In today’s post, Tom McNally’s Fisherman’s Bible, we’re going to begin a look back at a series of bass fishing tips published in the book from 15 of the nation’s best bass angler/writers of the day. Published in 1970, McNally’s book covered the spectrum of sportfishing, but McNally was a tried-and-true bass angler and the publication reflects that.
As the tumultuous decade of the 60s ended and ushered in the 1970s, modern bass fishing was just getting out of the infant stage. Bass tournaments were catching on and the increased interest in bass fishing would spark improvements and modernization in tackle of all kinds.
However, bass fishing information and dissemination were still in their relative infancy. Bassmaster Magazine was just getting off the ground and slowly gaining readership with each new member. One had to rely on the occasional bass-related article published in the Big 3 outdoor magazines: Sports Afield, Field and Stream, and Outdoor Life.
Televised fishing shows existed, but were mostly regional, and covered the full spectrum of fishing. None were specifically bass centric. There was no Internet or YouTube videos, no podcasts, no professional angler Facebook pages or Instagram accounts.
As a 10-year-old boy in 1970, just getting interested in fishing and beginning to cultivate a real curiosity for bass especially, I was thirsty to soak up any fishing-related material I could lay my hands on. One of the places I acquired this information was the department store, JCPenney.
My grandmother would take me to this department store to purchase fishing tackle, but they also carried a selection of fishing-related books. These books included the annual Fishing Digests edited by Erwin Bauer, Garcia Fishing Annuals, or the book that is the subject of this post, Tom McNally’s Fisherman’s Bible. In this very publication of 1970, I came face to face with an article titled; 150 Bass Fishing Tips from 15 Experts. Needless to say, it made a major impact on my journey to becoming a bass fanatic.
Who were these so-called “experts?” Some many of you will recognize while others have been profiled here in the Bass Fishing Archives previously. Many of these writers are virtual unknowns today, such as professional Florida guide, Lamont Albertson, Minnesota outfitter and writer, Bob Cary and outdoor journalist Hurley Campbell. But there are also some familiar names like Virgil Ward and Buck Perry.
As stated above, today we’ll begin a look back into this book and post these men’s tips from 1970. The first entry below is from the above-mentioned Florida guide, Lamont Albertson, and is accompanied with a brief bio of his “credentials.” We sincerely hope you enjoy and can reminisce about a simpler and more basic approach to bass fishing that was being touted some 50 years ago.
Note: We’d like to thank Bob McNally, Tom McNally’s son, for allowing us to reprint these tips from the book.
