Monday, February 21, 2011
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Thursday Review: Goodwin Granger: The Rod Man from Denver (2011)
Thursday Review: Goodwin Granger: The Rod Man from Denver (2011) by Michael Sinclair
I think I can be excused for saying that I know a little about what it takes to make a book. I've written a few myself, and published more than a few others. So I think that gives me a good perspective on what it takes to put together a book like Goodwin Granger: The Rod Man from Denver by Michael Sinclair. And I have to begin by saying this is one of the best books of this kind to come to market in the last decade.
In this beautiful volume, Sinclair seeks to place Granger and his fly rods into proper historical context. And he has his work cut out for him. Other than his own research on the subject published as part of a larger work nearly two decades ago, there has been very little reliable information about the firm, especially its early years. As Sinclair begins to construct the story of Granger from before World War I through his first rods on Ninth Street in Denver to the coming of Bill Phillipson, the reader begins to realize there is something great going on here.
One of the things that is most interesting about Granger is the early years. From his Mercantile days when he first experimented with fly rods ca. 1917, to his tournament casting success, to his work with Robert Holding on making the rodmaking machinery, Sinclair captures Goodwin Granger and an era that has long since passed. It might seem weird, but when reading this section, I wanted to put my coat-and-tie back on, Sinclair captures the genteel spirit of the age in such a pitch perfect manner.
While my personal interest is certainly more focused on the Goodwin Granger era (like Fred Divine before him, he died early in 1931), the author certainly keeps the reader's attention through the later years up to and beyond the Wright & McGill days. In particular, the bitter animosity between Granger principals Agnes Marshall and Bill Phillipson was surprising, and somewhat sad, to discover. It did lead Phillipson to found his own, highly successful company, but one wonders what might have been if Marshall did not block the purchase of Granger by Phillipson.
Based on more than two decades of research, The Rod Man from Denver shows it on nearly every page. When Sinclair writes that a particular ad is the first large ad to appear in Field & Stream, you can rest assured that the author has looked at every pertinent issue of the magazine for years on either side of this date so that he can verify this claim.
What emerges from all of this research is the rare book that can please multiple audiences. For historians like myself, the book is chock full of fascinating tidbits and information that make the book a delight. For rod collectors, it has numerous color photography and close-up photos that will help them to identify and appreciate Granger fly rods. And for the generalist, interested in fishing cane and reading good fly fishing literature, the book will come off as fascinating read. Trust me when I say this is not an easy triumvirate to pull off.
About the only criticism I have is that as a historian, I would have liked to have seen the book footnoted. However, I understand that this is not everyone's cup of tea, and Sinclair does make an effort to document materials in the captions and text. Additionally, it does have a nice bibliography and supplemental appendix of legal documents and catalog pages.
The book was published by the author, but saying that The Rod Man from Denver is a self-published book is akin to saying that a Stan Bogdan (rest in peace) reel is home-made. The term doesn't apply. The book was published by the author, but it was done in such a professional manner that even the harshest critic would certainly never have noticed.
It is also available in three different formats: a Softcover Trade Edition, a Hardcover Leather Edition, and the Registered Deluxe Edition (which is the one I used for this review). Let me say something about this. Those who read the Friday Funhouse know that I sometimes link to previous tackle Limited Edition books. I can confidently declare that these books appreciate over time to the point that in ten years time, most of us could not afford to buy one on the used market. So I say with confidence that the Granger Registered Deluxe Edition is as nice of a book of this kind as you will find available for sale today, tomorrow, or in a decade. Get one while you can, as they are not going to be available very long.
Sinclair writes in the preface, "I believe this book to be the most accurate and thorough record of Goodwin Granger and his company to date." That is an understatement, in that not only is this the best work on the subject, it is almost certain that it is the best book that will ever be written on the subject.
The Rod Man from Denver is the definitive account on Granger fly rods. It is 8.5" x 11", 360 pages, and contains 300 full color images. All edition of the Granger Book can be ordered through the author's web site by clicking here.
-- Dr. Todd
I think I can be excused for saying that I know a little about what it takes to make a book. I've written a few myself, and published more than a few others. So I think that gives me a good perspective on what it takes to put together a book like Goodwin Granger: The Rod Man from Denver by Michael Sinclair. And I have to begin by saying this is one of the best books of this kind to come to market in the last decade.
In this beautiful volume, Sinclair seeks to place Granger and his fly rods into proper historical context. And he has his work cut out for him. Other than his own research on the subject published as part of a larger work nearly two decades ago, there has been very little reliable information about the firm, especially its early years. As Sinclair begins to construct the story of Granger from before World War I through his first rods on Ninth Street in Denver to the coming of Bill Phillipson, the reader begins to realize there is something great going on here.
One of the things that is most interesting about Granger is the early years. From his Mercantile days when he first experimented with fly rods ca. 1917, to his tournament casting success, to his work with Robert Holding on making the rodmaking machinery, Sinclair captures Goodwin Granger and an era that has long since passed. It might seem weird, but when reading this section, I wanted to put my coat-and-tie back on, Sinclair captures the genteel spirit of the age in such a pitch perfect manner.
While my personal interest is certainly more focused on the Goodwin Granger era (like Fred Divine before him, he died early in 1931), the author certainly keeps the reader's attention through the later years up to and beyond the Wright & McGill days. In particular, the bitter animosity between Granger principals Agnes Marshall and Bill Phillipson was surprising, and somewhat sad, to discover. It did lead Phillipson to found his own, highly successful company, but one wonders what might have been if Marshall did not block the purchase of Granger by Phillipson.
Based on more than two decades of research, The Rod Man from Denver shows it on nearly every page. When Sinclair writes that a particular ad is the first large ad to appear in Field & Stream, you can rest assured that the author has looked at every pertinent issue of the magazine for years on either side of this date so that he can verify this claim.
What emerges from all of this research is the rare book that can please multiple audiences. For historians like myself, the book is chock full of fascinating tidbits and information that make the book a delight. For rod collectors, it has numerous color photography and close-up photos that will help them to identify and appreciate Granger fly rods. And for the generalist, interested in fishing cane and reading good fly fishing literature, the book will come off as fascinating read. Trust me when I say this is not an easy triumvirate to pull off.
About the only criticism I have is that as a historian, I would have liked to have seen the book footnoted. However, I understand that this is not everyone's cup of tea, and Sinclair does make an effort to document materials in the captions and text. Additionally, it does have a nice bibliography and supplemental appendix of legal documents and catalog pages.
The book was published by the author, but saying that The Rod Man from Denver is a self-published book is akin to saying that a Stan Bogdan (rest in peace) reel is home-made. The term doesn't apply. The book was published by the author, but it was done in such a professional manner that even the harshest critic would certainly never have noticed.
It is also available in three different formats: a Softcover Trade Edition, a Hardcover Leather Edition, and the Registered Deluxe Edition (which is the one I used for this review). Let me say something about this. Those who read the Friday Funhouse know that I sometimes link to previous tackle Limited Edition books. I can confidently declare that these books appreciate over time to the point that in ten years time, most of us could not afford to buy one on the used market. So I say with confidence that the Granger Registered Deluxe Edition is as nice of a book of this kind as you will find available for sale today, tomorrow, or in a decade. Get one while you can, as they are not going to be available very long.
Sinclair writes in the preface, "I believe this book to be the most accurate and thorough record of Goodwin Granger and his company to date." That is an understatement, in that not only is this the best work on the subject, it is almost certain that it is the best book that will ever be written on the subject.
The Rod Man from Denver is the definitive account on Granger fly rods. It is 8.5" x 11", 360 pages, and contains 300 full color images. All edition of the Granger Book can be ordered through the author's web site by clicking here.
-- Dr. Todd
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
An Interview with Michael Sinclair
by Dr. Todd E.A. Larson
When I first started thinking about researching fishing tackle history while I was in graduate school, there were a few people I admired and hoped to emulate. They included Steve Vernon, Mary Kefover Kelly, and Michael Sinclair. The author of a number of important books and articles on rod history, including a biography of Fred Divine and a history of Heddon rods, Sinclair has recently turned his attention to his original passion, Granger fly rods. His new book (look for a review here tomorrow) launched about three months ago, and we were able to corner him for a couple of hours to answer some questions about collecting fly rods, the Sinclair triumvirate of Divine-Heddon-Granger, and the difficulty in researching vintage rodmakers.
TODD E.A. LARSON (TEAL): Let me be the first to congratulate you on this incredible book. I don’t think most people realize how difficult it was to not only write, but to self-publish. How did you find the experience of putting together the Granger book?
MICHAEL SINCLAIR (MS): It’s something I enjoyed doing. It was a book that was done over a long course of time. I spent about a year just assembling everything and putting it into some kind of logical form. It was something I enjoyed doing, and it continually amazes me that even after all the research we keep picking up little bits of information we didn’t know existed.
TEAL: Why have you been so attracted to rodmakers who sort of fly under the radar, so to speak? Divine, Heddon, and now Granger. Are there commonalities between them, or is your attraction to these kinds of rodmakers just happenstance?
MS: It was a very conscious decision. Take Fred Divine. No one was even spelling the man’s name right when I started getting involved with him. While I won’t say it’s the ultimate sign of disrespect, no one seemed to care enough to get it right. And while I understand that for a while Divine rods fell out of a favor because they were making some cheap stuff, that was a matter of survival for the company. They had to do what they could to sell rods. Once they got on their feet and started making better rods, their reputation seemed pretty well shot.
On the other hand, Granger and Heddon were a little bit ignored because they weren’t located in the fly fishing media centers. They were well known in their own areas but not in the East, where the larger population of fly fishermen lived. Interestingly, Divine was right there, in upstate New York, and there is no reason in the world he did not receive more attention, good or bad. But I think a lot of people missed out on some fine rods from Divine because in his day, and by today’s standards as well, they made some really fine rods.
TEAL: Do you think the slights against Divine had anything to do with his untimely and early death [Fred Divine died in an accident in his shop in 1900]?
MS: Definitely. Fred was an outgoing and affable person, and he was really their main salesman. He enjoyed traveling and going out and meeting the store owners, and getting people to represent his rods in far-flung places like Denver. I remember looking up where he stayed at the Brown Palace Hotel in Denver, and that was the first time I found his signature, which matched the ones I found on his patent drawings. He traveled a lot, especially to Chicago, Denver, Kansas City, St. Louis, and those were logical places because that’s where the major catalog houses were located. And of course, he went to Los Angeles, too. He had a really good relationship with a defunct company there called McLaughlin Sporting Goods. You see a lot of Divine rods marked McLaughlin. The William Hoegee Company carried Divine rods in their catalog for many years. Divine also had their own catalogs, and those are pretty cool, too. I’m still looking for certain Divine catalogs, especially ones that carry the two-piece rods like the Feather-Wate. I have only seen them in trade catalogs. The latest ad I have found for the Divine Company is 1936. It’s nothing special, it’s not one that shows models, but rather is a generic ad similar to the ones they ran in the 1920s. But it is surprising they advertised that late.
TEAL: They couldn’t have had more than one or two people working for them by then.
MS: I would think not. Probably just George McDuffee by then, maybe one other rodmaker had stuck around. It’s finding the little tidbits like the 1936 ad that I enjoy. In the beginning of the Divine book, I said writing a book like this is like creating a dot-to-dot puzzle. A single dot may not answer all the questions, but it will at least tell you which direction the line should go next.
TEAL: I think at some point, you can spend another ten or twenty years researching and not significantly add to the story. Then you publish the book, and a flood of new information comes in!
MS: That’s always my belief. With the advent of the internet, we have the most powerful research tool invented. So is eBay. eBay is just a tremendous source of information. Part of the fun is seeing what comes creeping out of the woodwork next.
TEAL: Give me an example of using eBay for research.
MS: A good example of this is the oldest Granger I own. No one had ever seen one, we had heard they existed, and suddenly one shows up on eBay. And I was lucky enough to get that rod. And now there is another one there, and it’s in better condition. I can’t wait for the last minute of that auction. It will be like the Wild Wild West out there. Information is power, and as people become more comfortable, they are willing to spend more money.
TEAL: You mentioned you thought of Heddon and Granger in the same terms. Can you elaborate on this?
MS: They were the same basic type of company when it came to rods. Of course, no one can compare to Heddon, because they made hundreds of thousands of rods, reels, and lures, and no other company I know of can claim that. I think that is something Heddon should be proud of, because not only did they make these things, they made them very well. Their slogan “Heddon Made is Well Made” was not just a slogan. I don’t mean perfectly made, but they were extremely well made. Their lures you couldn’t beat for beauty and construction. The reels were as fine as anything you could find, the 3-25 and 3-35 were outrageously nice Blue Grass quality reels. Then you get into their rods. The only complaint I have about Heddon rods are those black ferrules, they are garbage! I am not sure they aren’t made with aluminum. I’ve never fiddled with them [to find out].
Heddon and Granger both offered enough different tapers that you could always find one to suit your tastes. I think that Heddon and Granger were also similar because they were both Middle Class rods. Let me amend that. I’d say Heddon was a Middle Class rod, while Granger was an Upper Middle Class rod. I do believe that Heddon borrowed the ammonia technique from Granger, because Granger started making [fly] rods before Heddon did, and I think Heddon immediately saw the advantages.
TEAL: So you think Grangers are better than Heddons?
MS: I do believe Grangers are better rods. Their consistency is unparalleled. I don’t care who you’re talking about it, with the possible exception of Payne, I don’t think you’ll find anyone who was more consistent in their quality. That was no accident. You can look at the early ads from the 1920s and see Granger hammering away at quality standardization. I think that’s the key to Granger’s great success, in that you can pick up any Granger and it has the same action, whether it is a seven or ten footer. You can pick any of the rods, take an eight footer for example, and cast it, then pick out twelve more and they will feel just the same. You can’t say that about all makers. I think Leonard was particularly noted for being inconsistent, and that’s not a criticism, but it does mean you can’t say that every Model 50DF will feel just the same.
TEAL: I always look for the inception spark on why people take on Labors of Love. Clearly, your book on Granger is a work of love. Why Granger instead of, say, Heddon?
MS: Well, it’s a story of how I got involved in bamboo rods in the middle 1980s, I had my grandfather’s fishing hat, vest, and creel on an old hat rack in the corner of my living room. I started thinking, “wouldn’t it be great if I could find one of those old bamboo fishing rods to lean up there with that?” We were living in Denver at the time, so I went out to the old Mile High Flea Market, and started looking around for bamboo fishing rods. For weeks I didn’t see a thing. Than one day, I came across a fellow who had three rods. One was a South Bend, which I knew because it had the sticker on it. I don’t recall the second, but the third one didn’t have a name on it, but it looked old. There was something about the way it was built that just appealed to me. The guy wanted $25 for it and I thought that was an awful lot of money for an old fishing pole. But I bought it anyway, and took it home, leaned it up and it looked good.
One day I picked it up and started to fiddle with it, and began really paying attention to it, and it hit me: this is really interesting! That’s where the illness started. I thought, gee I wonder when this was made…and things got ugly from there. I bundled it up, and took it to the fly shops in Denver, one of the fly shops didn’t know what it was but they did sell me a bag for carrying around this nine-foot two piece. Then I happened to run into [rodmaker] Steve Jenkins. He got to looking at it, and said, gosh this one is old. I can see here it used to have intermediate wraps. I asked him what it should look like, and he said he didn’t know, because he wasn’t sure who made it. I asked him how much he would charge me to make it look right. He said “we charge $300 and one dollar for every intermediate.” And I started counting intermediates, and discovered the price of happiness just went up.
I asked him if he knew anyone who could help, and he gave me Len Codella’s address. So I did a drawing of the rod and sent it to Len, and he wrote back and said, “nice drawing. Your rod was made by Fred Divine about 1925.” I thought to myself, “GREAT! All I need to do is find out about Fred Divine.” There was NOTHING there. Finally I came across Marty Keane’s book, and it was a done deal by that time. I started reading about Divine, and Marty talked about how they liked bright colors, and in the process of reading the book I saw the references to Denver and Granger. I thought, “Hey, I live here!” and immediately started getting a warm fuzzy feeling. And I wanted to find one of those rods, thinking it would be so cool. So that’s how I got hooked on Granger.
As an aside, Marty Keane started talking about the rods with red intermediates, and they really turned me on. I’ve since come to the conclusion that red intermediates and red wraps with black tipping is as classy as it gets.
TEAL: I notice that’s the color scheme you use on your New Divine Rods.
MS: That’s because that’s the color scheme they used on the old Divine rods! People say it’s a beautiful rod, and I always tell them, “I’ll pass on the compliment to Fred when I see him.” Because I didn’t dream it up, that’s the way they were.
TEAL: Back to Granger. So Granger became an early passion of yours?
MS: Absolutely. I started looking for Granger rods. I was using a Macintosh 512K – of course there was no internet. I called Led Codella and he said I needed to get in touch with Phil Snyder, who he said knew a lot about Granger. Soon Phil and I were extremely good pen pals, and I’ve saved all of our letters. Someday I think there may be a book in that…
Like I said in the Granger book, my very first love was the Granger rods and I went off on tangents because I found them interesting, but I never gave up on the Granger story.
TEAL: I find that the best historians are the most stubborn—they don’t give up even when everyone else in their right mind would have thrown in the towel.
MS: Yes. A lot of people tell me they want to write a book. Actually, what they are telling me is they want to have WRITTEN a book. Because they don’t have a clue how it absolutely takes over your life. You wake up in the morning and wonder what Fred Divine had for breakfast. Others might think this is stupid and ask why. I don’t know. Because I want to know more!
TEAL: How has technology changed the way you do your research?
MS: It was really interesting, in the early days we communicated with letters, and photography was very different in those days. It was very difficult to take a good picture of a rod without a really good studio set up. I was really into photography but still could never take really good photos with my 35mm. That’s why I started to do drawings, because I could draw better than I could photograph. There was no question when I decided to do the Granger book that there would be lots of good, close up detailed photographs. The old “picture is worth a thousand words” is probably more like “ten thousand words.”
TEAL: Let’s change course for a minute. I understand you recently built your first cane rod from scratch?
MS: That was about two years ago now. My friends Bob (Nunley) and Harry (Boyd) were about to start up their Ozark Rodmaker’s School and they were looking for a few Guinea Pigs. They said that if I bought the materials, they’d run the class. So me and Sharon [Michael’s wife], who had always wanted to build a rod, took their first class. It was a blast. What I really learned more than anything is that there are more than a million ways to screw up a rod. I knew the general procedure and everything, so there weren’t a lot of surprises, but there were some interesting tips I picked up that helped me in my restoration work.
But building a rod up from bamboo culm to fishing rod is a lot of work! And although none of the work is really hard, it is exceptionally repetitive, especially the planing. I can understand why so many people use the rough bevellers to get down to the sixty degree strips. The level of detail involved is phenomenal. I’m a guy who is only comfortable using hammers and vice grips. I can usually manage a screw driver. So get me in there with something with tolerances of thousands of an inch, and it was frightening.
TEAL: How did this experience help you better appreciate Granger?
MS: It definitely made me appreciate their consistency even more. As far as consistency, it was their machinery as much as anything that was responsible for it. I may have shorted that section in the book, actually. I didn’t emphasize enough how incredibly important Mr. Holding’s machinery was. He became completely enamored with the thought of using a natural material, and machining it to such precise measurements. He was one of those fellows who was used to designing machinery for metal work. I think he might have been an angler at the beginning (he was at the end), and his machinery was designed in such a way that it was exceptionally heavy.
He was English, and came from those people who are belt-and-suspenders kinds of guys – look at a Hardy or a Dingley reel. It’s built like a tank! You could probably break one with a hammer, but short of that, no way. He built his machinery the same way. Several different people told me that either Mr. Holding or Mr. Phillipson would set up the beveller, and they did all the precise settings, and that they had a method of locking it down so that even if someone accidentally bumped the machine, it did not shift the adjustment. Therefore, they would take rough bevel strips and run them through the machine one after the other. This is how they made such precise strips.
Holding also designed the glue bath machine, which was a glue bath and rough winder all in one. No one ever mentioned what kind of glue they used, but everyone said it absolutely stunk. That doesn’t sound like an animal glue… The glue was heated, and they would immerse the strips loosely wrapped into the glue, then put them through the big wheel that put the final tension on them. Since the glue was heated, it helped somewhat with the durability of Granger rods. You rarely see a delaminated Granger, and when you do, it’s usually covered in black because it was stored wet.
Mr. Holding was so careful in the design of his machines, and this is surely one of the reasons for the amazing consistency of Granger rods. Mr. Granger personally insisted on these things being done exactly the right way. He seemed to have always been in the shop. He didn’t go out and sell, about all he did was participate in tournaments. This is why he could write, as he did in one of the catalogs, printed in bold print, “It is my job to inspect every rod.” I think Mr. Granger meant that. I don’t think it was advertising hype.
TEAL: That is fascinating stuff. In closing, what is your favorite Granger?
MS: I personally favor the sliding band models, because of their slower action. It’s not enough to mention, but it is there. It flexes a little further down into the mid, and I just personally like that better.
TEAL: Finally, what explains Granger’s enduring success?
MS: The Granger pride of workmanship was one of the major keys to their success.
Many thanks to Michael for taking the time to talk to me, and to talk Granger, Heddon and Divine!
-- Dr. Todd
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Wow!! (click for the rest)
Evidence: Except at statistical extremes, body mass index (BMI) - or amount of body fat - only weakly predicts longevity [32]. Most epidemiological studies find that people who are overweight or moderately obese live at least as long as normal weight people, and often longer [32-35]. Analysis of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys I, II, and III, which followed the largest nationally representative cohort of United States adults, determined that greatest longevity was in the overweight category [32]. As per the report, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association and reviewed and approved by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Cancer Institute, "[this] finding is consistent with other results reported in the literature." Indeed, the most comprehensive review of the research pooled data for over 350,000 subjects from 26 studies and found overweight to be associated with greater longevity than normal weight [36]. More recently, Janssen analyzed data in the elderly (among whom more than 70 percent of all deaths occur) - also from 26 published studies - and similarly found no evidence of excess mortality associated with overweight [37]. The Americans' Changing Lives study came to a similar conclusion, indicating that "when socioeconomic and other risk factors are controlled for, obesity is not a significant risk factor for mortality; and... for those 55 or older, both overweight and obesity confer a significant decreased risk of mortality." [38] The most recent analysis, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, concluded that overweight was associated with increased risk, but only arrived at this conclusion after restricting the analysis by excluding 78 percent of the deaths [39]. They also used a reference category much narrower than the entire "normal weight" category used by most other studies, which also contributed to making the relative risk for overweight higher.
There is a robust pattern in the epidemiological literature that has been named the "obesity paradox" [40,41]: obesity is associated with longer survival in many diseases. For example, obese persons with type 2 diabetes [42], hypertension [43,44], cardiovascular disease[41,45], and chronic kidney disease [46] all have greater longevity than thinner people with these conditions [47-49]. Also, obese people who have had heart attacks, coronary bypass[50], angioplasty[51] or hemodialysis [52] live longer than thinner people with these histories [49]. In addition, obese senior citizens live longer than thinner senior citizens [53].
The idea that "this is the first generation of children that may have a shorter life expectancy than their parents" is commonly expressed in scientific journals [54] and popular press articles [55], even appearing in Congressional testimony by former Surgeon General Richard Carmona [56] and a 2010 report from the White House Task Force on Childhood Obesity[57]. When citation is provided, it refers to an opinion paper published in the New England Journal of Medicine [54], which offered no statistical evidence to support the claim. Life expectancy increased dramatically during the same time period in which weight rose (from 70.8 years in 1970 to 77.8 years in 2005) [58]. Both the World Health Organization and the Social Security Administration project life expectancy will continue to rise in coming decades [59,60].
http://www.nutritionj.com/content/10/1/9
There is a robust pattern in the epidemiological literature that has been named the "obesity paradox" [40,41]: obesity is associated with longer survival in many diseases. For example, obese persons with type 2 diabetes [42], hypertension [43,44], cardiovascular disease[41,45], and chronic kidney disease [46] all have greater longevity than thinner people with these conditions [47-49]. Also, obese people who have had heart attacks, coronary bypass[50], angioplasty[51] or hemodialysis [52] live longer than thinner people with these histories [49]. In addition, obese senior citizens live longer than thinner senior citizens [53].
The idea that "this is the first generation of children that may have a shorter life expectancy than their parents" is commonly expressed in scientific journals [54] and popular press articles [55], even appearing in Congressional testimony by former Surgeon General Richard Carmona [56] and a 2010 report from the White House Task Force on Childhood Obesity[57]. When citation is provided, it refers to an opinion paper published in the New England Journal of Medicine [54], which offered no statistical evidence to support the claim. Life expectancy increased dramatically during the same time period in which weight rose (from 70.8 years in 1970 to 77.8 years in 2005) [58]. Both the World Health Organization and the Social Security Administration project life expectancy will continue to rise in coming decades [59,60].
http://www.nutritionj.com/content/10/1/9
Voices from the Past: Jim Gifford on Pork Rind Baits (1987)
A couple of weeks ago Bill Sonnett wrote about pork rind baits from the early 20th century, so I thought I'd run this fascinating article about pork baits written by Missouri writer Jim Gifford and published in the Frederick News for January 7, 1987 to show that they were still popular in the 1980s. It details a history of the revival of the pork rind bait in the 1980s, as well as the origins of the Uncle Josh pork rind company.
Bass Have a Liking for Pork Lures
by Jim Gifford
Bass Buffs have called it a lot of things . . . all of them good. Among the names they've hung on it are jig-and-frog, jig-and-josh and jig-and-pig, the last name being the one that's most often used these days to refer to this particular lead head jig and pork rind combination. Since its revival in 1977, the jig-and-pig probably has accounted for more big bass than any other bait or lure.
Bass in general and big bass in particular seem to have a liking for pork, a fact first discovered so far as we know by a couple of Wisconsin anglers as far back as 1921. The two were Alan Jones and Urba Schreiner and they founded the Uncle Josh Bait Company, now the major producer of pork rind lures including the pork frog.
At first the pork frog was used in combination with spoons and weedless hooks to bring bass out of hard to fish places such as dense weeds and lilly pads. The pork frog as it's known today, has undergone some evolution; the V-shaped tail on today's hog-hide frogs is a relatively recent innovation, for example.
Color was introduced also during the evolution of the pork frog. The early frogs were white; today they come in a number of colors including black, brown, orange, green and white, red and white and orange. And they are made in several sizes ranging from the small spinning rod frog to the Big Daddy, the largest in the line.
FOR THIRTY YEARS OR SO after Jones and Schreiner began selling their hog-hide lures, pork frogs retained their popularity with bass anglers. At one time, at least three other companies (Pedigos, Lutz, and Bill's 13 Pork Baits) competed with Uncle Josh for the pork lure market. Of those early hog-hide sellers, only Uncle Josh is still around.
The trade in pork lures suffered a sharp setback sometime in the Sixties when plastic worms captured the attention of the country's bassin' buffs. And the demand for pork lures remained low until the late Seventies when bass anglers in Arkansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Texas started a hog-hide revival.
Huland Nations of Prairie Grove, Ark., is given credit for starting the resurection of the pork frog. Nations used a pork frog in combination with a lead head jig to win the 1977 Arkansas State Bass Tournament. Word of match the weight of the jig and the size a pick up rather than a strike. If a bass if the jar it's in gets too much heat, the
Nations' secret weapon spread quietly but quickly among tournament bass anglers in the four-state area.
Less than a year later, a pair of Oklahoma bass anglers using a jig and pork frog combination set a record for the heaviest pair of 10 bass limits ever registered in the state. From a 20-yard stretch of flooded channel in the Pine Creek Reservoir, the two Oklahoma anglers landed 20 bass that weighed 129 lbs 10 ozs. Those fish ranged in weight from 5 lbs. 2 ozs. to 8 lbs. 14 ozs.
ITS ASSOCIATION WITH THE JIG gave a boost to the revival of the pork frog. The development of weed guards and rubber skirts added to the action and utility of the jig and made it the lure of choice for deep water cover with a pork lure. The jig-and-pig combination also gave cast-and-crank bassln' buffs a good crawdad imitation.
As a bass lure, the combination has three important virtues. It catches most fish it attracts. It is effective on sluggish bass, enticing them to hit when nothing else will, or so it seems. A large pan of the credit for the effectiveness of the combination is due to the life-like action of the jig's rubber skirt.
The usual explanation given as to why a jig-and-pig catches most of the fish it attracts is that the pork lure has an agreeable taste and feel and bass will hold on to it longer. Unlike plastic lures, the ones made of hog-hide do not become stiff in cold water.
During the early stages of the pork frog revival, it was believed that the effectiveness of the jig-and-pig was limited to cold weather. But with experience jig-and-pig was limited to cold weather. But with experience jig-and-pig users soon discovered that the combination was good almost any time of the year. Only in July and August is the plastic worm likely to give a better showing and then only in the daytime.
HOG-HIDE FROGS ARE naturally slow sinkers; the larger the chunk of pork, the slower it sinks. The buoyancy of the pork lure makes the jig-and-pig combination a good choice for getting to bass suspended in submerged tree tops 15 to 20 feet down . . . it can be retrieved so that it swims right to them.
Experienced jig-and-pig tossers match the weight of the jig and the size of the pig to the occasion. For example, when they're working on bass in shallow water, they'll use a 1/8oz. jig with a #101 pork frog, For bass in deeper water, they go with a 3/16 to 3/8 02. jig and a #11 pork frog, unless it's a hawg-size bass in which case they use a #1or a #10 pork frog.
There are about as many ways to fish a jig-and-pig as there are bass anglers. It's good for fishing brush piles, submerged creek channels and cut banks. And it's just as effective for taking river smallmouths. More often than not, a bass will take a jig-and-pig on the fall so it's important to keep a close watch on your line.
Strikes are not spectacular; fact is you hear jig-and-pig tossers refer to it as a pick up rather than a strike. If a bass doesn't take the jig-and-pig on the fall, the lure can be lifted up a short distance and dropped back. The same tactic is used in crawling a jig-and-pig through submerged tree top or brush pile: every time the lure comes over a limb,it's allowed to fall; if nothing takes, the retrieve is continued.
A jig-and-pig can be crawled along a rocky river bottom in a similar manner, falling 2nd rising as it moves from rock to rock. Wherever there's bass cover, a jig-and-pig can be worked to advantage.
Occasionally you will hear a com- plaint about hog-hide frogs, but there's really not much to criticize. In warm weather, a pork frog tends to dry out quickly when left out of the water. And if the jar it's in gets too much heat, the pork lure will become tough. But given the way bass react to a jig-and-pig, that's a small price to pay.
-- Dr. Todd
UPDATE: Mike Pollock shared this great photo of various Pork Rind materials on Joe's Board:
Monday, March 28, 2011
got2dogs
The endings
are in the beginnings
one way or another
Flower turns itself to seed
the children move beyond us
into space we cannot even imagine
Carrying loads we know nothing of
We turn, then, to each other,
let them go,
and drink our tea
In the rosy twinight,
A grin, still,
at what they cannot guess of us
jjl
8/6/2007
Sunday, March 27, 2011
News of the Week: 28 March 2011
Don't have time to read 50+ fishing and tackle collecting blogs and web sites? Well, let us do it for you! Follow all of the latest news, articles, and stories on our Whitefishpress Twitter account! Hint: You don't need to be a member...just bookmark the Twitter Feed Page or click on latest links to the right!
New bill limits salmon fishing in the Columbia…Redditch history on display…Bass Pro buys into B.A.S.S. big time…a bass boat for warriors…Rockford tackle garage sale is a hit…Kelly Slater, surfing star, is the son of a tackle shop owner…fly fishing purchases are way up…salmon fishing catches break record in Scotland…baseball great retires and gets fly rod…hackle shortage for fly tiers caused by lady's fashions…measuring the impact of the earthquake on the Japanese tackle industry…it must be THE NEWS OF THE WEEK!
The Big Lead: New bill would limit salmon gillnetters on the Columbia River.
Redditch church exhibit touches on the region's tackle heritage.
Bass Pro Shops extends sponsorship of B.A.S.S.
A Bass Boat built for warriors.
Rockford tackle garage sale draws 1000 people.
Surfing icon Kelly Slater is the son of a fishing tackle shop owner.
Ted Williams reports that fly fishing purchases are on the rise.
In Scotland, salmon rod fishing catches reach a record high.
Why catching cobras can leave you breathless.
Royals legend Mike Sweeney retires, gets fly rod as gift.
Why the impact of sportsmen should never be overlooked.
We don't have a winner yet in Field & Stream's "Name the 5 Hottest Flies."
Want to know why these is a hackle shortage? Blame Lady Gaga and women's fashions.
Finishing With a Flourish: Wired2Fish gives us an update on the Japanese tackle industry after the devastating earthquake.
-- Dr. Todd
1000 Words: Philip R. Goodwin (1906)
1000 Words
This week in 1000 Words we celebrate one of my favorite artists, Phillip R. Goodwin (1881-1935). Goodwin was one of the most prolific outdoor artists, with his painting gracing the cover of dozens of magazines. A child prodigy (he famously sold his first illustration to Collier's Magazine at age 11), his first important commission was illustrating Jack London's Call of the Wild in 1903.
The painting above is a very early work of his, painted in 1906 and called "A Distant Acquaintance." It first appeared in Outer's Magazine in 1906.
His originals have gone stratospheric in the past decade; in 2003, one of his paintings sold at auction for $143,750, and his prints regularly sell for over $1000.00. Even magazines that are graced by his work on the cover often bring good money.
Here is another example of his work from the National Museum of Wildlife Art, entitled "The Surprise."
Sadly, Goodwin ran into bad luck in the Depression and died at the height of his talent at the age of 54 on December 14, 1935.
-- Dr. Todd
PS: One of the best anecdotes I've read of late comes from Meadowlark Gallery's web page and concerns a Philip R. Goodwin original offered at a garage sale in Lacrosse, Wisconsin for $5. They write: "A man came by and offered the lady having the garage sale $3.00 for it. She did not accept the offer and decided to investigate her garage sale item. She sent photographs of it to a major western and sporting auction. The work was authenticated as an original oil painting by Goodwin. The painting sold at auction in 2001 for the amount of $ 33,000.00 which included the buyers premium. This is a good lesson for those individuals that insist on bartering before every purchase." An amazing story. For $2 someone talked themselves out of an original Goodwin painting...
This week in 1000 Words we celebrate one of my favorite artists, Phillip R. Goodwin (1881-1935). Goodwin was one of the most prolific outdoor artists, with his painting gracing the cover of dozens of magazines. A child prodigy (he famously sold his first illustration to Collier's Magazine at age 11), his first important commission was illustrating Jack London's Call of the Wild in 1903.
The painting above is a very early work of his, painted in 1906 and called "A Distant Acquaintance." It first appeared in Outer's Magazine in 1906.
His originals have gone stratospheric in the past decade; in 2003, one of his paintings sold at auction for $143,750, and his prints regularly sell for over $1000.00. Even magazines that are graced by his work on the cover often bring good money.
Here is another example of his work from the National Museum of Wildlife Art, entitled "The Surprise."
Sadly, Goodwin ran into bad luck in the Depression and died at the height of his talent at the age of 54 on December 14, 1935.
-- Dr. Todd
PS: One of the best anecdotes I've read of late comes from Meadowlark Gallery's web page and concerns a Philip R. Goodwin original offered at a garage sale in Lacrosse, Wisconsin for $5. They write: "A man came by and offered the lady having the garage sale $3.00 for it. She did not accept the offer and decided to investigate her garage sale item. She sent photographs of it to a major western and sporting auction. The work was authenticated as an original oil painting by Goodwin. The painting sold at auction in 2001 for the amount of $ 33,000.00 which included the buyers premium. This is a good lesson for those individuals that insist on bartering before every purchase." An amazing story. For $2 someone talked themselves out of an original Goodwin painting...
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Saturday, March 26, 2011
Deconstructing Old Ads: Moonlight Trout Bob (1911)
The Moonlight Trout Bob
From the pages of the July 1911 issue of Sporting Goods Dealer comes this beautiful ad from the Moonlight Bait Company featuring their offerings for 1911.
Most noticeable in the ad is the new “Trout Bob.” Almost any lure collecting reference book will mention that this is a fairly scarce bait. In more than thirty years of searching in the field,I have been lucky enough to find one . Reading the ad, it is obvious that the Moonlight Bait Company expected more success from this bait than it eventually achieved. In retrospect, I think it is somewhat easy to guess why it did not have huge sales.
Today we would put it on a spinning rod and possibly catch Smallmouth Bass on it, if they were biting on top. In 1911 there were only three choices on how one would use a bait this small: a cane pole, a baitcasting outfit, or a flyrod. By 1911, the period when folks were using cane poles for surface lures was waining. The lure was too small to be effectively cast on a baitcasting outfit and as the name indicates, Moonlight was trying to sell this thing to trout fishermen, who then as today, preferred the flyrod. The “Trout Bob" is a fairly heavy chunk to be slinging around on the end of a flyrod. I can only imagine the “wake up call” received when the fisherman was smacked in the back of the head with this bait, as any flyrod bait will do on occasion. I have never read an actual account of anyone catching a fish on a Trout Bob, but it does have great appeal for lure collectors today.
-- Bill Sonnett
Fishing For History Turns 4!
Four years ago today the Fishing for History Blog started as a solitary voice in the wilderness. Now, as we close in on a million visits and many more than that page views, it has certainly grown into something I could never have anticipated. I could not have done it without help from contributors like Bill Sonnett, Dick Streater, and numerous others who have sent in material. Trust me, there are times when it is a huge p.i.t.a. But overall, it is a phenomenal experience and I truly enjoy getting to know people through it.
When it comes down to it, what I am appreciative of is people like you who come and read what we have to say every day. So thank you for indulging me and everyone else who contributes to the blog.
My goal for 2011 is to try out some new things, and to try and find at least one more weekly writer...hint hint.
So happy birthday to the Fishing for History Blog! Four years is a LONG time but it's been a lot of fun and I look forward to running the blog well into the future.
-- Dr. Todd
Friday, March 25, 2011
Friday Funhouse
The Video of the Week:: One man is tying a rat while reciting Robert Service poems. Seriously.
12 Things I Would Buy If Only I Could Afford Them
This is a rare Flotn-Cas-Tro Lite reel from California.
The Leaping Lena is a strange and interesting lure.
I like this Ernie Newman airplane ice fishing jig.
Wow, this Bud Stewart lure is amazing.
A Payne 204 is an outstanding fly rod.
This Clark half-leather top creel is really spectacular.
Clamp reels are always popular.
This beautiful Heddon Vamp in Goldfish is awesome!
An H.A. Whittemore Pflueger trade minnow is a great find.
It's never too early for Merry Christmas, Bingo style.
This Allcock Titbit is a superb British lure.
Not only is the Alcedo Micron tearing up eBay, but it's also Field & Stream's featured vintage tackle of the week.
As always, have a good and safe weekend, and be good to each other, and yourself.
-- Dr. Todd
12 Things I Would Buy If Only I Could Afford Them
This is a rare Flotn-Cas-Tro Lite reel from California.
The Leaping Lena is a strange and interesting lure.
I like this Ernie Newman airplane ice fishing jig.
Wow, this Bud Stewart lure is amazing.
A Payne 204 is an outstanding fly rod.
This Clark half-leather top creel is really spectacular.
Clamp reels are always popular.
This beautiful Heddon Vamp in Goldfish is awesome!
An H.A. Whittemore Pflueger trade minnow is a great find.
It's never too early for Merry Christmas, Bingo style.
This Allcock Titbit is a superb British lure.
Not only is the Alcedo Micron tearing up eBay, but it's also Field & Stream's featured vintage tackle of the week.
As always, have a good and safe weekend, and be good to each other, and yourself.
-- Dr. Todd
Thursday, March 24, 2011
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