You know you’re getting old when fishing lures that you used when you were a kid are now considered collectable antiques.
The other day I found myself admiring some of the old plugs and lures that I have on display in a china cabinet in my living room. I remember, as a kid, rifling through my father’s tackle box and sort of helping myself to a number of those old wooden plugs.
I also remembered all the times that we used to sit out in the boat fishing. I can still hear the sound of water lapping against the hull of the boat. I remember listening and laughing at all my father’s dumb jokes. Life was a lot simpler.
When I look at all that old fishing stuff, I cannot help but think just how much fishing tackle has changed over the years. Cane rods have been replaced by ultra-high modulus graphite rods. Instead of hardware store Pfluegers, I now own hand-crafted, machined aluminum reels that cost more than a good number of the vehicles I have owned. Gone are the wooden plugs with their glass eyes. Gone too are lures with names like Chubb Creek Minnow and flies like the Lady Amhurst and Silver Doctor.
We now have Killer Crank Baits, Buzz Bombs and Hawg-busters. When an angler goes fishing now, it’s almost as if they are at war with nature itself. Electronic fish finders and GPS’s (Global Positioning Systems) have turned the sport of fishing into more of a serious business.
I have to admit though, I enjoy using my new graphite rod. It is much lighter and easier to cast than the old fibreglass or cane rods. Today’s fluorocarbon lines and leaders are thinner, stronger and almost invisible to fish in the water. Computer designed lures are effective, if for no other reason than they probably annoy fish into striking, and modern fly-tying materials now give an almost life-like quality to any imitation fly pattern.
Maybe it’s just me, but somehow there just doesn’t seem to be enough of the old romantic tradition left in fishing. Catching a bright, shiny rainbow trout on a piece of muti-coloured fluorescent painted plastic with a name like Trout Killer stamped on the side of it just isn’t the same. I guess that’s why I continue to collect the old stuff and use the new high-tech stuff.
Including all the lures that I pilfered from my father’s tackle box, I guess I’ve been collecting antique fishing gear for more than 50 years. I’ve managed to put together a fair collection of old lures as well as dozens of steel and cane rods. I like to think that by collecting such artifacts I am, in a way, helping to preserve sport fishing history.
Fishing was a part of my growing up – a part of who I am. Maybe that’s why it annoys me so much when I see ads in the back of Canadian fishing magazines from some big fishing outfit down in Virginia wanting to buy old fishing gear. I just don’t think we should be selling off our history.
When I’m going through and handling some of the old piscatory paraphernalia I’ve collected over the years, I cannot help but admire the craftsmanship and attention to detail on some of those old plugs and lures.
I am often amazed at the creative lengths to which some earlier anglers went in order to catch a fish – it truly is amazing sometimes what did manage to catch fish.
So, I guess some day, when my tired old legs are too weary to get me into some of the lakes and streams that I have fished, I will be able to look back and know that I was part of an era. Not one of plastic, but rather one of craftsmanship, glass eyes and sport fishing history.
