up to illustrate the point that one must be selective in choosing old lures to fish with. I have learned to look not only for the size, style and color of plug I want to fish with, but ones that are proven fish catchers. I look for the ones that have deep grooves worn in their bellies from countless hours of swimming with the hooks dragging across the bottom of the lure. My reasoning is that anything someone used that much must be a winner. It is a strategy that proves right much of the time. Finding a “winner” is half the fun. One of the worst condition Shakespeare Mice I ever found was so bad I stripped off the paint and a year later painted it orange while working on another project that called for orange paint. I did not use the lure for a couple of years until one day when fishing was very slow indeed. Three very large bass were hooked almost immediately. This lure alone has accounted for so many bass since that day that it has a reputation with some whom I fish with on a regular basis. In 1997 I attended my first ever “Old Time Fishing Tackle Tournament” at Blind Pony Lake in Missouri. My fishing partner was none other than Warren Platt of Kansas City, the tournament host. All tackle was to be pre-1940. As we began the day I reached into my tackle box and brought out the orange mouse. Warren looked over his shoulder and sneered, ”you’re not going to use that are you? I don’t think one of those will work around here”. Now folks, Warren is from Missouri and you have to show him the obvious sometimes. After catching bass on my first and third casts he was quiet. After 25 minutes and 9 or 10 bass later, he was asking if I had another one of those baits he could use! I had plenty of Shakespeare mice, but none had the action, color, and soft landing characteristics of this particular plug.

There are thousands of older plugs to choose from. We’ve tried many and caught fish on most, but a list of those we use regularly for largemouth would include: