Fishing in the old days

[cold one sd]

Does anyone out there remember fishing before we got electronics? No sonars or GPS, using an outboard with no gear shift and no lake maps? Sometimes you could be halfway across a small lake before you got the motor started because every time you pulled the rope the prop turned. Maybe some of the younger folks would like to read some of your experiences.

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STAY ON TOP

[Northlander]

I used to walk to school and back, up hill both ways.
I also used to row out to my fishing spots. Spent a lot of time anchored or drifting. Thank god for technology. Its hard to triangulate when its dark or raining or foggy.

[curt quesnell]

My dad carried an outboard motor in the
trunk of his car. We had a 9.9 Martin for
a while and when that went kaput he bought
a Johnson.

We would rent a boat and I still
see him flailing away in the back of a tiny
rental boat trying to get the motor hooked
over the transom. If the boat left any kind
of wake AT ALL he would comment on how we
were "flying across the lake".

He'd say "Son, dont waste your money on a
boat, just get a motor and rent the boat.
Boats and trailers are just a bunch of
trouble." We fished smaller lakes back then
so the advice was good for the situation.

I came of age about the time the depth finders were just becomming available. It
was huge just to know how deep the water
was let alone know if there were any fish
around.

My Uncle Ted had a lake cabin in the Aitkin
area. He had a boat with a motor!!!!But
one trip up a buddy of his went all the
way to the fishing spot by pulling the
cord on his motor. The thing never started
and with every pull the laughter increased
until we all nearly burst.

The good old days? I dont think so. We had
fun because thats all we knew and we were
together and once in a while we caught some
fish. As family memories they are priceless.

As great fishing memories it was just the
beginning of a learning experiance that I
have been lucky enough to have with my Dad
and my younger brother. I dont see a time
where we should have quit learning or quit
trying new equipment or methods.

When my Dad first started fishing(his dad
did not fish) he would rent a boat and ROW.
I am glad to have missed that.

Anyone else?

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Curt Quesnell
NorthCountry Outdoors Radio

[2dalake]

Remember when no one had a carpeted floor in their boat, and 25 hp was a huge outboard?

[Phred52]

Curt, You're scareing me, Could it be possible you have a half-brother that was raised with Champion motors,too? And when the first Champion went south Dad bought another one? And then still another?!!! (Personally, I think Champion was bought out by FORD. You REALLY DO Fix Or Repair Daily) I just got goosebumps when I read your post! Man, I've still Dads' third Champion he bought and it still runs (when IT'S in the mood)! Boy, could Dad pick 'em! Did you ever look up when dad was pullin' the rope? Geez, that rope would sting, It would leave a mark for weeks! And the Knot! That SOB would sting for a month and a half. In the boat is where I learned all the "ADULT" swear words! (How to smoke,chew and drink,too) Got to the point where Dad had to go out and warm up the motor and I'd still cry before I'd get into the boat! Remember how you would just hate to hear the words "Let's move to a different spot"? I absolutely hated, trying to get my whole body under that bow seat! And still I'd take an occasional "whap in the a@@" with that danged pull-rope. Thank goodness for the re-coil! The re-coil has always been in existance, but now the re-coil is in a different place! How about the REVERSE!!?? When I turned 12, I said that was ENOUGH! Curt, Heard from Dad lately? Hey! How about those really neat ORANGE life-jackets? A.K.A. "Keep the kids immobiles?" Maybe, I'm thinkin' of someone altogether different. SORRY

[1Yogi]

Great Topic for a guy in his middle 40's like me. My dad used to own a 5 hp johnson that was the bomb as far as he was concerned. on vacation we would drag that thing everywhere. and rent a boat. He also was of the idea that a kid should use cane poles as there were less line tangles that way. When I was four or five a crappie in serpent lake took my cane pole over the side and I was freaked out. Dad and my Uncle Ted said don't worry we pulled up anchor and rowwed to the pole and got it back along with a nice sized Crappie. When I was able to keep the anchor line strait or untangle it by myself Dad let me get a Zebco 202 with my birthday money. I was so Proud of the fact that I had my very own Rod and Reel. It went south after I snagged a big 8-10 lb carp by the dorsal fin. I was 11 or 12 then and My Dad convinced me that Spinning Reels were the way to go so again with Bday bucks in hand he took me to Holiday Sports I bought a Mitchell 300 and an Eagle Claw Rod.
I still have that combo. My other favorite memory is dad teaching me to tie a fishermans or clinch knot. Now known as the improved clinch or trilene knot.
P.S. See my post Thank you Mark Twain for another trip in the way back machine.

[IFallsRon]

My brother-in-law knew a guy in Minneapolis who had the molds for Champion motors. He ran one-lungers for about ever. I remember coming back from a Canada canoe trip in the mid-70s. We'd hit a rock and had half a prop. We're lucky the vibrations didn't twist the rivets out of the canoe. We had a new prop the next weekend. Back in those days, we'd troll purple Lazy Ikes or Prescott spinners with shinners as big as hotdogs. Wasn't much longer that Lindy Rigs replaced everything.

[Guest]

my family used to own an old 1800's logging camp in the wisconsin northwoods.....all we had were wooden row boats and a row into boat house....we were the only one on the lake.....when it was dinner time.....somebody would ring this big farm bell to tell us time to come in......and yep.....outhouses too......used to go to the old wooden A&W stand in town and bring home a gallon of rootbeer in glass jugs.......those were the good old days for me.....

[TUMBLEWEED]

In the "old" days up on the Whitefish chain,
I'd fire up the 5 1/2 horse Johnny and set the twelve foot Aluma craft in motion. I
was not seen again until dusk, when I'd
pull up to the dock with the day's catch.
Yep, baitcasters and dacron line!! Then
came the Zeb 202, and the Frenchy 300
Mitchell.. I still smile thinking of those big storms chasing me to the shore to wait em out.........

[upnorth]

Cripes, motors? You guys were lucky all we had were oars!

[Animal]

I'm not quite that old, but it's only been in the last 25 years that roller trailers became the standard. 25 years ago Lund still used wood for trim in most of their boats and floor only came in the delux modle. There were no cell phones or GPS. Most graphs still used paper. The average size boat on opening day at the St. Louis river were 14 to 16 footers with a 30 HP tiller. I was out there in my 12 foot Hiawatha and my 1951 5 HP Johnson Sea Horse. I had to spin it for reverse. I had one Fenwick Eagle rod (which I still own), 10 spinner rigs and a bunch of clip-on bell sinkers which I kept in an old camera bag. I was flying blind with no electronics and drifted behind some of the other boats who I thought knew what they were doing.

I took that boat to Sullivan Island on Namakan and had to make two trips to get my kids and gear out there. It was the middle of the summer and you would have thought we were in the middle of the BWCA because there was nobody up there. The only map I had was the one I picked up off the ground a the Ash Trail boat ramp. There were only about 20 parking spaces at the ramp and I don't recall any of them occupied.

I also used that boat to go to Canada where we would carry it in to several of the lakes off the Cedar Narrows Road just north of Fort Fancis. We never did have a map of those lakes and navigated by paying attention.

I didn't get my first flasher until the following year when I purchased a Lowrance for $139.00. That unit changed everything.

[Long Gray Line]

7-12 years old, trolling Lake Superior/Chequamagon Bay out of Washburn for lakers, browns and cohos in a 14' Montgomery Wards aluminum w/ a 5 horse Merc pushing us. Sitting on those hard, cold seats for 4 hours, no seat cushions, I'm not even sure we had life jackets in the boat. Everyone had a Mitchell 300 with 12lb test trolling "one o' dem new BLUE Rapalas cuz' dats da hot color donchaknow". Getting chased off that lake by a nor'easter that came up too fast, taking waves over the back of the boat by the time we beached it by the mouth of the Sioux River and ran up under the trees to stay dry. Ya, dem's da good old days!!

[Kingfisher]

Since it appears I'm the oldest so far to report on the age thread, this should really be fun.
My first recollection of fishing was with my Grandfather and Father, fishing from a 12' flat bottom boat made by Grandfather. We had no motor so rowing to our favorite spots and "stillfishing" with cane poles and a cork was our most frequent approach. At first we did not have rod and reels, we used a 1/2" board 2" wide and about 10" long with a V cut in each end to guide our lines as we wrapped the fish line around the board, sometimes we rowed the boat pulling prescott spiners, holding our little board.
Later my Dad bought a used 1.8 HP Evinrude motor and Grandfather built another boat this one had an extra 4" on the sides so we really felt safe.
In the early 60's I bought a "Brand New" Mercury 3.9 HP, we hauled that moter all over, including fly-in trips to Canada.
Next came the 9.9 HP Merc and the green box.
Next came th 16' Lund Rebel, 25 HP, ES, Yahmy, and an Impulse fishfinder.
Today my fishing buddy and I have a 1995, 1890 ProV Lund with a 90 HP Merc tiller, with most of the goodies a guy NEEDS these days.
Looking back with the wonderful memories of the good times of fellowship with family and friends, the fish come in a distant second.

[This message has been edited by Kingfisher (edited 04-19-2004).]

[TJFISHER]

Both of my grand pa's had 5 hp Seaking motors. They werer kind of a greenish color. One had forward and nuetral the other had no gears. We went to Lake Vermillion one year and took both of em and strapped them on the back of the boat so we could really haul. The best one tho is we would put that 5 hp on the back of a pontoon and 9 of us would pile on and we would go across Farm Island Lake to get the panfish. I still have one of those motors and ran it about 9 yaers ago. ahhh the good old days........

[psegriz]

I learned real young the advantage of trolling. Havn't heard of any mention of trolling w/o a motor yet? I guess when your livlyhood dpended on being on the water ya did what ya had to. In the tackle box was always enough wreches, spare bolts, couples chuncks of hog hide to fix oarlocks and what not. A spare set of oars always sat undernieth the seats, went through about 4 sets a year. Did my best to calculate this out but figured I had 10,000,000 swats with the oars b4 got a motor. Actually it was probably closer to 15 mil. than 10 mil. but now I make sure the motor is in tip top shape. That way the oars can stay under the seats, but still have them there just in case.

GRIZ

P.S. I'm not as old as you might think. I could aford my first motor in 88. Suppose dad figured why spend money on a motor when I would still row.

[graybeard2]

Just hung my dad's old steel rod with the old baitcaster on it on the wall the other day. Still has the lure on it he used the last time. I remember he said he won it in a weekly fishing trip for a northern he caught on one of his yearly Minnesota fishing trips. Dad and his cousin fished Amelia and Villard before I was born, spent his honeymoon with Mom there in '53, and started taking the whole family there when we were old enough. Used to stay at Gordon's resort, then it was Torfin's, then something else for about a year, then Thor's. When they switched to just a campground, we moved to Canary Beach on Villard, which just changed hands this year. Went from traveling in one car with mom, dad, grandma, and four kids and one cabin, to today where we have all five of us kids,spouses, kids, grandkids, my mother, dad's sister, a few friends all in about 10 vehicles, 2 boats and six cabins. Last year, I think there was around 35 of us. Dad had been going to the same area for 51 years when he died two years ago, but the tradition lives on. I remember the last year he was up there, he was sitting in front of the cabin in his chair, with dang near the whole resort full of our family running around on the beach, and my sister told him, "Just look what you started." Didn't mean to get so long winded, but it sure brings back a lot of memories.

[Phred52]

Hey TJ, Was that outta Bills Resort on Farm Island? Man, that was a fun place!

[can it be luck?]

Thank God for inventing fish finders!!
Fishing with my uncles Larry and Earl was never much fun! I have many fond and not so fond memories of them, like the scar on the side of my head from a hidden stump underwater. Another of musky attacking a pendant hanging of my neck. They always dreamed of fishing the Amazon for pirhana, I'm glad they didn't because they kept mentioning how they'd bring me along to help find fish! Ahhhh memories, One thing I always remember getting for Christmas from my uncles.......A new pair of goggles every year. I love them guys!!

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http://groups.msn.com/canitbeluck

[TUMBLEWEED]

Anyone else remember sitting out on the
dock with a cane pole fishing, when up
comes the U.S. mailboat to drop off the
mail in the mailbox mounted on the dock!??

[hanronson]

Graybeard2...Your post brought a tear to my eye and a lump in my throat. It reminded me of my dad and what he started. CIBL...I thought your post was by far the funniest. My most memorable fishing moment from the past was when my dad and I were on LOTW in a 14' wooden boat with a 6 horse red Johnson and we hit a rock reef and broke the shear pin and had to take the motor off and put in a new one. Luckally he had a bag of them in his tackle box. Does anyone else remember shear pins?

[fishface5]

My great grandpa drifted across (or so he said) Mille Lacs, must have been in the 30's or early 40'. He was from Saulk Rapids, He said his friend, "Fiscom" didn't put the drain plug for the gas tank, (which was on the motor), in straight and all the gas leaked out. He was 103 when he died in about 1970.

[Phred52]

Hanronson, For Sale, Bag of assorted shear pins. W.C.Fields was RIGHT!!!!

[chunkytrout]

I was ten years old and for my BDay, grandpa set me up with a shallow 12ft lumacraft and a 59 seaking 3 horse. Hawg heaven! I remember the feeling everytime I approached grandpas dock in the summer on Minnetonka. 10 minutes of bailing and I was out on my own with the whole north arm at my disposal. Zebco 202 and Mepps with a crawler. More than once I ran into stumps because I was hypnotized by the boats propwash and that little silver mepps spinning away. A troller was born.

Nice thread guys

chunk

[shortfatguy]

my dad had a 12' seanymph with a 3 1/2 horse Hiawatha moter on it. i remember having to lay on the floor when he would start it so as not to get whipped by the rope. also recall the tray full of shear pins in the old mans tackle box. the trip i remember the most was lake of the woods. a big storm came up and there were 5 of us in the boat. we were all bailing just to keep the water below the seats which is hard to do with those giant orange life jackets on. everytime the hiawatha would move us 5 feet forward a wave would push us back 4 feet. looking back at it i guess we were lucky to have made it back to shore!
great post really enjoyed reading it and got some good laughd and memories!

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a bad day at the lake is better than a good day at work

[TJFISHER]

Phred52..it was out of Hamm's Farm Island Resort on the south end by Bradleys. And your right it was a blast,,,,,,