Prior to the early 70's,every lake had boats for rent generally at several landings and you would carry your own small motor and rent a boat.....as a kid,I fished with my parents on TVA lakes in east Tenn in the 40's and 50's with an occasional trip to other parts of the country..

most fishermen on the lakes in those days were fishing for crappie or bream and you might go all day and not see another bass fisherman...the older wooden boats with pointed bows didn't lend themselves to sculling well so in the area i lived,we would fish topwater early..putt-putting along the bank and casting then stopping to fish the points or creek mouths then troll throughout middle of day...the plastic worm changed all that and allowed us to cast for bass in middle of day but we didn't have trolling motors so we had to anchor the boat to fish a worm.......

Dad owned several wooden boats, couple of which he built himself and he would get somebody to take it to the lake in a truck and leave it chained (and locked) up at one of the landings..nobody trailered boats back then and few people had pickup trucks either except farmers..I recall a rite of passage is when i got old enough(early teens) that my Dad let me run the boat from the upper lake/river where he kept the boat in spring probably 30 miles to the lower lake in mid summer by myself....a trip that took most of the day because we had a 10 hp motor.......in the 60's,the boats available for rent changed from wood boats that leaked like hell to aluminum boats that leaked like hell but weren't as heavy...if you didn't carry your own bailing can,you looked around the landing til you found one.......these boats were generally cheap,narrow,easy to turn over and didn't have flotation in them...and every year you would have a drowning or two in area lakes.....

I had owned several used small (and temperamental)motors and my first new motor was about a 68 E-rude 9 1/2 (that cost $325.00)and it may have been the best motor I ever owned......it was wonderful to have a motor that cranked easy and it would fly on a 14 ft jon boat....probaly every bit of 20 mph.....which was blazing speed compared to how fast a 3-5 hp would push one of those boats.....

I lived on Miss. river in mid 60's and we would rent a boat and use sculling paddle...i got introduced to "doodle-socking" and it was unbelievable the fish you could catch with 12-14 ft. cane pole and a top water bait worked up under cypress trees and bushes.....I didn't use a rod and reel for several years until I joined a bass club and they wouldn't let us use those poles....we hadn't learned to flip yet so using that cane pole was only way to get back under stuff that you couldn't cast to....bass clubs started springing up back in late 60's/early 70's and that plus electric trolling motors changed everything....we did find that trolling motors scared fish in real shallow water so we would use sculling paddles when we were doodle socking but the fish soon got used to trolling motors...

you were liable to see most anything in early years of tournaments...those that could afford bassboats generally showed up with stick steering 14-16 ft boats with engines from 25-40 hp.......trolling motors on front and trolling motors on back(and both)..those that couldn't afford a bassboat generally modified what they had or could afford and there were weird and dangerous rigs that showed up in first few years of tourny fishing.....50 hp engines on aluminum boats with the transom full of angle iron bracing because the boat was designed for 10 hp motor....ski boats with trolling motors and everything in between...
.my first bass boat was a a crosby ski sled that I installed swivel seats in with a 50 hp johnson and Otasco hand operated trolling motor and it was probaly one of the more normal looking rigs....it didn't take long for for tournys to turn into half fishing contest and half boat race with each about equal in importance...within just a few years,the engines got bigger and bigger and it was really getting dangerous......it was not unusual to see 14ft stick steering boats rated for a 25 hp with 80 hp engines on them.... B.A.S.S. thankfully started limitations on horsepower and the boat manufacturers caught up with pad boats and dual steering that would handle the higher speeds......
fishing boats and tackle since mid 70's have gradually evolved into what we have today but the 6-8 years from late 60's to mid-70's was the period of greatest change when we went literally from a jon boat,paddle and one rod and reel to the high horsepower boat with electric trolling motors and multiple fishing rods across the deck.......
one last remembrance.....when our bass club scheduled it's first out of town of town tournament against another club,I went out and bought my second rod and reel.....a red ambassadeur with a $4.98 True Temper 5 1/2 ft pistol grip glass casting rod....and the guy I drew commented how he liked my two matching rod/reel combos....

I grew up outside of Memphis in the 50's and fished like you did. It's been a long time since I've thought about skulling a john boat around cypress trees doodle socking for bass. We fished Arkabutla, Sardis, and Tunica Cutoff mostly for crappie and bream. It was in the 70's when I got my first Ambassador 5000 and put it on a Fenwick 686 I built and wrapped myself. I still have the rod. Great memories!

dayum, you must be as old as me!!

Keep going, fellows. I'm sure you remember the old red Ambassador 5000 and those little pearl handles. Still have a couple. If I remember right, the gear ratio was about 3.5 to 1. You couldn't turn the handles fast enough to keep a Lunker Lure (remember when the LL came out) on top the the water.

Then we got 5 to 1 reels and we thought they were the fastest things in the world. You could buy gear sets to speed up the red reels.

Now, most guys call 6 to 1 reels slow.

My Dad and I both custom built rods in the 60's. Old Fenwick glass blanks and Feather Weight handles, carbide guides. Top of the line. I still have couple I built 50 - 60 years ago. Pick one up and you wonder how we ever fished.

My favorite tournament partner, fantastic guy, good buddy, has never sculled a boat. Didn't even know what I meant.

I fished my first tournament in 1975. Still fishing. Brand new 2020 Skeeter. Every time I get in it, I think of my dad. His 15 HP was the most he ever had and he was a serious fisherman.

I'm 74, love it as much as ever, but wonder about our heritage and where our grandkids will be.

Good stuff. You guys have quite a memory for details!

Does anyone remember the Shimano Bantam reels?

A 5# bass was something to brag about!
And most likely a trip to the taxidermist!

The day I got bass fever. Caught at Lake Cisco, 8 3/4 lbs caught trolling a red and white deep diving crank bait from dad’s 14 foot lone star with 9.9 Johnson. He assisted with the catch. Largest bass caught at Lake Cisco that year (1964) or through July of that year. Picture made the local newspaper there.

PS.. it was delicious!

red Ambassador 5000

Still have mine and like it as much as the newer baitcasters I own with faster gear ratios. Even spincast reels have evolved since the good ol' days of Zebco.

I had 2 and sold both over time to 'upgrade'.



Grew up on these and still have 4 or 5. I bought the Ambassaduer 2500C when it came out and still have the box it came in.

Beartrap mentioned 'rods on the deck' which is interesting because unless you built a front deck in your boat those did not show up until the mid-late '70's I believe. The Skeeter and Kingfisher models with stick steering had a very small spot you could stand on the bow but the trolling motor pedal had to be in the bottom of the boat.

You were a fine looking young man, Lconn. What the heck happened?

My first boat I fished out of was my dads stick steering boat that I pretty much wore out fishing on Lavon and at our lake house on Whitney. Watching my dad fishing in that boat going down the banks with a spinnerbait was awesome in the 70's but the thing I really liked was listening to him tell stories about his fishing when he was younger in the 50's before there were many baits and not even plastic worms. He still had an old glass rod and reel combo with some old braided line on it that he used hanging around the garage. He said he mostly used old wooden topwater lures. He mainly fished the Whitney or Possum Kingdom areas and said he mostly fished out of an aluminum jon boat but when he would get to his fishing spot he would get out of the boat in waist deep water and have a rope tied to the boat and it was tied around his waist pulling it behind him. He said this was so he could get better casts to the cedars he was fishing. He said probably his biggest fish during that time came with a topwater next to a stump in the back of a cove one time that he said was probably in the 8 to 9 lb range. I was lucky enough to take him on our last fishing trip together where he caught his biggest fish ever out in front of Vals Landing on Fork on a black buzzbait that went 9 3/4 lbs which I still have a picture of. I was down at Fork a while back and made a trip over to the parking lot and ramp and just sit there for a while looking at the area reliving that awesome memory of me and my dad fishing and all of the times I spent there throughout the 90's and beyond.

Nice write up!

This post has some good timing with the "electronics, when will it be enough?" post because technology has been advancing on the water for years and like you said, it really advanced faster in years past than it currently is. Mechanical Technology doesn't move as quickly as it did 30 years ago but the digital side with electronics is moving faster than ever!

Excellent memories of those first experiences. I can relate to everyone of them and your posts have taken me back in time. Wish I could add some new stuff; but this was exactly how it was. It was hard work coupled with what you learned from the Old Timers of the days before. We fished the Tenn. River during the 60's and the Oxbo Lakes along the KY. side and ILL. side of the Ohio river out of Paducah, KY.. There was thousands of acres of Public Use Land in those River Bottoms that held many Oxbo Lakes surrounded by Cypress trees. We started a Bass Club in the 70's out of Paducah that only fished those lakes. We carried our aluminum boats in the back of our pickups. I was so inspired and loved the Western KY. fishing and hunting; that I wrote a book for the Chamber of Commerce. It was called Where To Go In Extreme Western KY. It was loaded with our pictures of the day and hand drawn maps of how to get to all my secret spots in the Barlow Bottoms of Western KY.. I still have a copy or two laying around the house. Thank I will find one today and just take a walk back in time.

I too grew up fishing what I have oft called the golden years of bass fishing.. When we were some of the only ones out there in pursuit of bass.. Living in Medina county just west of San Antonio, we fished Medina Lake a lot.. I caught my biggest bass to date out of it in 1963.. Six pounds, five ounces.. And I have fished that lake hundreds of times and have still not boated a bigger fish there..

When Braunig Lake was declared public domain in the late sixties, we were some of the first ones over the fence.. I remember dragging our 14 foot Lone Star hundreds of yards thru the brush to get it in the water.. We had a Evinrude Fastwin 15 HP motor and let me tell you that was a stylish machine back then..

I remember the day I first saw a plastic worm.. We were wade fishing Braunig and I saw an old man walking out of the water.. (He was probably 40) He had a stringer of five pounders hanging over his shoulder as he headed towards land.. Of course we all ate everything we caught back then.

I said something like, "Hey Mister, how did you catch all those big fish?" He spat out about a pint of chewing tobacco juice and bit a "Purple worm" off the end of his rod and gave it to me.. And said go throw that out there on the end of that point and reel it in slow..

I did and caught two of the biggest fish I ever saw, Probably four to five pounders before a fish took the worm from me.. But I remember telling my Dad, "We gotta get some of them purple worms.." And we did..

We fished Canyon Lake and launched off a old highway before it officially opened.. I caught a five pounder there on my first trip.

We fished Choke Canyon off the bank before it officially opened off the bank as well..

We came to Falcon once or twice as year as possible.. But it was a long way in a 56 Chevy back then..

Back in the Sixties and seventies we ate everything that was legal.. My Dad and uncle were kids of the depression and you did not waste food, and damn sure did not return it to the lake if it was a legal fish, no matter the species..

When we caught a big fish, (Pre-Floridas) we would always stretch the decapitated head over the mouth of a Wide Mouth Mason Jar and keep it on the shelf in the garage.. Remember it like it was yesterday..

I do think I remember every fish I have ever caught..

I know there is no going back.. But looking back is something I will always do, and thank God my Daddy and Uncles were crazy about the outdoors.. So I come by it honestly.. And I think it is more contagious than the Corona Virus.. And it is up to us Old Timers to keep the past alive, and pass on the traditions to the young'uns..

Yep, I started bass fishing in the mid 60's with a 14 foot Lonestar aluminum with a 7.5 HP Evinrude and no trolling motor. Somewhere around 1972 we upgraded to a Thunderbolt stick steer with a 50 HP Johnson and a Johnson trolling motor. Had one of the early Lowrance flasher units, and man, that thing was da' bomb! Got my first graphite rod about then. Think it was a Browning.

When I got serious about bass fishing in the 70s, things were really taking off.
The state of Texas was building new impoundments on a regular basis. Equipment was being improved constantly. Plastic worms were fairly new. Mister Twister had just introduced the "Phenom". It was a 6" worm with a twister tail and the fish liked it a lot. And it seems that there was a Bass Club in every neighborhood.

Back then, you could buy a brand new 16ft. fiberglass bass boat with a 80 or 90 horse outboard for about $3500. But $3500 dollars was a lot of money.
My first boat was a 15' fiberglass Caravelle with a 50 horse Johnson and a MotorGuide Super trolling motor. It was a Super because it had TWO speeds. It was also pretty useless if the wind was over 15 mph. The boat had a Lowrance flasher on it. I still well remember the first day I found a school of feeding bass in 20 ft of water with that flasher. I also learned quickly by fishing Lake O the Pines that a stainless steel prop was a necessity for the outboard (broke two aluminum props in one day at a tournament).

My brother in law had a Skeeter Metro that he mounted a 50 horse engine on (over powered). Had stick steering. He could make that thing power slide.

Bass Club tournaments were Saturday and Sunday affairs. You'd show up at the lake Friday afternoon, drink and play cards until 2 a.m. then get up at 5 to go fishing. Repeat for Sunday.

We used to fish all day, sunup to sundown, every Saturday. So much fun.

Funny thing is, I still really enjoy it. I can't do it all day anymore but there's something about the tap on a worm, the top water explosion and the peace and beauty out on the lake.

Great memories.

Back in the late 60's there was talk among the Old Guys that some one was working on a National Fishing Organization. We had been searching out lure makers to try new baits in the Oxbo lakes and Tenn. River. My buddy and I heard of a Garage in Memphis and a couple of guys that was building baits and winning tournaments. In 1970 we made our first trip to Bill Dance and Charles Spence's Garage to see the baits. The Strike King Bait Co. was being born there. We came away with a box full of Prototypes of their spinner baits and Crank baits. I still have many of the frames and all the Little S's and Big S's. We learned of the BASS sitting in that Garage talking to Mr. Dance and another man from Jackson, TN., called Billy Phillips. Jack Harper and I started fishing the KY. Lake Opens against Mr. Dance and Mr. Phillips for several years in the 70's. I wanted to go with them so bad to those BASS tournaments. I was only making $5 a day back in the 60's on the family farm and when I started Coaching in the 70's there just wasn't any time to fulfill the Dream when BASS got cranked up. The memories of winning a few of the Open Tourns. fishing against the best there was will always be there.

This may be the coolest thread I have ever read here. I grew up in the 70's and 80's and I remember both my grandfathers telling stories, much like these being told here, when I was a kid.

I'll second this. Great thread. My dad died when I was young so my Uncles were the ones who introduced me to fishing. Caught my first "big" bass (5 lbs) on a beetle spin in Cypress creek in downtown Comfort Tx about 1974 0r 75. Was with my Uncle in a 12' jon boat. Been hooked ever since. Got two Zebco Cardinal 4 spinning reels for my birthday and thought I had hit the lottery. Great stories guys

Great memories as a kid fishing with dad. Pistol grip rod, 5000 b, c and d's, creme worms, flasher electronics and paper graphs! Never forget fishing "weedwings" over the grass on Conroe.

anybody remember piston grip Skyline graphite rods and Fenwick fiberglass rods....

here's some old lures my Dad and I used to fish with...some of them dating back to late 40's....some of the names are Dalton special,S.O.S. minnow,Injured minnow,Shakespeare darter,Pikie minnow,Heddon chugger,Sputterfuss,Lazy Ike,Hellbender,Aquasonic,Smithwick flashing eyes lure.....

I have a buddy that still has a Skyline, those were top shelf back then.
Back then I bought Browning graphite rods with a pistol grip. Do you remember Boron rods?
I have a Fenwick spinning rod that my wife bought me one year for my birthday at Smitty's Sporting Goods in Oak Cliff.
We've been married 39 years. It's still a great rod, she's still a great wife.

RATFINK sighting!

add bayou boogie...top right in first picture..

Biyou Boogy (sp?) or a Sonic? There was a pic of my uncle "Free" on the instruction manual that came in a Lazy Ike box. I still have two of them, (never used), the boxes and the fliers. Lots of history in those boxes....
I got to visit the Manns facility when I was in HS, coolest thing for a HS kid that was ate up with fishing. You could buy worms out of a drum for .25cents a handful....

Sonic is top picture,middle row,second from bottom...

Heddon Sonic (a happy one at that)

you are correct....the one in top picture,middle row,second from bottom is an Aquasonic...

Thanks, very interesting. Is that AquaSonic the one with the hole for water to pass through?
(Never had one of those)

I remember my Dad taking me to Tawakoni in the mid 60"s. The lake and me was young then.
We would fish off a point close to Rabbit Cove.May-June was prime time. The shad spawn was going on then.
We would seine shad early every morning to fish with. I remember 4 lb Bass jumping over the seine to escape. Lol Looked like salmon.
Some mornings bass would jump out on the bank chasing shad.
My uncle came down one weekend with a bag of purple worms and after that day I knew I was going to be a bass fisherman.
All you could buy then was creme scoundrels or fliptail worms .

Funny, I put new line on one today and placed in the rod box.....it is on a Shimano Bantam rod.

Started in the early seventies using my grandfathers Zebco spincast reels in Iowa fishing his pond for smallmouth . We used all those old lures , Hellbenders , daredevlis , creme worms . There is just something about those first couple of times a bass hits a lure , the adrenaline starts pumping and pure excitement . I graduated to that famous 5000D Garcia , my was green and the handles went backwards when the drag goes out ---- we called em " knucklebusters " . I became so addicted to Mann's Blackgrape Jelly worms , I used to buy em 100per pack and threw Texas rigs all year and everywhere.
I still have several of the old crankbaits I originally bought in the late 70's ---- would never throw them for fear of losing them.

I bought two Lamaglass rods that were heavy, and wore you out after a day of casting. I remember thinking my first graphite rod would snap in half on the first hookset. I did snap a few though.

Got hooked on bass fishing in the late 50's using a 5' steel rod with a hand me down on an Shakespear level wind reel using braided line. Yes we had braid back then. Bait of choice was an 8" purple worm that had two weedless hooks pre-threaded in it. Went from bank fishing to fishing out of a "tube" that I made using an 18 wheeler tire and an old tractor seat. Learned to scull and do it quietly as soon as Dad got our first wooden boat that we carried in the back of the pickup. My first Ambassador reel was a 2500 that I used for the light lines needed for the clear lakes. Got my first bass boat in 1976 and fished three nightly jackpots and at least two weekend tournaments a month. My claim to fame is that I once beat George Cochran for angler of the year in our local bass club. Still fish but with a newer "old" boat but not as hard and not as much.

Good read!

I believe true temper were sold by Western Auto, or Whites Auto. Weren't they??

The third one down and 4th down top pic, left side looks like a Lazy Ike . 4th, Tail Gator. Middle bottom looks like a bladeless Skip Jack. The 3rd & 4th down on right is a Carrot Top, and 4th looks like a Lucky 13. I caught a lot of fish on a Tail Gator and a Carrot top ( both Smithwick)

Too much daylight to dark fun in the sun on the water... the first 50 without sunblock.

In the early 70s guides on Toledo were always 1 upping each other. Running 15'-17' round nose Ray Craft or similar boats with stick steering ,and 85-125 hp. motors { boats probably rated for 40-65 hp. motors. Buying ,selling and trading worm holes { that was common} back then. Smithwick's NoNo spinnerbaits, or H&Hs were the most frequent. As far as worms, Fliptail, Fluttertail, Yum Yum, and Crème were about all that was around here. Devils horse, Carrot Top, Devils Toothpick, Boy Howdy's, Pico Pops, Tail Gators, and Mud Bugs, pretty much covered the hard baits { Prior to the alphabet crankbaits}. Jigs weren't that big a hit in those days, but Bass Busters bucktail with Uncle Josh Pork, and Mann's little George covered the cold weather fishing. Most guides and serious fishermen carried 3 set ups. A pool cue 5-51/2 worm rod. A 5-51/2' buggywhip topwater rod, and a light spinning rod for throwing a maribou jig and the small Red Fin. Those Garcia 5000, & 5000c reels were 3.7.1 retrieve, You could buy Buzz gears and make it 4.7.1{ I think} Also we would buy bigger reel handles [ Power Handles] Then you were as ready as ever. Do any of you remember the rave over Chartruse, Flouresent Orange, and the curl tail worm ( Mister Twister) There were a long list of trolling motors then, Motor Guide, Minn Kota, Ram, Byrd, Silvertroll were most popular, but many more were available. I miss a lot of that , but the 1 thing I do not miss is the blued worm hooks, cant remember how many broke or opened up on big fish. My first boat was a flat bottom v nose Arkansas Traveler, with a Shakespear trolling motor. Those were some of the best times of my youth. Prior to 1988 you'd get more attention for a 6lber. than a 9 lber. today. A lot of this will sound foreign to anyone younger than 50s.

Oh the bass I have caught on a chrome Red Fin. Owned 3 Ram Glide trolling motors too. My first graphite rod was a Skyline, followed closely by a Lew's speed stick G56X. Red Ambassador 5000 and how amazing the Shimano Bantams were when they first came out. I still have 2 of the old Bantams plus Lew's BB-1s that were manufactured by Shimano. Back in the day we all fished 25# Trilene on our pool cues. Several years saw us chunking a safety pin type spinner bait called a Fuzzy Wuzzy on Rayburn and Toledo. Around 1971 Cotton Cordell came out with a tail spinner called a Super Shad, guys bought them by the case at Gibson's in Beaumont. I still have a few and haven't caught a fish on one since 1973. I ran across some of those old blued Mustad worm hooks in the attic the other day. Oh the memories.

I remember listening to the fishing reports early in the morning on the farm and ranch channel of the radio, and most all the catches reported back then were caught on a black Tarantula, an H&H safety pin spinnerbait, and a local bait called a phantom lure that was trolled and popular on Canyon lake back in the day.

You can still buy the original.....https://www.hhlure.com/products/the-original-h-h-spinner

back in late 60's/early 70's,fished with Freddie grant(fishing guide) once on sam rayburn..caught a lot of bass jigging a worm straight up and down...there was another well known guide named ralph giessow and the outdoor editor of the Houston chronicle,bob brister also liked to bass fish...…
my parents bought a lot and put a trailer in the El Camino Bay subdivision on Toledo Bend back in late 60's....fishing was unbelievable back then especially schooling bass out in the flooded timber....

My earliest fishing memory was probably around 1961 or so. I was 5 and my dad built me a "reel". We were fishing behind the dam at Lake Lavon and dad had built me a (if you can use your imagination) a platform fishing stand. He took a 1"x12" about 3 feet long as the base to stand on, nailed on a couple more 1"x12" that were vertical about 2 feet high, put a dowel between the two vertical sides, and used a 1 pound coffee can as the spool. Dad was a brick layer and we were pretty poor so the main line was white string they used for laying brick and then he had a couple of feet of probably what was mono fishing line attached to a weight and the hook. (hmmm...come to think of it, dad had invented the first carolina rig!!) He would hand chunk it out with some worms on it and when the fish would pick up the bait, I would start "reeling it in by using he coffee can on a dowell to manually bring in the line! Mostly catfish, but occasionally a largemouth or sand bass would get it. A few years later my Sunday school teacher and my dad's good friend Glenn was the first person to take me bass fishing and he was eat up with it. I can vividly remember ( I was probably 10 or so) him taking us out to a little farm pond walking the banks before daylight, and he had an old Ambassador reel with what he called a topwater tied on. I looked at him like he was nuts. "Glen, there's no worm on your hook"! That was the first time I saw a Hulapopper. He would cast it for me and tell me, "don't move it until ALL of the ripples on the water have stopped". A few casts later and I had the first topwater bite of my life. That was 53 years ago, and it has probably cost me a couple hundred thousand dollars since then. Thank you Glen! R.I.P. Great bass fisherman, great man. Thank you guys for bringing back such great memories.

A couple of FIRSTS I'll never forget: 1st bass caught on TX rigged plastic worm (Sam Rayburn). My older brother was coaching me and said "when he pecks it like a bream, give him slack, count to 10 and set the hook." Man, that Fliptail worm and hook was in his gullet!

Also won't forget first blowup on buzzbait when Lunker Lure first came out. 4 Lber hit on Lake Murvaul right at the boat and sounded like somebody threw their trolling motor in the lake.

I can't remember what year it was.. But probably the middle seventies or so, and I was fishing with a buddy on Lake Dunlop. Of course those lillypads were Sneaky Pete and Purple Tarantula waters. But my buddy busted out a buzzbait and threw it.. I laughed out loud the first time I saw him retrieve it..

I told him you will never catch anything on that piece of [censored].. About three casts later I was netting a seven pounder for him..

Of course I immediately searched out and bought a few.. 45 years later I never leave home without one..

I've still got a couple of those 2500s. I use them instead of spinning reels for small light baits.

My uncle got me into fishing when I was very young, first fishing for bream on a small pond behind his house. My family spent a lot of time on the Potomac River/Chesapeake Bay area of Virginia in the summer and I would fish from docks catching small flounder, striper, croakers and trout. Then, my uncle got me into bass fishing when I was a teenager and I loved it. Took a long time off until several years ago and now I’m back in love with it.

Wasn't largemouth bass but one summer my dad moved us up between Sherman and Denison while he was painting the Grayson County Jr. College. He took us camping on Texoma and when we got there he rigged up some rod and reels. They were Ted Williams brand he bought at I believe a Gibson's in town. He put just a weight and hook and had bought a bunch of minnows. We waded out a little bit off the bank and then I saw something that blew me away. I had no idea about sandbass schooling. They would start chasing shad towards us and I swear it looked like there were thousands of them that went about 100 yards wide.You couldn't help but catch fish after fish for as long as they were schooling and after. My dad was taking fish off and putting them in a wire basket for our fish fry and even when we ran out of minnows he took the hook and put a pop top off of a soda can and wrapped it around and told us to throw it out and reel it back in. I will be darned if that flash and erratic movement didn't keep catching fish until we just got tired and they finally quit schooling and left the area buy we not only had a basket full of fish but I had that memory of those schooling fish that I will never forget. That evening right before dark at our campsite in a little cove my dad let my brother use his rod and reel that he had a Herbs Dilly on and I saw the first largemouth bass caught and I about cried looking at that bass which was about a 2 to 3 lber knowing I didn't catch it.

Is this a spotted bass maybe?

We lived in Sherman from when I was 11. One day when I was 12 (61 years ago) my friend and I walked about a mile thru some woods to hwy 75. There was a place there that built fishing lures. We knock on the door at Whopper Stopper and told the lady we wanted to see some lures. Mr Jodie Griggs (found out years later he ran the place) took us on a tour and gave us a Bayou Boogie and a packaged lead head worm apiece. RIP and thanks Jodie. I’ll never have any more enjoyment than those two lures gave me.

I have a 1953 16HP Scott Atwater in my garage that my father bought in 1954. We put a lot of miles on that motor. It would make a 14 foot John boat fly.
Fishing from the bank around that same time

In the 70s it was common for local club and many open tournaments to run from daylight to dark. In the hot summertime that was usually a 13-14 hr. tournament. One that branded itself in my memory( Name withheld ,to protect the innocent, and guilty) 10 bass was the limit. A individual started culling around 9 in the morning, culled 8 -9 times, and when he weighed in he only had 9 bass. 3 were paid, he got 4th. Missed winning by 9 ounces. I know he learned a hard lesson about keeping count, that day.

I never missed Freddy Grant’s Fun of Fishing Show every Sunday. I still have a 45 of him singing the theme song.
Lew’s sponsored Freddy, so he was big on the BB1.

I went out and bought one. What a great reel.

I still have several of those and I’ve been fishing Lew’s since.

Ol’ Freddy passed away last year.

My dad and I joined the San Antonio Bass Club in the late 60's. Our first boat was a boat we got from the coast, dory, that we had used floundering down there by my uncle. We brought it up and spent a couple weeks sanding, epoxy painting and making it ready. Had a 20 horsepower outboard tiller steer and a paddle.
We had some great times with that boat. The next one was a 15 foot Quachita aluminum boat with a Motorguide 12v trolling motor. They only had something like 12 pounds thrust and the motor was twice the size of motors now but it got us fishing and catching more.

When I came to Arlington in 71 I was going to school. When I got married in 75, the poor girl didn't know I had a fishing history. She soon found out.

Great old stories!

I caught my first 5# bass off the Miller Road rocks at Ray Hubbard on a black & white H&H spinner. I put that fish on a cheap rope stringer and wrapped it around the handlebars on my bicycle. As I pedaled my bike to the gas station on Chiesa Rd & Hwy 66 the fish's tail was slapping me on the leg all the way. It went 5lb 2oz on their meat scale and that started the fire in me that burns to this day.

Later in 1974 me and some friends with the help of some of the coaches (Gary Reeves, Don Rutledge, Coach Hudson) started the first high school bass fishing team at Garland High. We would fish Ray Hubbard, T-wok or Lavon each month. In Jan 1975 we had a tourney at Hubbard where we fished against North Garland & South Garland. I caught a 7lb 7oz bass on a black jig to win it all. We were 35 years ahead of our time for high school bass teams.

Love those ambassador 5000 red reels. My dad won one back in the 60’s. I used it to catch my first big bass out of Falcon.