Common American gamefish and suggested tackle outfits
This appendix is a growing collection of mid-century natural history artwork depicting common American gamefish. This artwork comes from various period sources, including books and fishing tackle manufacturer's catalogs.
A second purpose for this collection is to match target species with guidelines for assembling balanced vintage tackle outfits. These suggestions are fairly general and come from Shakespeare's Secrets of Successful Fishing." More specific tackle outfits are provided in the overviews for each reel.
This provides an angler-focused approach to vintage reels - you can start with the species you intend to target and determine what vintage reel would work best for that species, and in combination with what rods, lines, and lure weights.
The range of fish here is taken from Shakespeare's Secrets of Successful Fishing and reflects the focus of this site, which is on ultralight / light-to-heavy-duty tackle, but specifically excluding big-game fishing tackle, e.g., for marlin, sailfish, and swordfish, because this type of fishing is a specialty sport and deserves separate treatment. This site intentionally focuses on species that the average mid-century (and 21st-century) American angler would be able to target, not the big-game sportsman.
Bass
Including large-mouth, small-mouth, rock, spotted, and white species.
Example vintage tackle outfits for bass
Since bass range from 1 - 3 pounds up to 20 + pounds, a wide range of outfits can work, depending on the fishery.
Baitcasting: Pflueger Nobby model No. 1963
| Rod | Line lb. test | Lures oz. |
|---|---|---|
| 5'8", 6' light | 12 | 3/8 - best, 1/4 & 1/2 - good |
| 5'2", 5'8" light or medium | 15 | 1/2 - best, 3/8 & 5/8 - good |
Spinning: Penn 720
| Rod | Line lb. test | Lures oz. |
|---|---|---|
| 6'6" - 7' extra light, light | 2 - 6 | 1/8 - 3/8 |
| 6'6" - 7' light | 4 - 8 | 1/4 - 1/2 |
| 6'6" - 7' medium | 6 - 10 | 3/8 - 3/4 |
Bluegill
lepomis macrochirus
The standard scientific name for Bluegill in most American tackle and outdoor literature up through the 1930s (as in the catalog art below) was lepomis pallidus. In 1940 American ichthyologists changed the species name to macrochirus. In 1948 the joint American Fisheries Society and the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists (AFS/ASIH) names committee published its first authoritative checklist of American fish names, which locked in macrochirus as the official name of record used ever since.
Bonefish
Crappie
Flounder
Grayling
Muskellunge (muskie)
Northern Pike
Perch
Pickerel
Salmon
Including Atlantic and steelhead species.
Snook
Striped Bass
Sunfish
Tarpon
Trout
Including brook, brown, cutthroat, lake, and rainbow species.
Walleye
References
- Shakespeare, Secrets of Successful Fishing (1962)
- The Book of Fishes. Edited by John Oliver La Gorce (1939)
- The Enterprise Manufacturing Co. Pocket Catalog No. 155 (1935)
For full source details, see References.