In today’s Friday Finale historical photo…coming off the New York Bassmaster event, I couldn’t help but think of the original master of those great fisheries, Dick Garlock. Bassmaster records show he fished 62 events in total, winning one, and cashing checks in 23 of those events, about half of which came on New York fisheries.
In a 2013 Bassmaster story, Dick credited himself with being one of the first to bring a few concepts to the larger tournament public.
> “Sharpening hooks. People never used to sharpen hooks. I used to sharpen them triangularly. If you take a round point and push it into leather, it has to force the leather apart [to penetrate]. A triangular-shaped hook slices the leather. It cuts it, so you don’t need as much force. I sharpened my hooks with a file. Now I don’t sharpen every hook because some are sharp, like most of the Gamakatsu hooks.”
> “I think I was the first one to have a foot throttle. But I also could use the hand throttle so I could stand up and look.”
> “I was the first one, I believe, to use a long rod. Most guys were using [short] pistol-grip rods, but mine was like 7 feet. I had to have two or three made for me [because they weren’t sold at the time]. I used them because I figured I had better leverage on the fish, I could cast farther, and I could keep the fish from going under the boat when they got close. I really liked those rods – I guess a lot of other people have them now.”
Dick was also a good friend of Roland Martin’s, and the two shared information and helped each other out in events. From that same 2013 Bassmaster story, Dick said Roland’s wife [then] contacted him, and suggested the two anglers team up. They talked, and “he said, ‘You do a lot of looking for fish because I have to do TV shows and stuff like that, and I’ll be looking, too,’” Dick said. “‘Then we’ll share [information]. In the tournaments, you can fish anything you want anytime, and I will too.’ And we always did that.’”
One last thing to point out. If you look closely at today’s picture, which dates back to 1985 New York Invitational. Dick sat in second place after Day one, trailing only Denny Brauer. If I were a betting man, I’d guess that that fellow to the far left of Dick in the picture, waiting in line at the tanks behind him, was none other than Rick Clunn. Kind of fitting given Rick’s announcement (stepping back from Elite Series events) after weighing in his final day at the recent St. Lawrence event.
