Slayermike Fishing and MORE 𓆝

How To Find Fish Underneath The Ice
Field Editor Jim Thrun details the locations of pike and walleye under the ice in a typical natural lake in winter. He wrote a short series of pieces, each covering a different ice-fishing topic, that appeared in different issues of Fishing Facts magazine back in 1973-74.
✅ This map shows a typical natural lake. It will show the various structures that Northerns and Walleyes use during the ice-fishing season. The types of structures they will be found on, and the seasonal migrations that take place on this lake, can be applied to any natural northern lake. Follow the numbers to track their movements from early winter until the ice begins to break up.
1️⃣ Spot number 1 shows a hot spot for Northern Pike when the lake first freezes. It is a weedy bay with a deeper, clean, hard-bottomed area. The Northerns will favor these weedy bays until the real cold weather sets in; then they will head for the main body of the lake. These same areas will hold a few Walleyes at times, but they are not considered prime Walleye areas.
2️⃣ This is a bar that "breaks" into the deepest water in the lake. It is a very good producer for both Northerns and Walleyes throughout most of the winter. This particular bar has two breaklines: one at 15 feet and one at 25 feet. This condition will make it a better spot because it will produce under more variable weather and water conditions.
3️⃣ Here's an underwater hump surrounded by deep water. Many times, this is the best spot in a lake year-round. The best time to ice fish it is mid-to-late winter. It will produce big Walleyes and Northerns.
4️⃣ This spot is the weedline or drop-off adjacent to the outside of a weedy bay. A flow of water coming into an area (as shown) will make it even better. The influx of moving water in the early spring will warm up this bay before any other part of the lake. This bay is a spawning area for Northerns, and they will be laying adjacent to it.
5️⃣ A good Walleye spot in late winter just prior to the ice weakening. The Walleyes, like the Northerns, are early spawners and will be laying on structure next to their spawning area. In this case, it's the clean, hard area at the mouth of the incoming creek.
6️⃣ Appears good at first glance, but is too far from the deepest water. Also, breaklines are a little far apart. Not a good structure at any time of the year in a lake with the characteristics that are shown.
All structures should be checked after dark if they fail to produce Walleyes during daylight hours.
Source: Fishing Facts, Dec. 1973

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CATCH MORE BIG FISH❗️
JUST ONE DOLLAR WILL BRING YOU FACTS THAT HAVE HELPED THOUSANDS OF FORMERLY FISHLESS FISHERMEN!
NOW, YOU CAN CONSISTENTLY CATCH MORE BIG FISH THAN EVER BEFORE!
✅ Of the approximately 65 million American fishermen, almost 90% of us believe that the only place to do some "real fishing" is to drive or fly to a remote wilderness area hundreds of miles and dollars away. And we, the ninety percent, are a pretty frustrated lot because we don't catch very many fish, and we don't go fishing very often.
✅ But the other 10% of us are not frustrated, because we catch about 90% of the fish that are caught, and we do go fishing often. The reason? We fish the waters close to our homes, and we know how to catch fish there. We believe that nearby waters hold many large fish that die of old age rather than being caught. (We do enjoy fishing in those distant places, too — when we get the chance to go).
✅ Right now, near your home, there's a crop of fish ready for your stringer. In your waters, there are virgin fishing spots frequented daily by hundreds of fish — down on underwater structures where they are safe from the motorboats overhead and the fishermen pounding the shorelines and the shallows.
✅ Our readers in the United States and Canada have been proving the fish are there - by catching them. The methods, techniques, and facts they use are available to you each month in the pages of this magazine. Knowledge from experienced structure fishermen is presented to you in plain, everyday language. Like thousands of other fishermen, YOU can learn how to catch big fish with the information we bring you. Those are the plain facts — how could any lie be as exciting?
📢 1973 Fishing Facts

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Some Of Billy Westmoreland's Big Fish
To wrap up this look at Billy Westmoreland, I have found several old newspaper photos of some of his big fish that were published over the years in the local paper, The Tennessean. These were published between 1958 and 1971. There were many other mentions and stories of 7-, 8-, and 9-pound smallmouth in the paper that didn't have a picture to go with the story. He also caught big largemouth (to nearly 10 pounds) and spotted bass (almost 6 pounds) from local waters.
Keep in mind a few things:
1. According to Charlie Brewer's piece, Billy was 6' 2" and 285 pounds, a former college football player.
2. Billy didn't long-arm these fish like most do today.
3. Wide-angle lenses, which are so common today and which distort things closest to the lens, were rarely used back then.
All 📸 - The Tennessean, 1958-1971

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Hair Jigs
Hair jigs have been making a comeback recently, especially in the smallmouth and walleye world. Here’s a selection of Crawford Jigs from the early 1970s, probably the height of hair jig popularity, as offered by Northwoods.

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We all started somewhere 🤭 Once I graduated from a cane pole, the earliest combo I remember owning and fishing with was a Zebco 202. I thought I was big stuff at the time
📸 Zebco catalog, 1977

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Zebco 33 (1977)
And for those asking about the 33, here’s the lineup from the 1977 catalog. I believe they later came out with other models named 33. I believe it was back in 2014 that Gary Klein made his first catch of the day in that Bassmaster Classic with a Zebco 33 combo he brought just for the occasion.

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And all those spincast reels had to be pre-spooled with line...

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RIVER TACKLE - The Basics Are Still In Play
From the pages of the 1977 Rivers 2 issue of In-Fisherman magazine, a look at the popular tackle of the day, including rods/reels, line, and lures/bait. Looking back, there really haven’t been many major changes in this regard over the last 50 years. Jigs of all sorts still dominate; shallow diving plugs are still popular; and live bait is always an option. The equipment is better, and lines like fluoro and micro-braid are on the scene now, but the stuff mentioned was near the top of the line back then. A fun look back!
📸 The angler in the photo is Dan Gapen (credit: In-Fisherman, 1977)
✅ RODS and REELS
👉 For working rivers with small jigs and light live bait rigs, there is no question that the open-face spinning reel is the way to go. A variety of rods can be used.
👉 The staff uses the 5 to 5 1/2 foot medium-stiff Skyline with a fast tip (Model SKS 5505). Reels should be of good quality - a Cardinal 4 or a Mitchell 300, or one of the better Daiwa models. A 5:1 gear ratio can be a blessing in fast current; you can really spool in the line quickly when necessary.
✅ LINE
👉 The reels should be spooled with either 8 or 10 lb. test line. With this weight, you can handle light 1/8- or 1/4-oz. baits. Yet you can still fight fish in current and even pull your jig or rig out of most snags. High-visibility line like Royal Blue Stren is best for river fishing. Not only can you detect strikes more easily, but you can better understand how the current moves your bait. The path of eddies and slack water spots will become clear by simply watching your line
✅ LURES - Jigs, rigs and plugs

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Bill Binkelman On The Lindners
Some excerpts from the 1980 Steve Grooms article and interview with Bill Binkelman that appeared in Fins and Feathers magazine, in which Bill talked about his introduction to the Lindner brothers, Ron and Al.
📝 "In the early 60's I began to hold fishing meetings at the store, and I remember the night that Ron and Al Lindner came to one of those meetings. Al was just a kid then, but he and Ron were already very skillful fishermen, especially with plastic worms. Ron came up to show me some letters and articles he had written about fishing. I put them in Fishing News because they were original. Our closeness just grew and grew over the years from then.”
📝 "There was something about Al that you could sense even back then... I don't want to call it an 'instinct for fishing, but he already had an amazing intuitive sense about fish. Still, I don't think he really blossomed as a total fisherman until he and Ron moved from Chicago to Brainerd, Minnesota, and began guiding. Then Al had to learn live bait fishing, and he was already very accomplished with artificials. The result, I believe, is that Al is the greatest all-around fisherman the world has seen.”
📝 "Ron has always been the dreamer. At that time, he planned to leave Chicago to buy or build a resort up north. That never worked out, which was extremely fortunate, for they'd have had the damned lake fished out in a year!
📝 "When I heard about the 'Lindy Rig' they invented, I immediately drove all the way from Milwaukee to Brainerd to see it. I knew they had come up with something important, perhaps even more important than they knew. The wonderful thing about the Lindy Rig was not only the way it caught fish, but also the status it gave the live-bait fisherman. Now he wasn't just a live bait fisherman; he was a Lindy Rigger!”
📝 Though we know today that Brainerd is one of the finest fishing areas in the Midwest, when the Lindners moved up there, many people did not understand that. Because of the way everyone was fishing, they thought there weren't enough fish to be caught around Brainerd, so the area was seen as a stopping-off point on the way north to where the 'real' fishing was.
📝 "Back then Marv and Judy Koep were just running a little bait shop, not at all like the operation they have today, so when the Lindners came to town the Koeps and others saw them as saviors. Ron and Al were sure they could put Brainerd on the map as a fine fishing area. After Marv met them, he told Judy, 'Either God has sent us these men ...or I've just met the two biggest bullshitters of my life!’”
📸 “Catching Fish,” 1973

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