Fresh vs Salt

[Flaptail]

90% of what we have in Saltwater for lures originated in freshwater.

It's historical fact. And as far as we in the northeast are concerned with Striper fishing, excepting rigged eels, tin squids and eel bobs and skin rigs, lure manufacturers such as Creek Chub and Heddon influenced the famous makers of Striper specifics baits such as Gibbs, Pond and Sylvester.

Jerry Sylvester of Rhode Island was making lures (Flaptails bases on Heddon) in the late 30's. There may have been a few others but they were not commercially produced as were Sylvesters designs.

The Cape, which still can be that way, was slow to adopt as the most often dictum followed was that of "that was the way my Father showed me" and a hard train of thought to derail.

Nowadays look at Sluggos, and rubber which by the way was popular in the late forties and early fifties but waned with the upsurge in wooden plug making. I have a book by Ollie Rodman called "Striped Bass" written in 1944 that shows a rubber eel rig. Ollie was the original publisher of Saltwater Sportsman, which he founded with H.G. "Tap" Tapply in Boston in 1937. Somewhere in my archives I have a copy of the first issue. It was a 3 page newsletter printed in May of that year.

[Nebe]

Originally Posted by Flaptail

I have a book by Ollie Rodman called "Striped Bass" written in 1944 that shows a rubber eel rig. Ollie was the original publisher of Saltwater Sportsman, which he founded with H.G. "Tap" Tapply in Boston in 1937.

I have that book it was handed down from my great grand father to my grandfather and then down to me.. its definately my most prized fishing book.

getting back to fresh vs salt- theres no doubt that freshwater is where the innovation is.

[wheresmy50]

I think freshwater is faster to innovate, but also faster to jump on every friggin trend that comes along. Flipping through a Bass Pro catalog is nothing but an education in the latest hot trend. Now it's superfast casting reels, drop shot rigs, etc. When I was in high school, there was a trend to use super long rods or evel poles (In Fisherman was crazy about it). I remember one issue of Bass Pro where they said bublegum was the new hot color - so every lure came in bublegum. There's a fine line between cutting edge and blindly chasing cool.

With that said, the law of averages dictates that some of these trends have legitimate fish catching potential, and a smaller sampling of those can be applied to saltwater.

Maybe I'm just cynical, but I think of the freshwater bass crowd in general as a bunch of yokels who long to wear shirts with decals. And yes, I do fish for largemouths occasionally.

Conversely, I agree that sometimes saltwater guys can be too stuck in their ways, which is probably just as bad as the other extreme.