In today’s Throwback Thursday post, we have both a historical photo as well as a historical (retro) ad. It appeared in the Longview News Journal out of Texas back in September 1977, and is filled with ‘old school’ goodness.
To start, and in celebration of Rick Clunn’s 50th Anniversary year on tour, we have a historical photo of Rick in the center of the ad, who was to be holding a seminar and Q&A session at the Outhouse Outdoor Specialists store in Longview, TX. As it notes. Rick was likely the hottest professional on tour, having won both the most recent Bassmaster Classic as well as the BASS Champs tournament. Of course, we now know he would go on to win the very next Bassmaster Classic held, too, that year. Detailed write-ups of the two events mentioned in the ad can be found at the following links:
Season at a Glance: 1976 Bassmaster Trail Classic Six
Then there is the Outhouse Outdoor Specialists store – an actual physical brick-and-mortar business that had just opened its doors earlier that year. The Outhouse was an early Ray Scott/Bassmaster entry into retailing, primarily mail order, and not unlike the Johnny Morris Bass Pro Shops brand that was started around the same time. You can learn more about the Outhouse story in the following posts:
Ray Scott’s Out House Part Two
And how about Bagley crankbaits, Balsa Bs and Diving Bs, for under $3? If you look closely at the photo of Rick, you’ll see he has a Bagley crankbait hanging from the tip of his rod, a bait he used to help win one of his early Classics. He is also sporting a Bagley’s patch on his shirt, just under his embroidered name. You can learn more about some of the early Bagley Baits via some historical ads at the following link:
There’s also a mention of the Daiwa Millionaire, an early and popular round baitcast reel by Daiwa, before the low profile reels really took hold in the market. And don’t forget to put that reel on a nice pistol grip rod like Rick is holding in the picture.
Hello, Around 1973-1975 there was a “Pro” bass fishing tackle shop located in a shopping center retail space on the Southern By-pass in Montgomery Alabama. This store was 50 miles from my home in Auburn, Alabama. I begged automobile owning adults to drive me to the store so I could shop. Inside the store was filled with the latest of Bass Fishing tackle. I remember, they had a large fish tank that had many large bass inside. Also, often parked on the curb/sidewalk outside the store was usually a bass boat. I remember seeing my first high performance bass boat there, a 15 foot Hyda-Sports bass boat with a Mercury. I can’t remember the horsepower, probably from 85 to 115.
I usually showed up with $5-10 dollars of money made from cutting lawns and cashing in returnable Coca-Cola bottles. I usually had to beg my adult car drivers for another $5 dollars to get that last needed lure.
I bought my first action plastic worm, a curl tail FlipTail worm in grape color. I texas rigged this worm really caught bass in my 15 acre lake near my house. That pack of worms lasted me an entire spring season.
I wished I could walk through that store again.
Great story and memories Bill! Thank you for sharing!