Virgil Ward

[Brian K. Shaffer]

I have an entire box of Virgil's baits... wooden ones.

Somebody give a shout on these. Also have a ton of his spinner baits.. blades marked as such.

My grandpa and uncle were friends of his.. or spent a lot of money with him.

Brian

[exiledguide]

I have an entire box of Virgil's baits... wooden ones.

Somebody give a shout on these. Also have a ton of his spinner baits.. blades marked as such.

My grandpa and uncle were friends of his.. or spent a lot of money with him.

Brian

The lures to the left as I look at them are Bomber Hellbender baits I believe. I Recognize the style of the other baits but will have to find my book to have a chance to name them. My first spinner baits I used were Virgils Bass Buster Tarantula and Scorpion. I still have some of those and I still catch fish on them. I guess I'm one of the few left who like to fish a single spin short arm spinner bait in heany cover. Happiness is letting one of them drop of a tree branch and feel that thump........ If you wemt back 40 years with that tackle box afew of Virgils spinner baits and some Jelly worms with a few hair jigs and uncleJosh pork eel you could have you a time on just about any water in the midwest. Along with a Fenwick 1257 Lunkerstick and a Ambassadeur 5000 reel the bass didn't stand a chance. at least that was what it said in the adds in Field & Stream....

[Brian K. Shaffer]

The two names you mentioned, Tarantula and Scorpions... those are the ones I have. I'll have to dig them out and take some pictures. The wooden baits all have the name Bass Buster on them.. and I have one in the box that says New Amsterdam, MO on it.

Your post about what catches fish in the Midwest is exactly what I found in the 6 tackle boxes I inherited. I have more jelly colored worms in the better worm boxes that do not melt than I will ever know what to do with. Shame the rods and reels were something that I never got a chance to see after their passing.

Even more sad is that a neighbor friend came over and cleaned out the basement of all the glass eyed lures that were hanging. Something like 300-400 old lures hung down in that basement around the border. Thats the same basement that I rode my big wheel down the steps when my mom wasnt looking. Perhaps that is why my head is a little out of round.

cheers my friend, we share the same fond memories only mine are only a guess as I dig thru these tackle boxes - Brian

[exiledguide]

The two names you mentioned, Tarantula and Scorpions... those are the ones I have. I'll have to dig them out and take some pictures. The wooden baits all have the name Bass Buster on them.. and I have one in the box that says New Amsterdam, MO on it.

Your post about what catches fish in the Midwest is exactly what I found in the 6 tackle boxes I inherited. I have more jelly colored worms in the better worm boxes that do not melt than I will ever know what to do with. Shame the rods and reels were something that I never got a chance to see after their passing.

Even more sad is that a neighbor friend came over and cleaned out the basement of all the glass eyed lures that were hanging. Something like 300-400 old lures hung down in that basement around the border. Thats the same basement that I rode my big wheel down the steps when my mom wasnt looking. Perhaps that is why my head is a little out of round.

cheers my friend, we share the same fond memories only mine are only a guess as I dig thru these tackle boxes - Brian

Wow I didn't know that Virgil Ward had a line of hard baits. We were at that time into Lazy Ike, Bombers and River Runts, I guess that dates me. Back then there was no computers and the only two shows about fishing in the late late 60s were Virgil and Harold Ensley and most of the fishing tackle was sold in hardware stores and bait shops so big selling baits in one part of the country quite often were not available in other parts. The Scorpions had plastic skirts that only worked in warm weather, too stiff when the weather was cold.Yeah I wish I wouldn't have tossed out a lot of those lures. I always thought the art work on the Heddon lure boxes was the best fishing advertising art there ever was.If you ever want to sell those lures I would be interested but I think theywould be worth more than I could afford to pay.

[Al Agnew]

Yeah, the Tarantula had a bigger blade and thick rubber legs. Man, there were a lot of big bass caught, especially after dark, on those two baits on Table Rock, Bull Shoals, and Norfork.

The deep diver hard baits in the picture look like Smithwick lures, even down to the same paint jobs. I forget what the name of the Smithwick deep diver was (Smithwick's most famous lure was the Devil's Horse). The body shape is something like the Whopper Stopper Hellbender (Bomber made a deep diver with a three segmented body shape and an almost round, painted bill). The Hellbender, however, had a heart shaped bill much like the original Bomber. My mom, dad, and I sure caught a massive number of big bass on Wappappello Lake back in the 60s on Hellbenders and Bombers. (And a bunch on the Smithwick Devil's Horse and Smithwick Buck'n Bawl, which was a shorter, fatter topwater with only one propeller at the rear instead of the props front and back of the long, slim Devil's Horse.)

Dad started fishing Wappapello in the 50s. Back at that time, about all he and his buddies used was a big Shannon Twin Spin and a Lucky 13. They soon discovered two other topwaters that worked better than the Lucky 13, a Porter Pop Stop and a Porter Duzz Bizz. Both were about the size and shape of a Lucky 13, but the Pop Stop had a differently cupped head, and both had big props in the back. They then tried putting a big prop on a Lucky 13 and it worked about as well. I started fishing with Dad about 1960 (I was 7 years old then), and by that time he had started using Devil's Horses and Buck'n Bawls. He also used a Pico Perch and another, similar lure. Those were early, non-rattling versions of a Rattletrap. We started using Bombers (three sizes, the 400 series, 500 series, and 600 series) in the early 60s. By that time the Corps had raised the normal level of Wappapello about three feet, which meant that the stump fields that had once been so shallow that the fish would come up for the Shannon and topwaters were now deep enough that a deep diving crankbait worked better. The Bombers were still wooden baits. When we discovered Hellbenders, which were plastic baits, we started using them more than the Bombers.

My biggest ever Missouri largemouth, a nine pounder, came on a 400 series Christmas Tree colored Bomber, though.

Edited to add...I just remembered the name of the Smithwick deep diver. It was called a Waterdog.

[Whiteriver]

Speaking of McKinniss....He graduated from Ritnour HS in St. Louis, and aloways fancied himself as a Cardinal fan. He knew Whitey Herzog pretty good too.

In 1957 Jerry McKinnis was in the Cardinals minor leagues for 4 years. Up until the he had only fished at Montauk for trout, but in the late 50's he raked up $20 for a guided trip on White River and his guide was none other than Forrest L. Wood. He and Wood became friends and McKinnis bought property on the White below Cotter, which I think is where he now lives. He started the show "The Fishin' Hole" in 1963. He once had Harld Ensley on as a guest and at the end of the show they had a 6 pound trout limit of rainbows that weighed 52 lbs. "The Fishin' Hole" used to come on every Saturday morning and ran several years. I think he still works for ESPN or ESPN2 out of Little Rock...but I really haven't seen him on there in a couple of years....

[rainbow]

In 1957 Jerry McKinnis was in the Cardinals minor leagues for 4 years. Up until the he had only fished at Montauk for trout, but in the late 50's he raked up $20 for a guided trip on White River and his guide was none other than Forrest L. Wood. He and Wood became friends and McKinnis bought property on the White below Cotter, which I think is where he now lives. He started the show "The Fishin' Hole" in 1963. He once had Harld Ensley on as a guest and at the end of the show they had a 6 pound trout limit of rainbows that weighed 52 lbs. "The Fishin' Hole" used to come on every Saturday morning and ran several years. I think he still works for ESPN or ESPN2 out of Little Rock...but I really haven't seen him on there in a couple of years....

[/quote.

Jerry quit doing the show a few years ago. Still lives in arkansas and produces fishing shows. A

[Brian K. Shaffer]

I am sure Jerry was liked by many.. he did do the morning shows on ESPN Sundays for a while.

They should re-run those.. or put them out on VHS.. err.. DVD... I would buy them.

his shows and Harold Ensley's shows.. it would be a kick to see those guys again.

[Chief Grey Bear]

Right on Brian! Sombody out there in TV land needs to run all three of these guy's every Saturday morning! Really the ideal time would be Friday night! Get you pumped for fishing Saturday!

Our most realistic chance at getting these three icons of the fishing world would most likely be with RFD TV. I just checked their site and at the very bottom of the home page is a icon for "Prograam Submission". Click it and fill it out. Or you can use this direct link:

http://www.rfdtv.com/corporate/program_submission/

I would encourage everyone to take a moment and submit for each Jerry, Virgil, and Harold. Even if you are not a member of this forum and you are reading this or you are just a lurker, just take a moment to help get these men that started outdoors tv over 40 years ago, back on tv where they belong.

And if you are members of other fishing or outdoor or really any other forums, everybody loved to watch these guy's, spread the word! Through all of us and the internet we have the capability to try and get these programs back!

[Chief Grey Bear]

I just sent mine in. And as I did read some of the "fine print". It is really a submission form for a program you created but, what the hell, fill one out and submit it anyway!