Bass Fishing Archives

In today’s Bass Fishing Archives video, Catching up with Todd Auten, we talk with Elite Series pro about why he goes to the National Fishing Tackle Collectors Club (NFLCC) meets, his long-time career in professional bass fishing, and how he came up with the idea to put a Horny Toad on a buzzbait. The NFLCC Pigeon Forge Meet is one of the best regional meets in the nation, especially if you’re interested in east Tennessee hand carved baits. Todd and his wife have attended this meet for the past five years to build on their collection of vintage lures, but they also attend to find hard-to-get east Tennessee hand carved crankbaits. Collectors of east Tennessee wood baits flock to this meet every year to show off their collections as well as buy and sell. According to Auten, it’s the best and really only place you can find these discontinued lures for a decent price. While I had the opportunity to talk with Todd about the NFLCC show, I also wanted to ask him how he came up with the idea to put a ZOOM Horny Toad on a buzz bait. It’s an awesome story in itself and one you’ll want to listen to. But the Autens didn’t just come to collect, they had a booth showing off one of Auten’s sponsor’s baits, Water Wood crankbaits. Water Wood crankbaits are constructed in South Carolina and made from Brazilian Marupa Pedra wood. Marupa Pedra is a light wood, a characteristic needed for crankbaits, but it’s main advantage is in its durability. I’ve fished these baits over the years and can attest that they can hold up to a lot of abuse. I hope you enjoy watching this video. website: https://www.bass-archives.com facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bassfishingarchives instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bassfishingarchives

In today’s video, Tennessee Toughy – Part Two, Steve Blazer covers a number of topics regarding his baits, their designs, and how the Tapp got its name. Blazer also goes into his relationship with Ed Chambers, owner of ZOOM baits and the maker of WEC crankbaits, as well as the sale of the company to Chambers. For those of you who are wood bait freaks, designers, or aspiring creators, his discussion on what went in to making his lures will shed a lot of light on how he came up with his lures as well as what he designed them to do. For example, his design criteria for the Tapp, was pretty tight, yet with the knowledge he’d gained from his previous bait designs and from tearing apart other baits, his nailed the bait on the first go. That’s impressive and shows how much Blazer paid attention to detail. I hope you enjoys the video. It isn’t often you get to sit down with a bait maker and get the juice. website: https://www.bass-archives.com facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bassfishingarchives Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bassfishingarchives

This week I’ve had the privilege of being at my first National Fishing Lure Collectors Club (NFLCC) meet in Pigeon Forge, TN. I’ve been a member of this club off and on for over ten years but have never had the chance to attend one of their shows. I’ll be writing more about the show and will post more videos in the coming weeks but today, I’d like to share with you a video interview I did with Tennessee Toughy Steve Blazer. Blazer started making balsawood crankbaits for himself because the baits he’d been using wouldn’t hold up to a day’s hard fishing. By the end of the day, he’d find his wooden crankbaits destroyed and in order to keep using them, he’d have to repair them to use on the next trip. When it got to the point where the baits could no longer be repaired, that when he figured he could build a better bait, one that would last more than a day’s hard fishing. Enter the Tennessee Toughy crankbait. Blazer started with no knowledge of crankbait design, other than what he’d seen from repairing his store-bought baits. With that knowledge, and some spare bills retrieved from his worn out store-bought baits, he spent time designing his first bait. After some work at the drafting board and fiddling, he got his first bait to run. That was his first success, as he knew if her could get a bait to run straight and to the depth he intended, he’d have this design thing down. His next bait, known only as the Tennessee Toughy with the dorsal fin, was the first bait he’d sell to the local tackle shops. Maybe a few hundred were made. His next bait, which he referred to as, “the bait that looks like nothing in nature,” had what could only be described as a pot belly. It was fashioned from 3/8-inch thick balsawood and had a swooping back coupled with a potbelly. He didn’t intend on designing the body that way, but for the bait to be weighted right, that’s what was required. That bait also made it to the local tackle stores, again only known as a Tennessee Toughy. Blazer’s third bait design would include what would end up becoming one of his signatures, the coffin bill. This bait was a big departure from the pot belly lure, having a shape that resembled a shad remarkably well. Known as the pointed-nose Tennessee Toughy, this bait was a deeper diver than any bait he’d designed before. It too made the tackle store shelves and played the leading role in winning the 1993 BASS Masters Classic on Lake Logan Martin. But the bait that gave him star status, and his designs' first Classic win (1984 Arkansas River) was his fourth design, again, only known as a Tennessee Toughy at first. This bait was specifically designed to consistently hit the 10-foot depths and quickly became a staple bait of the Carolina cranking crowd. Gerald Beck would run them from Tennessee to the Carolinas and one of the anglers he gave the bait to was an angler by the name of Ronnie Tapp. The crankbait brought Tapp so much success that it became known as the Tapp crankbait to the local Carolina tournament crowd. This is Part One of the story of Steve Blazer, developer of Tennessee Toughy crankbaits and how his baits have gone from fishing tools that held up to the rigors of angling, to that of legend. We hope you enjoy the video. website: https://www.bass-archives.com facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bassfishingarchives Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bassfishingarchives

If you’re a Japanese lure afficionado, you’re going to like today’s video post, Hiroshi Nishine – Nishine Lure Works. Hiroshi’s company has been around since 2006 but it has only been in the last few years that Nishine Lure Works has been noticed in the U.S. Hiroshi’s story is much deeper than him moving to Canada to start a lure manufacturing company and we, along with Hiroshi, are going to tell you that story. A Dream Hiroshi Nishine was born in Tottori, Japan in 1971. Since he was a child, he’s been obsessed with fishing but when he turned 12 years old, he became fixated on lure fishing and lure making. The lure making at first wasn’t because he wanted to craft something, but, like most 12-year-olds, he didn’t have the money to buy lures. He started down the path of lure making by buying a book written by one of Japan’s most famous lure designers, Kazuma Izumi. From this book he taught himself the techniques of Izumi and continued making lures through junior high and high school. Upon graduating high school, Hiroshi had no desire to go to college. He just wanted to make lures, but he had no idea how to go about it and knew that not many lure designers could make a living at the craft. So, like any 18-year-old kid, he worked enough to get $1,000 and set off on his bicycle with a bean bag, tent and one rod to fish all over northern Japan to learn all he could about the fish. During his travels Hiroshi made a fateful stop at a tackle shop in the town of Shizuoka where he found a lure made by legendary Japanese lure crafter Tatsumi Endo. In Hiroshi’s eye, the lure was perfect and so realistic. In his heart he wanted to make lures of that quality. He purchased the lure with what little money he had. Eventually Hiroshi ran out of money and had to come to grips with getting a job. He turned to construction work but shortly after he started, he asked himself, “what am I doing? I want to be a lure builder.” He opened his tacklebox and there it was, Mr. Endo’s red crankbait staring at him. The next day Hiroshi wrote Mr. Endo a letter asking to be his apprentice. Soon after receiving his letter, Mr. Endo called Hiroshi and told him that he doesn’t take on apprentices. Hiroshi didn’t let that defeat stop him. He continued to write Mr. Endo and finally after three attempts, Mr. Endo accepted Hiroshi as his first apprentice. The Long Road Once Hiroshi got to Mr. Endo’s house, he realized he had no money and no place to live. As an apprentice, he would not be paid, his payment was in the knowledge he would gain from his master. Hiroshi begged Mr. Endo to allow him to sleep in a rundown minivan that was in Mr. Endo’s backyard and there his full apprenticeship started. The year was 1990 and he was 19 years old. For two and a half years, Hiroshi slept in the van and worked with Mr. Endo learning all he could from the master lure maker. Then, Mr. Endo moved his shop. In that move, Hiroshi was allowed to move into the shop, which was no bigger and 30 feet by 30 feet. The shop would become his home and workplace for the next four years. When Hiroshi first signed up for the apprenticeship, Mr. Endo told him it would be a ten-year commitment. By the end of 6 -1/2 years, Mr. Endo told Hiroshi he should establish his own company. With that he was given a certificate and Hiroshi was on his way. Dream Rush Once he was freed from his apprenticeship, Hiroshi travelled to world famous lake Biwa to start his company. There he found a small house 50 steps from the lake that would become his shop and home. With the lake so close, he was able to fish nearly every day while designing his own lures at his newly established Nishine Workshop. The year was 1996. His first baits were all carved out of balsa and were sold under the Dream Rush brand. He made walking topwater baits as well as minnow lures. Here’s a link to some of his creations. In order to read in English, use Google Translate. (https://kuma3.tv/?cat=115) His Dream Rush tackle brand would only last two years as Hiroshi had the opportunity to move to British Columbia, Canada with a friend who owned a hotel and wanted to break into the fishing tourism market. But there were many obstacles Hiroshi would have to overcome in his new country. Namely he didn’t speak any English. His difficulty with the language wasn’t the worst, though. After three months living in the hotel his friend owned, she lost the hotel and Hiroshi was out on his own in a foreign country where he didn’t speak the language nor have any money. So, what does a lure designer do when he finds himself in that position? He makes lures, of course. For the rest of the story, head to: https://www.bass-archives.com/hiroshi-nishine-nishine-lure-works website: https://www.bass-archives.com facebook: facebook.com/bassfishingarchives instagram: instagram.com/bassfishingarchives

It isn’t often you get to witness three legends in the industry talk about the beginning days of competitive bass fishing. Last week we featured Ray Scott, Bobby Murray, and Bill Dance whooping it up at the 2014 Bassmaster Classic, talking old times around Doyle Hodgin’s 1971 Bass Masters Classic boat. This week we’re back at the Classic, but this time it’s 2015. Again, three stalwarts of the sport gather around Hodgin’s boat and talk the old times. In Murray, Price, and Klein Talk History, venerable writer Steve Price talks with Bobby Murray and Gary Klein about their history with the sport. The video starts off with Price talking to Murray about his 1971 Classic win and what that meant to him with respect to becoming a professional angler. Murray takes the lead and continues talking about how sponsors came into the sport and the growth that occurred after that event. Murray then contrasts his 1971 win and his 1978 Classic win on Mississippi’s Ross Barnett Reservoir. The Classic had grown from a mystery lake format with very little coverage to a drive-through weigh-in that fans and media knew about two weeks prior to the event. Price then turns to Klein and poses the same question. Klein got his start in 1979 and won his first event the same year. In fact, Klein would gone on in his rookie year and nearly win the AOY. He lost to Roland Martin by less than two pounds. Both Klein and Murray discuss the payouts back in the day – how meager they were – and how they’ve gone up orders of magnitude since. The conversation then goes to how the competition has changed over the years from a field filled with only a few stars to every angler having the tools to win. Klein talks about information transfer in the old days being either Bassmaster magazine or you learned on your own. Bait companies started making better, more innovative baits, and Bassmaster TV came on the air. Soon every angler willing to invest the time was learning at a much faster pace. Then there’s the talk of technology and its effect on the sport. It all started with GPS and the fact that anglers now had the ability to mark waypoints on offshore structure. This leveled the playing field even flatter than any of the prior developments. The video then switches to how Klein got into the sport as a 15-year-old and how he followed his dream when he was 19 years old. With $1,000 in his pocket, he went and chased his dream. The video is a good look back at the old days when professional bass fishing was all a gamble and developed into the sport it is today. Website: https://www.bass-archives.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bassfishingarchives Instagram: https://instagram.com/bassfishingarchives

This is a video shot at the 2014 Bassmaster Classic held on Lake Guntersville and host city Birmingham, Alabama. The video consists of Doyle Hodgin’s original 1971 Bass Masters Classic boat, an inboard/outboard Rebel Fastback restored to original condition, and features Ray Scott, Bill Dance and Bobb Murray. Murray fished that first Classic out of boat number 10 and won the inaugural event beating Tom Mann of Eufaula, AL by just under six pounds. For his efforts, Murray won $10,000 cash in the winner-take-all event. At the start of the video, Bobby Murray can be seen at the side of the boat standing in amazement of the memories. Ken Duke and Doyle Hodgin are behind Murray as Ray Scott joins a few frames later. Ray and Murray begin to talk about the day after that Classic when they went back out on Lake Mead for a photo shoot and in typical lake Mead fashion, the lake whipped up and almost broke the boat in heavy seas. The story of the gas tank getting ripped out from under the front deck and Ray Scott saying, “This is the worst bass boat ever,” gives you a good idea of the bass boat industry of the day. At this point, Bill Dance, who is out of frame, gets Ray’s attention and Ray tells him he doesn’t deserve to be near the boat since he didn’t fish that Classic. Bill then comes up and the stories start flying as three old friends remember the days when they were making bass fishing a real industry. I hope you enjoy this video, one of the last that Ray Scott would be seen in.

The lowly spinner blade may just be an accessory to a myriad of baits bass anglers use, but without them, there would be no flash and no vibration. What’s a spinnerbait or a tail spin without a blade? Not much more than a hunk of lead. Blades have been around for more than a hundred years and to get a good idea of their history, I sat down with Hildebrandt pro Bernie Schultz and Jarod Higginbotham of Yakima Baits. Today we’re going to learn a little bit about spinner history with Bernie Schultz and Hildebrandt. Hildebrandt got their start in 1899 through patriarch John J. Hildebrandt. Hildebrandt was owned by the family into the early 2000s before selling out to Yakima Bait, another family-owned business. Hildebrandt started with straight shaft spinners and then ventured into other forms of spinners. Where Hildebrandt really shined, though, was in the way he made his blades. He stamped them out of thick brass and then plated them with pure gold, silver, and genuine copper. The thick metal base coupled with the pure elemental silver and gold made for a blade that wouldn’t tarnish and would hold up to hitting rocks and other debris. On top of the use of pure gold, silver, and copper, the plating of the base blade is done the same way it was done 100 years ago. The plating is thicker than the competition and the cup on the blades puts out a tremendous amount of vibration. I hope you enjoy this look back into a little history of the lowly spinner blade. Website: https://bass-archives.com Facebook: https://facebook.com/bassfishingarchives Instagram: https://instagram.com/bassfishingarchives Yakima Bait: https://yakimabait.com Bernie Schultz Pro Angler: https://www.bernieschultzfishing.com/

For those of you who know Shaw Grigsby, you know he’s been one of the sport’s sight fishing gurus since the inception of the tactic. Today at ICAST 2022 I had the chance to sit down with Shaw and discuss the evolution of site fishing and get his perspective on how it’s progressed throughout the years. Shaw goes into how he started site fishing springtime fish and that conversation leads into today’s forward-facing sonar. Website: https://bass-archives.com/ Facebook: https://facebook.com/bassfishingarchives Instagram: https://instagram.com/bassfishingarchives

If you haven’t heard of Buck Perry, you’re either very new to the sport or you just don’t read – to which you’re probably not reading this and therefore, that comment won’t offend you. For those of you who have heard of him, though, you know he is credited with being one of the forefathers of modern bass fishing and especially credited with the way we all approach deep-water structure fishing. In today’s video post, Elwood “Buck” Perry 1974, we’re going to look at some of Perry’s ads and media from 1965 through the ‘70s and discuss some of his early work. It’s not my intent to start an argument in regards to who it was that first began to venture away from the shoreline and probe the depths for bass. What is certain is Perry was one of the first pioneers of structure fishing – he actually coined the phrase. Stories of him wrecking bass on fished-out waters throughout the United States can easily be found by doing a simple search of his name in whatever Internet search engine you prefer. A few days ago, I was going through an old set of Fishing Facts magazines and ran into this ad featuring Buck Perry and his book, “Spoonplugging – Your Guide to Lunker Catches.” What I found intriguing about the ad is its headline, “The Great Majority of Fishermen are not interested in this ad… BUT If you believe that fishing should be something more than a lifetime of frustration and a lack of success, this may interest you.” This ad is from 1974 and was placed in Fishing Facts magazine. That’s six years after Ray Scott started the Bass Anglers Sportsman Society and Bassmaster Magazine. It was also 11 years after the start of Fishing News – the precursor to Fishing Facts – both of which published numerous articles instructing anglers to venture away from the shoreline cover and fish deeper structure. Perry was also a frequent contributor as well as a topic constantly covered in both publications. In the ad, it talks about Perry’s original booklet, “Spoonplugging For Freshwater Bass And All Gamefish.” The author of the ad introduces Perry as, “the greatest living fisherman.” The author continues on to talk about how much it costs to hire a guide for a day and to compare that to the price of the book, which was $9.90, plus 40¢ for wrapping and shipping. WI residents must add another 40¢ for state sales tax, no ups no downs no extras. Does it seem like a hard sell? Maybe. What grabs me the most is why they would have had to push people that hard to sell the book. In my eyes, even back in 1974, I wanted to read anything that had to do with learning more about bass, their habits and where to catch them. You don’t need to make me feel incapable or inept – I already feel that way most of the time – to buy something that’s going to elevate my knowledge and hopefully increase the odds of catching more bass. A few pages past the ad is another ad for Northwoods Tackle, Fishing Facts tackle store, featuring all of Perry’s Spoonplugs and several colors. These ads prompted me to get out my Spoonplugging books and pamphlets and take a look at the, I’d hadn’t read them for some time and glancing through the pages really brought back some memories. It also sparked the thought of a recent conversation I had with Rhodney Honeycutt about Buck and his methods It was always my thought and understanding that Perry only trolled. I asked Honeycutt about this when we met a few weeks ago and he straightened me out on that. Evidently if Perry found a concentration of fish, by catching more than one on the same path over a point, for example, he’d anchor on the point and begin throwing his spoonplugs to the area. But, Honeycutt said, “he’d only use spoonplugs. He wouldn’t use other baits like plastic worms, spoons or jigs.” In the next few months, we’ll bring you a review of Perry’s books, many of which are still available for purchase at his website, and shed some light on just how forward thinking he was. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy the video and the look back on Buck Perry, the father of structure fishing. For more on bass fishing history, please check out our site at: https://www.bass-archives.com Our Facebook Page at: https://www.facebook.com/bassfishingarchives Our Instagram Page at: https://www.instagram.com/bassfishingarchives If you'd like to check out Buck Perry's Spoonplug site, you can find it at: https://www.bucksspoonplugs.com/

Bass Magazines 1960s and 70s In today’s video we’re going to cover is a fairly representative sample of some of the bass magazines available from the late 1960s through the 70s, who owned the magazines and maybe flip through some of their pages to see what they looked like and how they compared to the cornerstone of bass magazines, Bassmaster. Prior to the 1960s and even into the mid-60s, if you were a died-in-the-wool bass angler, you only had a couple of options to learn the craft. One, you could read some of the books that were in print like Jason Lucas’ Lucas on Bass, or you could subscribe to one of the Big Three; Sports Afield, Field and Stream, or Outdoor Life. The trouble with the books was they were sometimes difficult to understand the concepts being put forth. The trouble with the magazines was they covered all aspects of fishing and hunting. You may go months without a single article related to bass fishing. It was definitely not an efficient way to learn the craft. Then in 1963, a department store clerk by the name of Bill Binkelman started a newsletter called Fishing News. It was printed on newsprint and had between two and four newspaper-sized pages. Fishing News was a great step forward is disseminating fishing information but the problems with it were, it was short in length, and it was multi-specie. Southern bass anglers weren’t interested in how to catch walleye, pike or muskie. Fishing News would eventually turn into Fishing Facts magazine in the early 70s and from that would spawn the In-Fisherman, Ron and Al Lindner’s amazing publication. Still, the problem was they were still multi-species magazines. Then in 1968 a former insurance salesman and recent bass tournament organizer named Ray Scott turned the industry on its ear and came out with BASSMaster Magazine. BASSMaster Magazine was the first bass-centric magazine. At the beginning it was a staple-bound quarterly magazine with roughly 40 pages, but by 1970 it had turned into a bi-monthy magazine sporting close to 80 pages of bass catching wisdom. Each issue was packed with articles written by expert anglers of the day, and in many instances, the pros that were on the Bassmaster Trail. But BASSMaster Magazine would get some competition soon after it started from others who wanted to copy the success of Scott, some even thinking they could topple him from his lofty peak. THE LUNKER HOLE The first magazine to come out after Bassmaster was The Lunker Hole in 1970. Published by the Bass Casters Angling Society, the magazine had pretty much the same premise as Bassmaster. It was owned by Art Reid, Bob Mason and Jan Swetz. In the early days, they stated that they were not in competition with BASS and just wanted to provide anglers in the Midwest with a magazine and tournament circuit that would cater to them. The Lunker Hole lasted from 1970 until shortly after 1980. It was a great magazine but, in the end, they did try to compete with BASS and it didn’t end well. WESTERN BASS The next bass-centric magazine to come out was Western Bass Magazine. Started in 1973, the first issues were a newsletter on newsprint but by 1975, the newspaper had turned into a full-up glossy magazine. Like The Lunker Hole, Western Bass magazine catered to the western U.S. angler. Yes, there were some articles that covered national topics, but the nuts and bolts was teaching anglers the western way of catching bass. Western Bass magazine changed to U.S. Bass in May of 1984. From there they went bankrupt due to bad money practices and were rebought by Western Outdoor News, the organization who originally owned Western Bass. Today it exists only as the WON Bass Trail. AMERICAN BASS FISHERMAN The next magazine to come out was Florida Bass Fisherman, which quickly changed its name to American and Florida Bass Fisherman, which then changed to just American Bass Fisherman, all within a period of months in 1973/74. This magazine and tournament organization was owned by George Oates – who was an early competitor on the Bassmaster Trail. Oates seriously thought he could outdo Ray Scott. The masthead of the magazine had writers and anglers like Al Lindner, John Fox, Tony Mack, Don Wirth, Larry Green, and a host of others. By the end of 1976, George Oates had been put in jail for embezzling money from the organization and rigging his tournaments. The organization went on with Wayne Dyer and Don Williams and was later sold to National Bass Association in late 1978. We’ll touch on National Bass in a minute. For the rest of the story, head on over to bass-archives.com You can also find us on: Facebook: facebook.com/bassfishingarchives Instagram: instagram.com/bassfishingarchives #bassfishinghistory #bassfishingmagazines #Bassmaster #bassmastermagazine #rayscott #bobcobb #westernbassmagazine #thelunkerhole #basscastersassociation #americanbassfisherman #americanangler #nationalbassassociation

Today’s video is a look back at our early history in bass fishing. A time before graphite rods, high-tech reels were an ABU 5000, and there were no power poles or even paper graphs. This is an event, the first event to be held in any of the Carolinas, that features as many runabouts as it does bass boats. No livewells, no kill switches and a tournament day that lasted 13 hours or more. The video, Lake Norman 1970 with Rhodney Honeycutt is a good example of what competitive bass fishing was like in its infancy. But let me give you a little background of how I came to be trusted with this video. This past March at Bassmaster Classic 52, I was lucky enough to be able to sit down and talk with Bob Cobb and COL (ret) Jim Kientz over breakfast about the early days of bass fishing. That conversation is one I will never forget and one I will share with you all at some point. At the end of our discussion, Jim reached into his pocket, looked at Bob and handed me an envelope. In the envelope was a small drive and note written on the front. The note said, “Lake Norman Video. 1st Major Bass Tournament Held in North or South Carolina.” I was a bit taken aback. I opened the envelope further and saw another note. That note said, “1970 Lake Norman, NC. 1st Major Bass Tournament in NC/SC. Narrated by Rhodney Honeycutt, son of Hall of Fame Member Blake Honeycutt. I asked Bob and Jim where they got the video and they told me it had been given to them a couple days earlier by a gentleman named Lenny Smathers. Smathers is a close friend of Rhodney Honeycutt’s and the Honeycutt family. If you’re not familiar with the name Honeycutt, let me fill you in. First off, Blake Honeycutt, Rhodney’s dad, holds the all-time record for the total weight for a 15-fish/day limit in a B.A.S.S. tournament with 138-06. Blake is also an inductee of the Bass Fishing Hall of Fame and played a major role in the development of Humminbird Electronics. More important, Blake had passed away the day before and that news had reached the Classic. I asked Bob and Jim what they wanted me to do with it. They said, “we want you to share this and make sure it doesn’t get lost to time.” Chills went down my spine. After our meeting I went to the final day of the Classic Expo and then the weigh-in. After weigh-in I went to my room, sat down at the computer, and plugged the drive into the slot. What my eyes saw was raw footage of an event that happened just after I’d turned 6 years old. It was amazing to see the old boats, the anglers, the lake, and the awards. The narration, done by Rhodney, gave a good explanation of what happened in the event and who was fishing it. The video was too special just to throw out on YouTube and not have the back story. On the way home, not wanting to bother Rhodney during this time of grief, I called Lenny Smathers. Lenny and I talked and agreed it’d be best to wait for a while before contacting Rhodney. A month of so later, I got on the phone and gave Rhodney a call. That call led to numerous emails until we were finally able to meet face to face. At that meeting, I asked him about that event and if he could give us a little background of how it went down. Here is what he had to say. For the rest of the story, please go to: website: bass-archives.com facebook: facebook.com/bassfishingarchives Instagram: instagram.com/bassfishingarchives

This video was recorded back at the 2014 FLW Cup. At the time, I had an opportunity to talk with Larry Nixon and Jay Yelas about a number of topics about bass fishing. Hopefully you’ve watched some of those interviews from that day on the channel. The last conversation I had with them was regarding on-the-water-etiquette and how it’s changed over the years. The interview, although from 2014, is still pertinent today. Let listen to Nixon and Yelas talk etiquette. Here’s a scenario. You’ve spent 3 days practicing for an event and have located a number of good spots that are holding fish. The first day of the event starts and you head to your best spot, an offshore ledge that only yesterday was holding what you think are the winning fish. As you approach the spot, you see another angler sitting smack dab on your area. Within 15 minutes another four boats come in and drop their trolling motors. What you thought was an area you’d have all to yourself has just turned into a “new” community hole. Back in the day there were some unwritten rules in tournament angling. Here’s a short list of three unwritten rules from the 70s through the 90s: 1) If you saw someone on a spot you wanted to fish, you had two choices. One was to ask the angler on the spot if it was okay for you to move in and fish. Option two was to move on and wait until the area was free. Most professional anglers at the time would relinquish the spot until it opened up. 2) If you practiced there, you could claim that spot as yours. If you didn’t practice there, you better not move in on someone during competition for fear of being labeled a hole jumper. 3) If you were leading an event or had the chance to win, others stayed away from you in respect. Again, this is just a short list of the rules of etiquette in competitive bass fishing from days past. The on-the-water etiquette problems today are manifested by a number of factors. One is we don’t live in the days of topo maps and flashers. Everyone who can afford a GPS unit with side-scan, down imaging, forward-facing sonar and mapping software can find spots only a few anglers knew existed 20 years ago. Two, anglers these days do little actual fishing during practice – especially in events where offshore will play a part – opting to graph an entire lake looking for schools of fish. They do this in fear of catching a good fish in front of a passer-by and also not to spook a school. Does metering a spot give you the right to claim it your own come tournament day? Third, and maybe the biggest factor that has contributed to on-the-water problems, is the payouts have become so big that anglers are willing to risk friendships, sponsors and their credibility to make a check. Times have changed and we no longer live in the 70s, 90s or even 00s, but the controversy on the water has reached an all-time high. No one owns the water in which we compete but there has to be some sort of happy medium which allows us to compete, while at the same time, not make enemies. What are your thoughts regarding on-the-water-etiquette today and what’s the solution to the problem? Website: bass-archives.com Facebook: facebook.com/bassfishingarchives Instagram: instagram.com/bassfishingarchives

I’ve been an ABU fan nearly my whole life. My first casting reel at the age of 12 was a 5000C. From there, it was all downhill. I’m not sure how many ABU reels I’ve owned over my life but one of my favorite models was the 1500C. And this reel is the subject of today’s post and video – ABU Garcia 1500 Super Tune. Before I get into this particular reel, let me give you some of its background and why it was so popular in the southwest. Finesse was the name of the game when I was growing up and the reel was perfect for the small 4- and 5-inch worms we’d throw in the southern California lakes and reservoirs. With a 1/16- to 3/16-ounce worm weight and a 4-inch worm, it was nothing to make a cast of 40 yards or more due to the feather weight of the spool. More importantly, was the reel could easily accommodate 6-pound line without fear of the line going behind the spool. You couldn’t do that with a 4000- or 5000-series reel – even with 8-pound test. Coupled with a 5-foot 6-inch pistol grip rod, usually a graphite or boron rod, the total mass of the combo was near nothing for the time. You were finesse fishing and it really felt like it. In fact, the spinning outfits of the day weighed more than a light boron casting rod with a 1500C on it. But the reel wasn’t only designated for fishing small worms. It was great for fishing jigs and even small crankbaits like the Bagley’s Honey B or Number 11 Floating Rapala. These reels were the workhorse of the southwest. For all of it’s attributes, it did have one. The reel, even with a 4.7:1 gear ratio, could only bring in 15.6 inches of line per turn of the handle. This became a big problem in two ways. The first was after a fish was hooked, if it headed towards the boat, you couldn’t catch up with it. The same was true for vertical fishing. Doodling in waters 35 to over 60 feet deep was common practice in the region. Hook a fish directly below the boat and they had a penchant for screaming to the surface. Once again, the inability of the reel to pick up line meant a lot of fish were lost. Then in the 90s Don Iovino started having custom gears made to increase the speed of the reel. He also had bearings placed where only bushings were used by ABU. At that point, I’d switched to using Shimano but I kept all my 1500Cs and 2500Cs. Over the course of time, I have always wanted to super tune at least one of them to bring it back to life. Today I’m fulfilling at least part of that dream. The reels have really taken hold in Japan over the last 20 years and because if that, there are Japanese companies that are dedicated to making tuner parts for these reels. One of these companies is Avail. If there’s a part that can be improved on an old ABU reel, Avail has either done it or they’re working on it. And they specialize in parts for the old 1500Cs and 2500Cs. Main gears and Pinion gears, worm gears with bearings, levelwind drive gears with bearings, and even 1/4-handle turn main gear bushings. They have it all. So, a few months ago I made a half-way plunge into the world of super tuned reels. I ordered new high-speed gears, a new levelwind assembly, new levelwind drive gear (cog), Hedgehog precision bearings, and a couple of other items. I passed on the custom handle and a few other items to complete the reel but figured this would give me an idea of how it would be improved on. I wasn’t disappointed. Below is the video of the unboxing of the parts as well as disassembling the reel, giving it a thorough cleaning, and then reassembling it. The change was amazing and has me itching to rebuild more of my stash. I hope you enjoy the video and if you’d like to see more like, this let me know below in the comments. website: bass-archives.com Facebook: facebook.com/bassfishingarchives Instgram: instagram.com/bassfishingarchives If you're interested in checking out all that Avail offers you can find them at https://www.avail.jp. They were very helpful in picking out the parts I needed and they recently got PayPal so paying is an easy process. I ordered the parts and they were here in less than a week. One word of caution is Avail manufactures most of their own parts. They only make a certain amount of parts runs per year. If you see they're out of a certain part, contact them via the website to find out when parts will made and get on the waiting list.

In 1973, the Bassmaster record for big fish was set by Bob Tyndall with a 12-13 largemouth taken from the Rodman Pool in the Florida Invitational held on the St John’s River. That record stood for just over 24 years and was a record many probably thought would never be broken. Well, as with most records, it was finally broken in 1997 at Lake Richland-Chambers in Texas during the 1997 Megabucks event. The angler to finally break the record was Bassmaster Elite Series pro, Mark Menendez. Although the record would only stand for about two years, it was broken by Mark Tyler in 1999 on the California Delta, it, again, was a record many thought would never be broken. Back in 2014, at a Lew’s Writers’ Retreat, I was able to sit down with Mark and he told me about that fish. In the video below, Menendez recalls the event and more specifically the day he caught the giant. We hope you enjoy this look back in bass fishing history. We’d also like to thank Ed Moes for recording the story. website: bass-archives.com Facebook: facebook.com/bassfishingarchives Instagram: instagram.com/bassfishingarchives

Every angler wishing to become a pro dreams of the day they can fish off of someone else’s dime. But what’s it take to get there? In the old days, anglers fished hard and let their scores do the talking for them. Today, though, it seems the new crop of anglers are doing it differently. With social media, the game has changed dramatically over the course of just the past five years. No longer are professional anglers the only ones being sought after by companies to promote their products. It seems any John or Jane with an ability in front of a camera and 50,000 followers on any of the platforms can get sponsored. Don’t get me wrong, folks like Matt Allen and Tim Little (Tactical Bassin), Oliver Ngy (Big Bass Dreams), Kristine Fisher and others have solid channels that you can learn from. But there is also a plethora of others out there who are akin to the shock jock of the 80s and 90s who rely on a Jackass approach to drive viewers to their channels or feeds. Over the years the fishing industry has grown into a multi-billion-dollar industry. Surely there’s room for Joe YouTuber to be a part of it. When it comes down to it, as big as the industry is monetarily, the industry is quite small. People are no longer willing to work a show for a pack of worms. Instead, they create a few videos, shorts, or reels, post them on some form of social media and then expect someone to sponsor them for their “influence.” At the FLW Cup in 2014, I had the opportunity to talk with Jay Yelas and Larry Nixon and asked them how they got into the sport and how they accrued their laundry list of sponsors. You may be surprised how they came about getting sponsors and what their recommendations are for anglers wanting to go down the sponsorship route. In the end, it’s all about performance. Today that performance may not be in tournaments – it could be on your own platform. But the bottom line is, you have to perform well and have a persona that a company would want to back. Click on the video below to see what Jay and Larry had to say. It’s good solid advice.

We all remember our first bass – or at least the first bass we set out to catch. The memory always holds a deep place in our hearts. But just because bass pros make their living at catching bass doesn’t mean the thought of their first largemouth or smallmouth doesn’t bring back a flood good memories. In fact, it was usually that first fish that paved the way for them choosing their profession. Back in 2014 at the FLW Cup, I had the chance to briefly talk with Dave Lefebre between his speaking engagements. In that time, I asked him what got him interested and hooked on bass fishing. For Lefebre, it was all about his first fish and how it changed him. He goes on to talk about how he would sneak books into his room at night to read. He also went so far as to stuff his text books at school with Bassmaster or In-Fisherman magazines so he could read them without getting caught. He’d also pretend he was a pro on the water of his small home lake. Lefebre’s first fish was on a floating Rapala – a company he is now sponsored by. Click on the video below to listen as Dave recounts that fish and how it got him hooked. facebook: facebook.com/bassfishingarchives Instagram: instagram.com/bassfishingarchives

This video was recorded in 2014 at ICAST. I look forward to events such as ICAST because it brings everyone together in one setting no matter what trail they fish. At these events I’ve seen Roland Martin and I’ve seen Scott Martin, but rarely have I ever seen them at the same event or if they were, I’d never actually seen them standing together. I’m sure it’s tough on both of them, being pulled in every-which direction due to sponsor obligations, business meetings and signings. But at ICAST 2014 in Orlando, I was able to get the two of them together for a really cool talk. A little back story. Two years prior to this show, I found a picture of Roland and Scott in a 1980 Bassmaster Magazine. The picture consisted of Roland rowing a jon boat, four-year-old Scott sitting in his lap and they’re both looking to the side. I have wanted to do a story on this picture because to me it represents something so important in life – a father and son spending time together on the water. For two years I waited hoping to see either one of them and talk with them about it. Well, on Friday of ICAST that year, I walked by the 3 Legends booth and saw Scott and Roland together. My wife had my computer so I turned tail and ran back to the media area to retrieve the computer. She must have thought I was crazy when I grabbed it without warning, just saying, “I just saw Scott and Roland together, I need to show them the picture.” I ran back to the booth and thankfully they were both still there. I waited until they were done and Roland saw me. He asked how I was and I just opened the laptop. Roland saw the picture first. The look on his face was that of being in shock. Then Scott saw the picture. Have you ever had chills run through your body? That was the feeling I had as I watched them digest the picture. Neither of them had ever seen it. After a few minutes of looking at the picture we all agreed to come back and do an interview about the picture. That video interview can be seen below. Roland and Scott, thanks for your time and thanks for talking with me about your past. Sorry about the Audio everyone. It was the middle of the show and impossible to find a quiet place.

In this video post, MLF Bass Pro Tour angler Stephen Browning talks about his 1996 Red Man All-American win on the Arkansas River. He looks back on the event, one that was held essentially in his backyard. Local knowledge has a history of killing locals in big events like the Bassmaster Classic or Redcrest, but Browning used his history with the river and knowledge of a pattern that still works at that time of year today as well as it did back then and before. Browning knew of a creek gut that ran amongst some sand bars that had logs and other debris on the ledges. He didn’t practice in the area for fear that someone else would see him and catch on the to area. The first day he was boat number 5 in the first flight. Still not wanting anyone to see him, he waited as all the boats from flight one left and then waited for the second flight of boats to leave. Once the boats had cleared the area, he went over to his logs and immediately started catching fish. By the end of the day, he had five good Arkansas River bass in the well that would put him in second place. The second and last day of competition he woke up to rainy weather – not the best when you’re targeting logs that are barely visible. His first pass produced only one fish and caused him to get a bit antsy. He made another run back through the gut and caught three more fish including a 4-pounder he’d lost the day before. With little time left in the day, he made a run to a rip-rap bank and, well, I’ll leave that for you to see on the video. website: www.bass-archives.com facebook: www.facebook.com/bassfishingarchives.com instagram: instagram.com/bassfishingarchives

I know this is a fishing site but this is a story I’ve wanted to do for a long time – one that actually involves fishing in a couple ways. I’m not sure if you remember back to the year 2003 when ESPN ran the “Survivor-type” wilderness show Wild Rules. The show only lasted one season – when the former owner of BASS was testing the waters with outdoors-style shows. I’m not all that interested in those types of reality shows but I got drawn into this one after the first episode I saw. I missed the first episode but caught the second round. As I was watching, I saw this guy who looked awfully familiar. As I watched, I kept saying to myself, “that looks like bass pro Stephen Browning.” Finally, one of the contestants called out his name – it was Browning. At that point, I couldn’t miss an episode. As the weeks rolled on and Browning stayed alive, the plot got even more interesting. He utilized his angling and topographical map-reading skills to overcome some stout opposition and rode it out to a victory – a $100,000 one at that. I’d always wanted to talk with Browning about that show and his win and in the summer of 2014, at a Lew’s Writers’ Conference, I got that chance. It’s not fishing in the pure sense, but it is fishing in general as well as a whole lot of strategy. Something every professional angler must be good at. Browning is no longer an Elite Series angler, having left to move over to MLF in 2019. I hope you like what he has to say about his experience.

Back in November 2014, I was invited to an event in Florence, AL by former Elite Series angler Jimmy Mason. The event was to be held Friday night and would feature Alabama fishing greats, Bill Huntley, Ray Gresham and Tom Smith. The trio, sitting at the head of a conference room in the Florence/Lauderdale, AL Visitor’s Center, told stories of the old days of fishing in Alabama and on the Tennessee River impoundments. It was an awesome meeting and I hope you’ve taken some time to watch them over the last three weeks. Also, just by chance, we had the opportunity to go by the American Bass Anglers Weekend Bass Series Ray Scott Championship in Decatur, AL and check out the show. There, for his namesake event, was the Bass Boss himself, Ray Scott. I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to talk with him. A lot of people have probably read how he got the idea to start the Bass Anglers Sportsman Society but to me it’s a story that needs to be heard from Ray himself. Here in this video, Ray recalls his early life, bass tournaments prior to B.A.S.S. and that cold rainy day in Mississippi when he got the crazy thought of putting together an honest bass tournament. An idea that started an entire industry and put the environment first. To hear the story in full, click on the video below. If you’re interested in reading more about how he started B.A.S.S. click on these links for the full story we did back in 2012. Part One and Part Two. We hope you enjoy the video.

The last two weeks we posted the first two parts of a special event held at the Florence/Lauderdale Tourism Center in November 2014. The event brought together three of the original sticks on the Tennessee River, Bill Huntley, Ray Gresham and Tom Smith, to talk about their life experiences on the water during the early years of competitive fishing. Today’s post is the final episode of that get-together, Fish Tales Part 3. In this episode, Smith, Gresham and Huntley continue their ribbing of each other as they recall events that happened over the years. Huntley starts out with a prank he pulled on a local angler who never gave him credit for his fishing abilities. Then the conversation turns to questions from the attendees. The discussion starts with a couple questions to Huntley about his place in coming up with the black light for night fishing as well as his early experience tying flipping jigs for Dee Thomas. This opened a story by Gresham and his first experience flipping. They also talk about the old record tournament smallmouth limit (5 fish) of 27-plus pounds that came out of Pickwick back in the day as well as numerous 8- to 9-pound smallies taken over the years. The question was then posed what other early organizations the three fished. Huntley told the story of being at an early American Bass Fisherman event where tournament organizer George Oates was arrested by the FBI for fraud. Of the three, they fished many of the early tournament organizations to include Dixie Bass, National Bass, American Bass Fisherman, and Project Sports Inc. As the night goes on, Huntley talks about his turkey hunting exploits and a prank he pulled on a friend with a cormorant. It was an amazing night filled with stories. Of the three anglers Ray Gresham and Tom Smith both nearly missed qualifying for the Bass Masters Classic. Gresham was the first alternate for the 1973 event while Tom missed qualifying for one of the earlier Classics by eight points. In fact, Ray Gresham qualified for a number of Operation Bass Redman All-Americans over the years. We hope you enjoyed this series Fish Tales, put on by the Florence, Alabama Chamber of Commerce and the Florence/Lauderdale Tourism Center. If you missed the first two parts in this series, click on the links for Fish Tales Part 1 and Fish Tales Part 2.

Last week we posted the first part in this series on three Tennessee River Legends, Bill Huntley, Ray Gresham and Tom Smith. Today we have Fish Tales – Florence, Alabama Part Two for you. The event, hosted by the Florence, Alabama Chamber of Commerce at the Florence/Lauderdale Tourism Center, was moderated by Sam Moody on 14 November 2014. Fish Tales, as the event was called. Was designed to give credit to three of the most influential anglers at the time when competitive bass fishing was in its infancy and listen to some long-forgotten stories of times past. In this episode, Ray Gresham, Bill Huntley, and Tom Smith spend a lot of time trash talking each other all in the name of a good time. But amongst the trash talk you’ll see and feel the mutual respect they have for each other’s part in how they helped shape bass fishing to what it is today. The video starts out with Tom accusing Ray of selling him a broken tackle box and then telling him to take it elsewhere to get it replaced. Then the discussion moves to Ray, Bill and moderator Sam Moody talking about the Quad-Cities Bass Club and how it was the fourth club to affiliate with B.A.S.S. as a Chapter. Bill lays claim to have been a past president and Ray begs to differ. Tom, who owned one of the most renowned tackle shops in the region, tells the story of how he first met Bill. Anglers far and wide had been coming into his shop asking for Bumble Bee spinnerbaits, so Tom called Bill to get some. What Tom expected while driving to Bill’s “manufacturing facility” was a far cry from what he found himself driving up to when he arrived. Tom and Bill talk about their first introductions to Ray Scott, the Bass Anglers Sportsman Society and Bassmaster Magazine. Each encounter filled with words both of them wish they could recount. Through all the joking and the trash talk are stories of evading the Tennessee Highway Patrol, ringing goose necks with spinnerbaits, catching fish where they shouldn’t be, the pipeline spot that no one knew about, and unreliable wrist watches. Whether or not the stories are 100-percent accurate they give a good look back into the early days of the sport. More importantly they bring us all back to times when good ribbing and comradery didn’t offend anyone, more so it was a sign of respect. I hope you like Part Two of this series. Next week we’ll have the final episode. We hope you join us.

Back in November 2014 I had the opportunity to be a part of a really cool get-together sponsored by the Florence, Alabama Chamber of Commerce. The event, held at the new Florence/Lauderdale Tourism Center brought together three long-time Alabama anglers who’ve been involved with the bass fishing industry since its early days. Dubbed, Fish Tales, the two-hour affair featured Tennessee River legends Tom Smith, Ray Gresham and Bill Huntley, who told stories of how they got started bass fishing along with some pretty funny experiences along the way. Before the first video, though, let me introduce the subjects of the videos. Tom Smith (left side in the video) started fishing the Bassmaster Tour in 1973. His best finish was at the 1973 Florida Invitational (http://bass-archives.com/season-at-a-glance-bass-master-trail-1973-part-one) held at the St. Johns River where he finished in 22nd place. Smith is best known, though, as a local Florence, AL tackle store owner, one of the first to become a Bass Pro Shops affiliate, and the angler who got the bucktail jig going on the lower Tennessee River impoundments. Smith’s shop became the go-to-place for up-to-date information on what was happening on Wheeler, Pickwick and Wilson Reservoirs. His knowledge of the river made him one tough competitor on the local trails and one of the reasons he became a mentor to many aspiring bass anglers in the area. Ray Gresham (center in video) “was a stud,” says former Elite Series angler and Florence, AL guide Jimmy Mason. Gresham started his Bassmaster career in 1971 at the Ross Barnett All-American (http://bass-archives.com/season-at-a-glance-1971-bassmaster-trail-part-2) and placed 7th in that event. He then fished two more events in 1972, the Florida National and the Ross Barnett Rebel Invitational, and finished 16th and 8th, respectively in those events. In 1973 he fished three Bassmaster events; the Florida Invitational, The Rebel Invitational and the Seminole Lunker, and was the alternate for the 1973 Bassmaster Classic. In all Gresham fished 12 Bassmaster Tour events between 1971 and 1998, eight of which were top-50 showings and three top-10s. “He could have been as well-known as Roland Martin or Tom Mann,” Mason said. “He was that good. But he had a young family and couldn’t afford the time away from them.” Gresham continued to compete on other venues and qualified for the 1985 Red Man All-American. You see him wearing the jacket in the video. If you’d never heard of Smith or Gresham, there’s no doubt you’ve heard of Bill Huntley or his mark in the bass fishing industry. Huntley (right in the video) got his start in bass fishing in the early 60s. If you’re an early spinnerbait angler you may remember his bait company, Bumble Bee Spinnerbaits. But Huntley’s mark on the sport came when he and a couple associates started marketing one of the first motor kill switches. That invention led to the formation of T&H Marine, makers of the Hot Foot and more boating gadgets that you find standard on your bass boat than you can shake a stick at. In this first video, Sam Moody introduces the panel and moderates. Then the three guests talk about the old days of fishing the river and how they got their start fishing. The conversation turns to past tournaments, record stringers of smallmouth, tournament follies and of course a lot of ribbing back and forth. Since the recording of this video, Tom Smith has passed but Gresham and Huntley are still making their marks on the river. We hope you like this look back into the history of one of the most productive waterways in the U.S. as well as the stories told by three original river rats. Links: Website: bass-archives.com Facebook: facebook.com/bassfishingarchives Instagram: Instagram.com/bassfishingarchives Florence/Lauderdale Tourism Center: visitflorenceal.com/about-florence/visitor-center/