March 1985 brought Smallmouth Magazine – Volume 1 Issue 3 to its readership. As in the prior two issue, the magazine was more of a newsletter, only four pages in length but packed with good information.
In this issue, Billy Westmorland starts off talking about smallmouth fishing in March and how this is the best time of year to focus on them, at least in his part of the country. The recommended technique was to crank because the fish were finally shallow enough. His cranks of choice were the Norman Little Scooper, Rebel Deep We R and the Bass Hunter Bass Magnet. When was the last time any of these baits got any press?
On the first page is also a smallmouth report from Texas. There was a reported fish nearly four pounds that was caught at Texoma and that six other lakes had legitimate populations of smallies and 12 others developing. I wonder if O.H. Ivie was one of those lakes initially stocked?
Page two is an article dedicated to river smallies by Tom Zananko. A noted northern smallie angler, Zananko grew up fishing the upper Mississippi River and in this article he discusses the intricacies of fishing river smallmouth. It’s a fascinating study of smallies and one that has a lot of pertinent information that still holds true today.
Turn the page and there’s an article about Pickwick Lake and a gentleman by the name of Jim Rivers – appropriate name. Evidently Rivers was one of the best on Pickwick and the author, Frank Brooks, coaxed some information out of him on how he fished Pickwick back then. Two pages were dedicated to this article and again, you won’t be disappointed reading it. Either for historic value or maybe to glean some information on smallie fishing.
I’ve posted the entire newsletter below for you to read. We hope you enjoy!
