Just Back From Maine, Got Some Cool Old Stuff!

[BigFish]

Was up in Maine with FishChick this week. Up in Boothbay and Bar Harbor to be exact. We like to roam around up there checking out antique shops as we drive. Well, I happened upon some great, inexpensive fishing related items for my collection. First I found an old copy of Outdoor Life dated June 1956. The cover artwork is of a fisherman sitting on a sand dune on the beach leaning against a piece of driftwood, lighting his pipe, with a nice striper laying on one side of him and his rod and tackle box on his other side. In the background you can see other guys landing fish and casting. It is pretty neat and in great shape! I will probably frame it, but inside there was some great paragraphs on surfcasting down the cape. It is pretty neat reading the text about surfcasting in 1956. It really does not sound like too much has changed. George Heinold writes the following....."Bassing in the Bay State starts to get active in early May when trollers around Wareham River report first blood. Later the grapevine buzzes with stories of good fish being taken in the surf off Marthas Vineyard and in the Poponesset-Succonnessett area on southern Cape Cod. Then the bassing gets hot and stays that way, on and off, until into October. No salt-water angler should ever leave Cape Cod without visiting Wellfleet and Provincetown. You will be interested in seeing the fleets of beach buggies--those ingenious ballon-tired vehicles which belong to men (and often whole families) who chase stripers and schools of bluefish from one stretch of surf to another. Many fishing-tackle shops aren't as well stocked as some of those Cape Cod fishing wagons". See, things really have not changed much! I still have not really gone through the magazine thoroughly yet, but if I find anything of interest, I will post it! I also found several other magazines, A "Hunting and Fishing" magazine dated August 1949, with a surfcaster in thigh waders casting in rough surf in California photographed on the cover...pretty neat! Also an August 1949 issue of "Field and Stream"...cover artwork has a guy grabbing a large striper by the gill plates in heavy surf on a sandy beach. Just beautiful magazines, very intereting articles and vintage fishing related photos and stories throughout. Not bad for $8.00 each. Also found a coule of fresh water plugs for short money....one is a Pflueger metal lipped swimmer with a sunfish scale finish in box and the plug is mint and un-used. The other is unknown to me, it may be a Creek Chub brand, same type of plug and slightly used but in great shape! Only $11.00 each which I thought was worth it! One place had two shadow boxes with four plugs mounted in each box. One box had jointed Creek Chub Pikie Minnows in it, mint, cost was $145.00. The other had four popping plugs mounted and I forget the brand but they were beautiful, also $145.00. Did not buy them though! Would they have been a good buy???? Oh well, hope you enjoyed my finds. Fun stuff...do any of you guys collect anything similar???