Old Time Fishing eh?

[fishtank]

DTRO, Your last post got me thinking too. I would be very interested to hear about any of you guys and gals out there that have stories about fishing long long ago - let's try pre- 1960 to start. What was it like back then? Fishing stories, what you used, what you liked? Disliked? Biggest Changes (besides electronics, augers, equipment? What was the norm? I think it would be fun to hear about the past.... Maybe some have stories that have came from their parents or grandparents?

[jwhjr]

There's a 90 yr old guy on one of the lakes I fish up north that we call the human GPS. When we're out ice fishing in front of his place he'll come out on his deck and tell us we need to move 50 ft north, or 25 feet west etc. No electronics of course, he just knows the spots. You don't put your line 6ft or 10ft down, you put it 2.5 arm-lengths down. When he comes down to fish with us, he refuses to go into a portable no matter how cold it is (half the time he's not even wearing a hat or boots), won't use a rod that has a reel (you should see how fast he can pull up a fish pulling up the line hand over hand ). He outfishes us every time. Very interesting to learn from and hear stories from "a few years ago".

[fishtank]

Nice!!!!!!!

[juggs]

I started fishing back in the late sixties when I was really young and didn't start ice fishing until the early 90s. But this post got me to thinking, are fisherman better now because of the higher tech aspect compared to yore? I tend to think the answer is no. In fact, maybe just the opposite is true. I kind of liken fishing to golf--better clubs, better balls, and ultimately lower scores. But do lower scores make a better golfer just as catching more fish (perhaps) makes one a better fisherman. I'm about in the middle of the road when it comes to fishing gear. I have a nice but modest 16' boat with a 60HP motor, a couple sonar units and an electric motor on the bow. For ice I have a Nils power auger, a Marcum, but no four-wheeler or snowmobile. I will by no means doubt that these help me catch more fish but the bottom line is I have to know what I'm doing to even have a chance at being successful. If I don't locate fish I'm done. If I can't present a bait at the right depth and the right speed I'm toast. If I can't tell the difference between a crappie putting slack in my line and my jig being on the bottom I'll never set the hook. The point is, you can have all the fancy bells and whistles money can buy and still not have a clue about the basics, which are the foundation of fishing. Take away the foundation and what do you have? When I used to golf, I saw a lot of guys spending gobs of money on the newest and best set of clubs hoping to shave strokes off their game without putting in hardly any time on the practice range. Did they become "better" or just lower their handicap? There's a lot to be said about the old-timer above. In fact, I find some of the greatest satisfaction I get from fishing is putting the pieces together and figuring out what works.

[Weed Shark]

My late father's fishing buddy, like a second dad to me growing up, owned and operated sport shops. Back in the "chop a hole with a chisel" days, he told a friend about the "new" cup augers, I think out of Sweden. That friend became the first distributor of cup augers in Minnesota.

He told me a story about outlines drawn on brown paper of monster size crappies kept in his garage that he caught with his dad near the Canadian border when he was a kid; too poor for taxidermy. I know he had caught plenty of two-pound crappies, but he got excited telling this story. These fish were obviously much bigger.

He still has his Monte Belle (Monticello, MN) potato sacks he used to carry fish in. Also a red-painted Cloverleaf milk carton crate with skis, forerunner to the modern day Yukon...heh, heh.

[Pleasant]

Memories.. I started fishing with my Dad in the 1950's. We had a fish house made out of 1x4s and Masonite. Was like 52 inches wide (so it would fit in the pickup box) and 8 feet long. I think the first rig he had to haul it to the lake was a 1938 Chevy pickup with chains on was a cold ride back and forth to the lake, thankfully we we only had 20 miles or so from the lake we fished on. Was heated with a fuel oil stock tank heater. Was a rectangle diamond plate steel box on legs, with a pipe on one end that the oil dripped into and a pipe on the other side for the chimney, kept us warm, and was great for toasting sandwiches and drying cloth gloves. We fished with braided nylon line, a hook and a sinker, with a huge sucker minnow on it. And let us (remember I was little) but we got some monster northern pike and walleyes. Dad did quite a bit of spearing and got some huge pike back in the 50's. Probably why we don't have so many trophies locally anymore, but I know for a fact we ate all he caught. And I remember that around the first of the year Dad would always have to paint new license numbers on the identification sign that was on the house. I guess licenses expired the 1st of the year back in those days. Yep and as mentioned chiseling a hole in the ice, with normally a homemade chisel made by the local blacksmith. I remember the spade augers also, think my uncle had a 4 inch one. Us kids were fairly popular on the ice as Dad had made us a homemade snowmobile from plans he got out of a Mechanics Illustrated magazine. Dad was a farmer so in the winter he tended the livestock, fished, and puttered in his shop. Well I have no doubt rambled long enough.

Lynn J.

[Orlip]

I would have to up it by a decade (70's) but I remember using the poles with the ice pick in the end and braided line for the northerns. Fuel oil stove to heat the house (made out of canvas) and we would have to keep snow on were the chimney came through the roof so it would not burn. And as others have said the GPS was dad.

[BobT]

I also started in the 70s. I remember not having any kind of fish house (actually didn't get my first one until the mid 90s), stick with ice pick and braided line (still have it in the bucket), hand drilling (again till the 90s), and using a 1oz. clamp-on sinker as a depth finder (got my first Vex about 4 years ago). I guess I'm a little slow at upgrading.

The closest thing to a GPS (got first one about 4 years ago) was let's see, line up between the corner of the yellow house to the north, that silo to the south, that big old willow to the west and the point on the east. This is the spot, I hope!

Bob

[Sasquatch]

My earliest ice fishing was in the early mid 50's. Used a willow, 6 ft of mono & a tiny gold hook. Used worms we found under bark of tree stumps. Ice chisel did the trick until mid 60's. First jig stick was my Christmas present in 57. Before that used the old ice pick stick. Yeh, the 2 1/2 armlenths sounds familiar. In 58 & a number of years after Dad & brother ordered 500 mousee for the winter bait along with the golden rod galls we picked. To prod memories. later 50's Diamond Point on Sauk? Jewett about 58 til 61?

[federline]

OK, I'm not an "old timer" whatever that is. (I hope no one calls ME an old timer when I achieve advanced birthday accumulation status. 50 is the new 30! )

But I did start ice fishing with old methods, and did it post-2000 era. Jiggle sticks, hand augers, depth bombs, shoreline triangulation by sight, no fishfinder, weather watching, clock timing, and no shelter. I caught fish, and more than many days of lugging all the new gear with me!

It was quite a graduation day when I built my own collapsible tarp shelter - it meant it would take longer to get so cold I had to come in.

I've often thought that it would be fun to spend a little more time celebrating simpler methods. I know my back would appreciate it some days.

About the only thing all the newest gear does for me is let me fail faster and in more comfort, so I can do all the same stuff I'd do anyways to find fish - change lures, change bait, move, drill more holes, or go home. :-)