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Your Dad's tackle box 2024


fishing user avatarTucson reply : 

What was in it?  If you are in my age category that would put it back in the 50's - 60's.  It was about the size of a dwarfs lunchbox, had one cantilever drawer with about 6 compartments, the inside was coated with a protective layer of rust overlayed by some ratty moth-eaten cork.  There would be about a dozen lures most with propellers or front scoops, always about 5/8 oz, some old snelled hooks, various sinkers of weird design etc.  It also had at least one jitterbug, a daredevil (red and white), a johnson silver minnow, a flatfish and a jar of pork rind from the pleistocene era with the rusty metal cap permanently bonded to the jar.  We have come a long way haven't we?  I've gotten a lot older but when I'm in the boat early in the morning with a rod in my hand, still just a kid.

How do you think you'd make out if you could take all your modern fishing stuff, including boat, back to the 50's?  There would be a lot fewer fisherman, a lot more adult bass and they would all be ignorant of modern techniques.  Man, we'd be fishermen from hell.  "Lemme  tell 'ya what for boy!"   ;)


fishing user avatarjrhennecke reply : 

I can remember dad had a bunch of Rapala minnows and Creme worms.  


fishing user avatarBASS fisherman reply : 

My Dad wasn't a species specific fisherman. He had the same tackle box you described to a "T", and when he opened it, it smelled like a mixture of rust, mildew, and lead.

He mostly had sinkers, hooks, and bobbers.

That's the box behind him.

scan0005.jpg


fishing user avatarPond Hopper reply : 

Leadheads, twister tails, Mepps, and swimming minnows.  I cannot convince him that big baits catch big fish.  Although with a neck surgery last year chucking a swimbait is not that good on his neck.


fishing user avatarThe Rooster reply : 

My dad has upgraded his tacklebox several times over the years, mostly due to us getting him a new one and new lures, but he still has some old old lures in it. Some that are made of wood, very small jointed crankbaits and they have metal diving lips. They don't look very real at all, but he says they used to slay the fish back in the day. He carry's them with him, but he rarely ever uses one, I think he may have used one just once in the last 10 years. He's afraid of losing one. Really though, it doesn't matter what you get for him, he will mostly end up fishing a Panther Martin in a green color. Or a crappie jig spinner. Maybe a Roostertail but only if I start slaying the fish on mine.

He says lures catch fishermen mostly.....the fish eat bugs and worms. Sometimes I wonder if he still believes that when the score is 8 - 0, my lead. We both fish lures exclusively when we go but somehow I always end up way out in front. :'( I wish he could have just one amazing day out on the water, he doesn't get to go fishing that much due to timing, but I get to go a lot more. Even if it was just one big fish he caught, that would make my whole year.


fishing user avatarjrhennecke reply : 
  Quote
My Dad wasn't a species specific fisherman. He had the same tackle box you described to a "T", and when he opened it, it smelled like a mixture of rust, mildew, and lead.

He mostly had sinkers, hooks, and bobbers.

That's the box behind him.

scan0005.jpg

That is a great picture and I had forgotten about that rusty mildew smell.  I wonder what my son will be fishing with in the coming years while answering this question with. "Dad had a bunch of Yum Dingers and Rat L Traps."


fishing user avatarfishizzle reply : 

Black jitterbug and black hula popper

and that aweful rusty midew smell


fishing user avatar.dsaavedra. reply : 

my dad had a big green three-tier plano box. in the bottom he had three "golden books" pocket guides in the bottom. one was titled "fishes" the next "fishing" and the last "weather" there was also a rag in the bottom. there were a few white perch rigs (wire leader w/ two hooks coming off the sides and a few beads). in the trays on the shelves there were many hooks and there were rock hard dried up pieces of nightcrawler on a few hooks. he had sooooo many lead sinkers it was unbelievable. he had ONE crank bait and it was an original floating rapala F07 in silver. he never caught a fish on it. there were also several inline spinners. he had two weber spoons, one silver (rusty of course) and the other red/white. he caught two bass on the silver one and that was all the bass he had caught till i dragged him out bass fishing 2 years ago. he loves bass fishing now ;D


fishing user avatarRob G. reply : 

Things have changed a lot.  Heck, I do not even carry a tacklebox for say.  If fishingout of someone else's boat, I take a tacklebag.  In my own boat, I have tens, maybe even a hundred pounds of plastics in their respective packages, sorted by style in gallon ziplocks.  I also have several plano style 3700 size organizers also sorted by style of bait.  Now for a lot of differences between now and then.  Grandpa and Dad always had a couple boxes of little wooden matches, reel wrenches, and reel grease and oil.  Our new reels do require maintenance, but not daily oiling.  A lot of these old oils had odors that stunk up the entire box.  In these boxes are original floating rapalas, pre-rapala floating Heddon baits, brass frog harnesses, Johnson Silverminnows, floating mouse lures, Daredevil spoons, and lots of plugs that I have never tried to identify yet.  I also have many old reels and a couple rods.  Neat stuff Maynard.  


fishing user avatarCJ reply : 

My Dad's tackle box only dates back to early 80s. It featured several worm hooks,bullet weights,a few crankbaits,spinnerbaits,...I guess a little of all the "foundation" lures, for me anyway.

But what I found myself dippin' into the most were his hooks,bullet weights, and his Culprit worms.

Nice thread. Brought back memories! ;)


fishing user avatarPopeye reply : 

Several round tin cans of hooks, sinkers, bobbers, spoons (silver and Daredevil red/white), spinnerbaits (Shysters), Jitterbug or two, several Lazy Ikes, couple of wooden Heddon topwaters, extra spool of line, metal and rope stringers, hook remover, rusted scale, tape measure, pliers, scaling/filet knife, Swiss Army knife with several attachments, matches, box of bandaids, stuff like that AND it all smelled BAD:o) It was a green metal box with three cantelever drawers. I can't recollect the name but it was heavy for me to try and carry.

Thanks for this thread! A real stroll down memory lane.


fishing user avatarHawghead reply : 

Lots and Lots of plastics, lazy ikes, variety fo crankbaits that he never used.  Hula popper, jitterbug, jar of uncle josh's, variety of hooks , bobbers, weights.  Bagley Bluegill, a Thinfin, humpback minnow.

Filet knife, pliers, and a snakebite kit.  Reading some of these posts is like a trip down memory lane.


fishing user avatarCatt reply : 

I first started paying attention to bass fishing in 1963 and remember my first tackle box as well as my dads; I still have many of those lures both his and mine.

Creek Chub: Jointed Pike & Striper Strike

Fred Arbogast: Jitterbug, Hula Popper, & Hawaiian Wiggler

Fliptail Worms & lizards

Heddon: Dowagiac Minnow & Lucky 13

Hildebrandt: Snagless Sally

South Bend (Luhr Jensen): Best-O-Luck Baby Wounded Minnow, Babe-Oreno, & Bass Oreno

Worden's Helin Flatfish

Yum Yum Worms


fishing user avatarLooksLikeSinbad reply : 

My father-in-law found his old tackle box and gave me these:

01.jpg

02.jpg

03.jpg

04.jpg

05.jpg


fishing user avatarJeff C. reply : 

very cool pics of the old lures..

the 1st & most of the other posts on this thread are rite on for my dads box !!!

what a trip !!!

;D

Jeff


fishing user avatarVekol reply : 

I still have and use my dad's tacklebox which dates from the '60s. Today it is reconciled to being my catfish box with a lot of heavy sinkers, wire leaders and big hooks.

My dad did not fish for bass very much--mainly a catfish, and later a saltwater guy. I do have some of the hula poppers and other topwater baits, which are currently in one of my Plano boxes, and I do use them occasionally. The other big component was Kastmasters, which we used for saltwater--still have those too.


fishing user avatarOther. reply : 

My dad has a very old tackle box from when he was like probably 20 that is sort of forgotten and hidden in the back room. When I open it up there were mostly old rapela's, rebels, and other crank baits that I am not quit sure what company made them.


fishing user avatarYaHoo reply : 

well actually my dads box is ridiculous

i am 16 and he is like 38?

it is loaded with LCs and BPS Xps Lures and just  about everything you can ever desire.

its pretty nice when you can go into his box and tie on a LC sammy or w.e.

until you get it snagged at the bottom and you owe him 24$! ;)

good thing he is my dad and i dont have to pay.


fishing user avatarRaul reply : 

Sad but true, daddy didn 't have no tacklebox ...... dady didn 't feesh at all.  ;)


fishing user avatarslomoe reply : 
  Quote
I still have and use my dad's tacklebox which dates from the '60s. Today it is reconciled to being my catfish box with a lot of heavy sinkers, wire leaders and big hooks.

My dad did not fish for bass very much--mainly a catfish, and later a saltwater guy. I do have some of the hula poppers and other topwater baits, which are currently in one of my Plano boxes, and I do use them occasionally. The other big component was Kastmasters, which we used for saltwater--still have those too.

sounds just like my dad minus the saltwater. His tacklebox had a few traps, and jerkbaits but the majority of the tackle was on the bottom, heavy weights and big hooks, scale and stringer.


fishing user avatarOlebiker reply : 

Dad's boxes had a bunch of RatLTraps, River Runts, Bayou Boogies, Lazy Ikes, and Heddon Sonics.


fishing user avatarPerfect Hook Set reply : 

The first and still the number one "go-to" lure Original Floater Rapala

original_floater_P.jpg

original_floater_G.jpg

original_floater_S.jpg

The rooster tail

Though is blades were kinda like steps worked very well (if anyone could link me to a site that has these)

Color - 2 colors I remember would be white with black dots white feather and a yellow body with red dots and red feather.

Zoom black and purple rubber worm

These days he just asks for a Rapala or two

One day I was out fishing him with a senko, this day the bite was very slow we caught about 5 or 6 fish in 2 hours.

I offered him a senko and he denied after asking him on 4 different times I gave up and let him stick to the rapala


fishing user avatarTruflShufl reply : 

I cleaned my dad's tackle box out to start forming my own  ;D

He never fished species specific so he pretty much just had hooks and sinkers. I do remember he had one popr that was all banged up.

Still to this day my dad says "You believe all that crap about different lures? If a fish is hungry, he's gonna eat whatever you dangle in front of him!"


fishing user avatarmoby bass reply : 
  Quote
What was in it?  If you are in my age category that would put it back in the 50's - 60's.  It was about the size of a dwarfs lunchbox, had one cantilever drawer with about 6 compartments, the inside was coated with a protective layer of rust overlayed by some ratty moth-eaten cork.  There would be about a dozen lures most with propellers or front scoops, always about 5/8 oz, some old snelled hooks, various sinkers of weird design etc.  It also had at least one jitterbug, a daredevil (red and white), a johnson silver minnow, a flatfish and a jar of pork rind from the pleistocene era with the rusty metal cap permanently bonded to the jar.  We have come a long way haven't we?  I've gotten a lot older but when I'm in the boat early in the morning with a rod in my hand, still just a kid.

How do you think you'd make out if you could take all your modern fishing stuff, including boat, back to the 50's?  There would be a lot fewer fisherman, a lot more adult bass and they would all be ignorant of modern techniques.  Man, we'd be fishermen from hell.  "Lemme  tell 'ya what for boy!"   ;)

When did you peek into my old tacklebox??? ;D

You described it to a tee except it had 2 drawers.  Still had it when

I got reintroduced to fishing.  I have since upgraded, just a bit.  ::)


fishing user avatarAlpster reply : 

Well, here it is 2008 and many of the baits described in this thread are still in my box.

Jitterbug

Hoola Popper

Original Floating Rapala

Johnson's Silver Minnow

Uncle Josh Pork

Culprit worms

Despite Lucky Craft and GCBY, all these baits still catch fish in a big way. If you get a chance to raid the "old man's" tackle box, you just might find a real bass catcher or two in there. JMHO

Ronnie


fishing user avatarMemphisFisherman reply : 

My Dad's tackle box is about half the size of a bass pro shop's, then there are just bags and bags and bags of unopened stuff sitting around, tons and tons and tons of rod's but somehow no extra reel's. its good because that means i can help myself to it all and he cant keep track of it.


fishing user avatarHookemdown. reply : 

My dad never fished for bass, and he still doesn't like bass fishing.  He is one of them "old guys  sitting on the bank in 100* heat, drinking a beer, and fishing with a cane pole, bobber, and a cricket".

My son will get a bunch of stuff when I kick the bucket, UNLESS I have all of my gear buried with me. :;)


fishing user avatarclipper reply : 
  Quote
I first started paying attention to bass fishing in 1963 and remember my first tackle box as well as my dads; I still have many of those lures both his and mine.

Creek Chub: Jointed Pike & Striper Strike

Fred Arbogast: Jitterbug, Hula Popper, & Hawaiian Wiggler

Fliptail Worms & lizards

Heddon: Dowagiac Minnow & Lucky 13

Hildebrandt: Snagless Sally

South Bend (Luhr Jensen): Best-O-Luck Baby Wounded Minnow, Babe-Oreno, & Bass Oreno

Worden's Helin Flatfish

Yum Yum Worms

Glad to find someone besides me that fished with Fliptail worms.  My Dad knew and fished with the guys who made them and we had a generous supply.  My favorite was the purple Big Daddy Fliptail.  We fished them on a wire guard weedless hook with 3 or split shot 14" up the line.  Caught a lot of fish on them including one 11+ lb bass out of Lanier.  My Dad also had Dalton Special topwater plugs and Woble-rite spoons.  I also remember some topwaters with spinners front and back too.  


fishing user avatarTin reply : 

More buzzbaits and jitterbugs than I can count. ;)


fishing user avatarww2farmer reply : 

My dad does not fish, I have fished with my grandfather all my life though. He doesn't carry a tackle box now, just uses my stuff. still has his stuff though. There are Daredevil spoons, Johnson Silver minnows, Original Rapala's, Jitterbugs, Hula Poppers, Mepps spinners, Manns Jelly worms, Orginal Creme worms, lots of live bait rigging terminal tackle.


fishing user avatarmaxke01 reply : 

My father never targeted a specific species. He had sinkers,hooks,bobbers, extra line and a six pack of beer no matter where he went  ;D ;D ;D


fishing user avatarroadwarrior reply : 
  Quote
Several round tin cans of hooks, sinkers, bobbers, spoons (silver and Daredevil red/white), spinnerbaits (Shysters), Jitterbug or two, several Lazy Ikes, couple of wooden Heddon topwaters, extra spool of line, metal and rope stringers, hook remover, rusted scale, tape measure, pliers, scaling/filet knife, Swiss Army knife with several attachments, matches, box of bandaids, stuff like that AND it all smelled BAD:o) It was a green metal box with three cantelever drawers. I can't recollect the name but it was heavy for me to try and carry.

Thanks for this thread! A real stroll down memory lane.

Man, that describes my dad's box practically piece by piece.

I have his "Green Box".

8-)


fishing user avatarStringjam reply : 

My dad had one of the BIG Plano boxes with about 4 rows on each side.   Had LOTS of Hellbenders (which we never used).   The usual Arbogast fare (Jits and Hula's) and plenty of spinner-jig combos.   There was a few Bass-O-Reno's and Original Rapalas as well.  

This really brings back some memories....here's a pic of me and my father about 22 years ago or so....

dad1.jpg

Still my #1 fishing partner - - - we get together and hit the lake every time we can......I wouldn't trade it for anything - he's the finest man I've ever known.  

dadfish.jpg


fishing user avatarguitarkid reply : 

Who ever said rapalas and other cranks that is what my dads is like.

whoever said my dad has so much stuff, that is what my great grandfathers house was like.

I really wish the old Flaptail stuff would come back, Their floating lizards kill Bass

Some of those old shakespear lures are worth a lot of money.

I'm talking about $1,300 give or take a little bit


fishing user avatarbugman reply : 
  Quote
My Dad wasn't a species specific fisherman. He had the same tackle box you described to a "T", and when he opened it, it smelled like a mixture of rust, mildew, and lead.

He mostly had sinkers, hooks, and bobbers.

That's the box behind him.

scan0005.jpg

Great picture! That's what was ment by a picture is worth a 1000 words.

When I think of my dad's tackle box a big brown Kennedy box that folds out with three trays on each side and a large storage space at the bottom. He gave me that box a few years back and I use it to store some of my collectable lures.


fishing user avatarMALTESE FALCON reply : 

You discribed my dad's tackle box to a "T".

Falcon


fishing user avatardjmax22 reply : 

I could never forget the plastic purple worms with hooks, Mepps spinners and a floating rapala.


fishing user avatar=Matt 5.0= reply : 

I remember Hula Poppers and Jitterbugs....black plastic worms....anise extract....and alot of Al's Goldfish.


fishing user avatarBig Al reply : 

I'm only seventeen so the time you guys are talkin is probably more like what was in my grandpa's box.

One grandpa had a big plano with two triple cantilever trays. It had a bunch of topwater stuff like jitterbugs, poppers, rubbery frogs and spiders, and big wooden plugs. We mostly only used worms with a cane pole and beetle spins which we went through a lot of in the farm ponds. The bottom of the box was a bottomless pit that you could throw whatever into and it seemingly dissapeared.

The other grandpa was a wallye fanatic on Mille Lacs that had shad raps, bottom bouncers, slip bobbers, spinner rigs, and roundhead jigs. We mostly just used a slip bobber and leech.  He also had to have the gimmic lures from the tv commercials like the flying lure and bionic minnow.  




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