What tackle show had three great days of
sunshine, more fishing reels than lures, a deck on each room overlooking
a tree shrouded lake, free lunch and dinner if you rented a table, and
on and on? Of course the answer is – the ORCA show, June 10-12, at
Raystown Lake, Pennsylvania.
The Raystown Lake Resort is located a few miles
east of the sleepy little town of Entriken. Raystown Lake is noted for
its outstanding fishing for Bass – Largemouth, Smallmouth, and Stripers.
Muskies, trout and Walleye also prowl the depths, along with all the
accompanying panfish.
Tackle collectors started showing up at the
secluded Raystown Resort on Wednesday, June 9, but room trading action
was a bit sparse that evening. Things began to liven up a bit on
Thursday, as tackle collectors from all over the country wound their way
through the woods to the Raystown Resort Lodge. There were over 25 rooms
open for viewing during the evening, most of which featured reels as the
main item on the collector’s menu.
People who were used to frantically running from
room to room in a hot downtown or airport hotel had to slow down a bit
at this show. It took a while to get rolling each day, for many ORCA
members took a bit of time off to fish beautiful Raystown Lake in the
mornings.
Even if you didn’t take in the fishing, the
morning view from the decks opening from each room, was refreshing.
Wisps of fog hung over the lake at sunrise, and the green clad hills
surrounding the lodge were cloaked in fog as well. It was a beautiful
setting that begged you to slow down and enjoy yourself.
The Antique Tackle Fishing Contest, ably run by
ORCA Director “Doc” Herr started things off at 8:00 AM Friday morning.
This event and the subsequent Vintage Casting Tourney, which followed
the conclusion of the fishing contest, slowed most of the room trading
on Friday. But by 4:00 Friday afternoon everyone was ready for a tackle
show.
With its first show, ORCA set a tone all its own.
This was a show that stressed congeniality, fun, and learning about old
fishing tackle – rather than simply buying and selling. There were
slightly under 100 “official” registrants for the show. However many
members brought their families, and during peak activity, over 150
people were present at the show. It is gratifying to see our hobby
becoming more family oriented, and with all of the waterfront activities
available at the Resort, even those not particularly interested in old
fishing tackle were entertained.
David Lehmann, of nearby Huntingdon, Pennsylvania
coordinated the show, after making all the preliminary arrangements.
The show was held in the Marina Café and Conference Center, which had
room for 90 Tables. All the tables were occupied, and again it was fun
for an ORCA member to see more reels than lures.
There were many great reels on display or offered
for sale. Reels offered for sale included Kentucky reels, New York
reels, all of the major manufacturers (with some rare Pflueger and
Shakespeare reels standing out), fly reels and spinning reels.
There were some dedicated lure collectors in
attendance, with some very high quality lures, and we don’t mean to
downplay their importance to ORCA and the hobby. However, without those
cranking devises we collect the chunks of wood would still be lying out
in the lake with no method of returning them to the fisherman. The
understanding and appreciation of all facets of fishing antiques and
their history will benefit all collectors.
The show opened to table holders and “early bird”
registrants on Friday evening. Show registrants came from all over the
U.S., with the following states represented: California, Colorado,
Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Kentucky, Maryland,
Michigan, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, and
Pennsylvania.
When have you ever been to a tackle show when all
the intensity of the table set-up and the buy, sell and trade session
came to a halt and everyone headed for the chow line. Dinner was free if
you rented a table, and approximately 100 table holders and guests
relaxed on the deck that adjoined the show room. Dinner was a buffet of
all the roast beef, Fettuccine Alfredo, sea food Newberg, and salads of
all types, that a person could eat, and still hold room for several
slabs of pie or slices of cake.
The show lasted until almost 10:00 that
evening, when a group of tired collectors finally called it a day and
headed for the lodge and a good night’s sleep.
Things started up at a leisurely pace on Saturday
morning, with the show opening at 8:00. The public was allowed to attend
on Saturday, and several people showed up to see what was going on.
Later in the day, ORCA President Steve Lumpkin
presented the awards for the various events that had been held
throughout the show. These included trophies and certificates for the
casting contest, the fishing tournament, and the awards for the reel
displays. These were all well received.
The show started to slow down a bit around noon,
but another free meal for table-holders allowed everyone to take a
respite on the deck and gather themselves for the auction of tackle
brought in by the public, which was held at 1:00.
There was some fine tackle available for those to
waited for this event. Many of the ORCA members with long distances to
travel or planes to catch drifted away during the afternoon, and finally
things came to a close in late afternoon.
The ORCA show received some outstanding
publicity. The Outdoor Times sent a reporter, T. C. Flanigan, to cover
the casting contest, and interview some of the ORCA members. Flanigan
was so impressed that he returned on Saturday to attend the show, and
joined ORCA.
As a result of the show, ORCA gained around 15-20
new members prior to the show, and an additional eight members at the
show. David Lehmann and his supporting helpers sure deserve tremendous
recognition for this first attempt at an ORCA show.
1st Annual
Vintage Bait
Casting
Tourney
Casters from across the country met on the lake at
1:00 p.m. on Friday to cast in four events and to kick-off ORCA’s 1st
annual Vintage Bait Casting Tourney. Nine casters took the challenge in
this friendly competition using equipment out of our collections. In
order to qualify to enter the casting tourney, ORCA members needed to be
able to outfit themselves with reels made before 1950 and spools filled
with braided line. Rods needed to be either bamboo or steel and the
casting weight used was 5/8 of an ounce. Rules for casting was based
upon historical NAACC guidelines
There were four events, two using level-wind
reels and two events using non level-wind reels. Casters in the
Accuracy events got two casts at each of three targets spaced 40, 55,
and 75 feet from the casting platform. Demerits were scored against
casts for each foot landing away from the target. The Distance/Accuracy
Combined event was a floating ring placed 100 feet from the casting
platform. Each castor received 3 casts at the ring.
Weather conditions were ideal for the tournament
and Dave Lehmann, the show host, arranged a great place to conduct this
first casting contest. There were three officials, two judges and one
scorekeeper, for the event. Dave Erickson of Conifer, Colorado, and Rod
Bolding of Florence, Kentucky were the judges and their consistent calls
were all thought to be right on target. Roger Schulz was the official
scorekeeper and maintained the pace of the casting throughout the four
events. All three officials were volunteers and the casters owe them
our thanks for taking the time to help us have this great competition.
The casters started off using level-wind reels
and casting for accuracy at three targets. Pat Bianchi of Rochester,
New York showed the field the way with his winning casts of
95-98-99-98-98-99 that averaged 97.83. Pat used a Heddon Pal, P-41
level-wind reel connected to a 5’0” Heddon Pal #3151 Steel Rod.
The second level-wind competition was the
distance/accuracy combination event casting at a ring set at 100 feet
from the casting platform. Phil White of Nampa, Idaho, came in first
place in this event using his Coxe 25-N reel attached to a Richardson
steel rod. Phil won the event with an average score of 94.67.
The third event was the first of two contests
using non level-wind reels. This 3rd
event was the accuracy event casting at three targets spaced at 40, 55,
and 75 feet from the casting platform. This was a close contest with
Steve Lumpkin, of Chicago, Illinois, winning the event with casts of
97-97-98-99-99-94 and an average score of 97.33. Phil White came in a
close second with an average score of 97.0. Steve was casting with a
Shakespeare Tournament FS, #1740HE connected to a 5’9” Liotta #2550
drop-handled bamboo rod.
The forth and final event was the
Distance/Accuracy Combination event for non level-wind reels. Steve
Lumpkin won this event with three casts of 94-99-97 averaging a score of
96.6. Jim Scott of Olean, NY livened up the non level-wind events by
casting with a Henry Kiest Indiana style casting reel. Both Jim’s father
and grandfather had both used the reel for fishing. The reel was mounted
on a four sided steel rod made by the Bingham Company of Cleveland,
Ohio..
After all of the scores were tallied at the end,
two casters came within 3 points of each other for the Grand Champion
trophy award. The winner of the trophy was Steve Lumpkin with a total
score of 322.60 points. Phil White came in a close second with a final
score of 319.70.
A wonderful time was had by all and it was a
unanimous comment from all participants and the audience that the club
should definitely hold this kind of competition again at future ORCA
shows. There is something rewarding and special about selecting the
kind of tackle you want to use and then casting with it in friendly
competition that makes for a great time and a memorable experience. We
all encourage other ORCA members to get involved in future casting
contests and enjoy the experience first-hand. If you are interested in
participating at future ORCA casting events, please write Steve
Lumpkin. He will send you a copy of the tournament specifications and
the general tournament rules.
Reel Displays
It is a pleasure to report that there were eight
ORCA members attending the Lake Raystown Show who brought and set-up
reel displays for all to see. All of the displays were very impressive
and educational and it was difficult for the judges to select the
winners. To help with the selection of the winners, the judges ranked
each display from 1-10 on four categories of merit. The categories
were; (1) history, (2) presentation, (3) quality, and (4) content.
Roger Schulz, Secretary/Treasurer, Ben Wright, Vice-President, and Steve
Lumpkin, President, were the three judges.
The history category was judged based upon how
well the person communicated the history of the reels in the display.
The presentation category included how well the items could be seen, how
the display was organized, and general impact of the display. The
quality category pointed to the quality and cleanliness of the items
themselves. The final category, content, was judged on how well the
person covered the subject he or she was displaying.
If a member received a perfect score, they would
get a total of 120 points. To give you an idea of how close the judging
was, six of the eight people displaying received more than 100 points
for their score. The third place winner for best reel display was Dave
Erickson, of Conifer, Colorado. Dave received 107 points for his
wonderful display of pre 1900
Ball Handled Reels, which are shown to the right. The second place award was presented to our
Editor Phil White for his excellent display of Yawman & Erbe reels and
related paraphernalia. Phil’s score for second place was 110 points out
of a possible 120.
The first place award was presented to Dave
Lehmann, of Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, for his superb presentation of Classic Bass Reels.
These reels included rare Kentucky, New York and Midwestern bass reels.
Dave’s score of 111 points put him just one point in front of Phil White
but his display was the very best at the show.
Other displays were quite diverse. Rod Bolding
had a carousel of Kentucky reels (including a Meek 44 and a Talbot Ben
Hur). Merv Bortner had a unusual display of reel tin containers. Dennis
Roberts displayed Mitchell reels, and Steve Vernon had a display of
Kentucky reels.
Future ORCA shows will emphasize reel displays
and ORCA will set aside space specifically for displays on the show room
floor. The displays help educate fellow members and also allows members
an opportunity of showing all of us the results of years of dedicated
collecting. Hopefully, more of you will have an opportunity of putting
together special reel displays for future shows.
Antique Tackle Fishing
Tournament
“You shoulda been here yesterday!” is a familiar
tale of woe heard by fisherman throughout the ages. And it was heard
again at Raystown Lake after the ORCA Antique Tackle Fishing Tournament.
Len Sawisch had landed several smallmouth bass and a striper on Thursday
morning, and David Lehmann caught smallmouth and largemouth bass up to
17” Saturday evening. However, this event took place on a Friday, and we
all thought Friday was fish day.
With eager anticipation nine anglers gathered on
the docks at the Raystown Lake Resort at 8:00 AM on Friday morning, to
test their skill in the first ever ORCA Antique Tackle Fishing
Tournament. The fishermen set out on this beautiful morning in four
boats that had been brought to the lake by local or far off ORCA
members.
The rules were simple. The participants had to
fish with tackle manufactured prior to 1940. It was a good excuse to
dust off those chipped baits and old spinners and spoons that no one
seemed to want in a tackle collection, and put them to the use for which
they were designed. The fish were measured in length, and all were added
together to give a total length in inches. At least that’s the way it
was supposed to go.
The only problem was that the fish didn’t know
enough to cooperate. The Raystown Lake bass were in the post spawn mode,
and as most bass fishermen realize, this means tough fishing. Despite
the use of many great old fishing theories and modern depth finders, the
fish weren’t to be found. Perhaps as our cover cartoon illustrates there
just weren’t enough fish still alive to remember that good old tackle.
There were only two fish landed and officially
measured. Phil White, our erstwhile editor, won the tournament with a
12.5” bass. A picture of a fish similar to the winning fish can be found
on the back page of this issue. He also won the Pat Bianchi award, a
shallow water depth finder. Show host David Lehmann (a local ringer)
boated the only other fish measured, and received a trophy for the
largest bass. Luckily local striper guru, Nick Lambert, decided to take
pity on his fellow ORCA members and didn’t take part in the tourney.
As always, the fishermen had lots of stories. Len
Sawisch reported that he had a foolproof fishing system. You simply
catch everything in sight, be it tree, a bush, the bottom, other
fishermen, everything except fish! Dick Fogel didn’t even have the
typical angler’s excuses, He simply reported that “he got skunked!” Doc
Herr and Ed Corwin had their own contest going, trying to see who had
the neatest professional over-run, and they reported some beauts. There
was a report of a large Muskie that was hooked but was mysteriously
transformed into a log as it reached the surface.
The affair provoked a lot of fun and comraderie
and had to be valued a success. With a little more planning and
organization, future tournaments will become a pleasant and fun project
incorporated with the ORCA National show. And all member’s better watch
out, for Doc Herr plans to dust off those Haskell minnows and see what
they will produce.
The ORCA
Auction
The First Annual ORCA Old Fishing Tackle Auction
was well received by all those in attendance. There was some great
tackle that came in through the door, and some great bargain were
purchased. The auction was called by our own Board member, Ed Corwin,
with assistance from several ORCA members.
Although the reels brought in by the public were
a bit thin (the best reel was a metal hub Pflueger Medalist in the box –
which went for the bargain price of $45.00), some of the lures drew a
lot of attention. These included a pristine Heddon 20 in rainbow color
which brought $500, two fly rod Dingbats ($140 & $180), and excellent
Heddon Punkinseed in bluegill (only $140!), a frog Surface Dingbat in
the box ($160), a rainbow Creek Chub Plunker in the box ($130) and a VG+
Heddon Tadpolly in green crackleback that reached $140. An exceptionally
nice 1940 Creek Chub catalog fetched $250.
As you can see from the above items the lure
collectors that attended the ORCA show found some nice items, even if
they did have to wait for the auction to do so.
Back to Top of
Page
