Inside Angles: The Great Migration of Modern Angling

In-Fisherman Field Editor Ned Kehde, who gave the angling world the Ned rig, also is the greatest historian of the development of finesse fishing. On this website, our field editorshave written much about Ned rigs and alternatives that are nifty as can be.

Mention of Kehde reminded me of a perspective In‑Fisherman co-founder Ron Lindner once offered on the “march to modern angling.” I went digging and found it in an issue we published in 2001. The rest of what you’ll read here is what Lindner, who was In-Fisherman publisher at the time, observed back then.

Lindner: “Many anglers may not realize that most of the classic fishing theory, as well as the tackle and technology we use today, and the course of angling as a whole, developed, beginning in the mid-1960s, along a central axis line in our country; north and south from Minnesota and Wisconsin, through central Missouri and Arkansas into east Texas; and east and west from Tennessee and Kentucky, through central Missouri, into Kansas. This was the womb of modern angling, the incubation area for the modern sportfishing revolution as much of North America knows it today.

“This was the age—before the influence of big-time tournaments—of a handful of influential guides, tackle promoters, and other legendary anglers, who were on the cutting edge of angling information developing at a rapid pace. This information spread along the migration route within the axis area. Men like Harry Van Dorn and Al Lindner in the North, Gete Hibdon in the midlands, and Glenn Causey in the South, to name just a few, might fish in Minnesota and Wisconsin until October, then move on to Greers Ferry (Arkansas) until New Years, then on to Rayburn (Texas), until season opened again in the North in May. They followed the seasons and peaking fishing.

“Certainly the most important ideas of the day were Buck Perry’s theory of structure fishing and Carl Lowrance’s sonar invention, the Green Box. Perry’s ideas forever changed the way anglers look at the underwater world. Perry was a Carolinian, but his thinking caught on most strongly in the North, in Milwaukee with pioneer angler-writer Bill Binkleman who spread the good news, which eventually spawned Fishing Facts magazine. A little farther down the road, writer-editors like Spence Petros and Carl Malz picked up on Perry’s ideas. I, too, was a counterpart of these men, in this area, during that era. Lowrance’s sonar, meanwhile, made it possible for anglers to actually see structure, instead of having to find it with Perry’s special Spoonplugs and intricate methods.

“So much happened so quickly during this period. Instead of trying to chronicle every advancement on a date line, I just consider this period a big melting pot for ideas, people, and products (like the first plastic worms and first spinnerbaits) that spread among top anglers along that great migration route.

“Stir into the pot the fact that so many reservoirs were built during this period, particularly within the axis area, allowing the migration route to take hold. Bill Dance from  Tennessee, and Roland Martin from Oklahoma, were part of this scene. So, too, were Jerry McKinnis and the Murray brothers, Billy and Bobby. In Kansas, Harold Ensley and Virgil Ward not only were great anglers, but began to change the scene for all time by taking the sport to radio and television. Soon enough my brother Al and I were doing the same in the North. Ward’s show, Championship Fishing, took its name from his winning one of the first Professional Sport Fishing Association tournaments of the day.

“As bass populations boomed in reservoirs, Skeeter bass boats were introduced in Texas and soon after Ranger bass boats were introduced by Forrest Wood in Arkansas. Ray Scott forever changed the fishing world by beginning the Bass Angler’s Sportsman Society and initiating big-time tournament fishing. And this was the beginning of seminars as we know them today, with tackle promoter John Fox doing the first “education” lectures in Texas, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Indiana.

“I put ‘educational’ in quotation marks, because while education certainly spread via the lectured word, with slides and overhead graphics, the real reason for angling education was to promote fishing tackle. But that was true with almost everyone and everything I’ve tossed into the pot. Buck Perry pushed his Spoonplug and a book. Virgil Ward pushed his Beetle Spin, and Al and I developed our ‘magic act’ to sell our Lindy Rig. Trying to make a buck to make a living in fishing subsidized the revolution.

“This, of course, is but the tip of the revolution. Add mobility to this mix, too, for this was the first time in history that top anglers were pulling their own boats to fish, instead of fishing just one body of water for a lifetime. And so much more. Like Forrest Gump, I was lucky to be there.”

Lindner’s take on angling history won’t help you catch more fish, but there’s plenty that will in the rest of this website. As he suggests: A handle on history never hurts when putting a face on classic fishing topics.

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