The Structure Cafe: Lowrance

Lowrance

05/28/2017

Lowrance Lo-K-Tor

A short video from this weekend. I pulled out the Lowrance "green box" and went fishing over the holiday. These units still work great after all these years.

Posted at 11:27 PM in Lowrance, TV/Video | Permalink | Comments (0)

05/24/2017

Lindy Transducer Bracket

Back in the days of the Green Box, attaching a transducer was kind of a makeshift proposition. However, the folks at Lindy created this clever transducer holder that could be easily clamped to the back of most any aluminum boat. It even provided a "kick-up" safety feature in case you ran over something you shouldn't, as well as a clamp to store the transducer arm in an upright position while trailering or running.

Posted at 07:41 PM in In' Fisherman/Al & Ron Lindner, Lowrance | Permalink | Comments (0)

02/16/2017

Fish Lo-K-Tors and Fishing News

A neat photo from Babe Winkelman's Jig and Live Bait Fishing book that features an old Lowrance "green box" and "red box," along with some issues of Fishing News.

Posted at 05:05 PM in Bill Binkelman, Fishing News, Lowrance | Permalink | Comments (0)

12/18/2016

Boston Store Fishing Catalog 1968

Long before the advent of online shopping, and even well before now heavy hitter Bass Pro Shops (1972) or long gone Bassmaster's "The Outhouse" (1972-73), there was the Boston Store mail order catalog featuring the best gear written about, used by, and promoted in the pages of Fishing News. This 1968 catalog will give you an idea of what top tackle was available to anglers for purchase regardless of their location. It includes familiar names for the time such as Buck Perry Spoonplugs, Crawford jigs, bulk monofilament fishing line, Smithwick's Devil's Warhorse (Devil's Horse), Lutz pork baits, Nightcrawler Secrets packages, and the Lowrance Lo-K-Tor. However, there are also some newcomers to the scene such as the beginning of the popularity of plastic worms (Bing McClelland/Burke), as well as the Crawford Jig Worm, the early predecessor to shaky heads. You could even open a charge account if you didn't have the funds to pay for your order in its entirety.

Posted at 02:46 PM in Bill Binkelman, Fishing News, Lowrance, Nightcrawler Secrets, Old Newspaper Articles, Spoonplugging/Buck Perry | Permalink | Comments (0)

11/24/2016

The Facts of Electronic Fishing (1961)

A first edition copy of the book which was published in 1961 (see pic). The company [in 1961] was operating under the name ‘Lowrance Electronics Manufacturing Company,’ or LEMCO for short. At the time, they were still located in Joplin, Missouri. The book is approximately 124 pages long, and broken down into 5 chapters. They are as follows:

The Sonic Boom – A short introduction that introduces the company and the story to come, and states up front, “Our aim in publishing this book is to provide an entertaining, non-technical guide to better fishing.” This becomes quickly apparent as you read through the book since all the pictures used in the book are hand drawn “cartoonish” diagrams to get the information across.

From Submarines to Sardines – A brief history of depth sounding and the development of sonar apparatus. How the FISH LO-K-TOR has developed from these beginnings.

Nature Re-Visited – A digest of the findings of various researchers who have used the FISH LO-K-TOR in the field. Some new and interesting facts about fish and their environs, including a section on several popular game fish.

The Inside Story – A nomenclature of the FISH LO-K-TOR demonstrating its basic features; and the reasons for its unexcelled performance. Included is a closing section on batteries.

Seeing With Sound – Using the FISH LO-K-TOR in the field. How to read the dial and interpret the signals. How to mount the transducer. How to spot and recognize fish, and underwater obstructions such as brush, logs, weeds, etc. How to contour and mark a good fishing spot. How to fish through the ice, using a LO-K-TOR.

The cartoon diagrams that fill up the pages take a little getting used to, but the overall content in the book is pretty solid. We have to keep in mind that this was likely the very first introduction of the general public to ‘personal’ sonar units, and trying to explain how they work and what their benefits are to the unknowing angler likely wasn’t an easy task. Now days, all this would be taken for granted. The book sold for just $1.00 and provides a great glimpse into the earliest beginnings of portable and compact sonar units for anglers and boaters – a wonderful piece of bass fishing history.

Posted at 01:09 PM in Lowrance, Memorabilia | Permalink | Comments (0)

11/23/2016

1962 Lowrance Ad Featuring Book

A 1962 Lowrance ad featuring their portable Lo-K-Tor, a transistorized predator call, and a book, "The Facts of Electronic Fishing," they had just published the previous year. From the Ad:

Tells you sure-fire methods of fishing with electronics...an interesting and informative guide to the type of instrument you'll need and the way to use it effectively to catch more fish. Learn the simple and easy method of interpreting a direct-reading dial.

Over 100 illustrations with tests and comments by noted outdoor writers and editors. Learn the facts from experts.

Learn more specifics on this book in tomorrow's post.

Posted at 10:45 AM in Lowrance | Permalink | Comments (0)

10/31/2016

Original Lowrance Ads (circa 1958)

The third corner of the "revolution triangle" if you will was Lowrance Electronics. Carl Lowrance created a small, transistorized depthfinder and began marketing it at about the same time as Buck coming to Chicago (1957). Known as the "Red Box," Carl tried to put these units in the hands of as many well recognized anglers as he could. Al and Ron Lindner were a couple of the first to have such a unit, along with Babe Winkelman. These red units were followed closely by the "Green Box," which started to appear at local department stores. Bill Binkelman said he had 3 of them, always wanting to make sure one was up and running.

Looking at some of the original ads in this post, you'll notice a couple interesting things. One, the company started out as Lowrance Sales Co., and then switched around 1958 to Lowrance Electronics Mfg. Corp. (LEMCO). Notice the naming progression in the ads, which appeared first in Popular Mechanics magazine, and later in Fishing News. The other thing to notice is that they were located in Joplin, Missouri, this location being the predecessor to their more well-known Oklahoma address.

One final comment. The price tag on the initial models was $148.50. If you adjust for inflation, that is equivalent to $1,240.56 in 2016 dollars - making the units a very spendy proposition for their time. Subsequently, not a lot of anglers had easy availability to such units at the time due to these cost restraints. Large department stores had to offer monthly financing in order to allow customers to purchase the units.

Red-Box-Sales-PM-1

Red-Box-Ad-1958

Red-Box-3

Posted at 10:44 AM in Bill Binkelman, Fishing News, Lowrance | Permalink | Comments (0)

07/28/2016

Legendary Largemouth: Bass Structure Fishing

Buck Perry/Spoonplug mention: An excerpt from a September 27th, 2013 In-Fisherman piece by Steve Quinn

"Finding Ledges

In the early days of reservoir bass fishing, these types of spots went untouched. It wasn’t until Buck Perry promoted his spoonplugging tactics for bass structure fishing offshore and Lowrance Electronics offered its first fishing sonars that anglers began to explore these areas. In the 1960s, guides and early tournament anglers like Glenn Andrews, Virgil Ward, and Jim Rogers explored waters with Carl Lowrance’s “Little Green Box.” Introduced in 1959, they didn’t come into common usage for several years."

Posted at 08:09 PM in In' Fisherman/Al & Ron Lindner, Lowrance, Spoonplugging/Buck Perry | Permalink | Comments (0)

07/05/2016

1960s Lowrance Lo-K-Tor (Green Box)

Carl Lowrance introduced his small/portable fish finders to the public in the late 1950s, about the same time Buck Perry was making headlines in the Midwest (Chicago/Milwaukee area) telling the angling public about "structure." By the early 1960s, his "green box" was the high tech electronic device found on many of the top anglers boats. Bill Binkelman was one of the first to have such units in the area (3 actually), as well as Ron and Al Lindner, who have mentioned that their first one was one of the "red boxes" which supposedly were promotional units given out prior to the green ones being sold.

Posted at 07:43 PM in Bill Binkelman, Lowrance, Spoonplugging/Buck Perry | Permalink | Comments (0)

08/03/2015

December 1963 - The Rise of Bill Binkelman (Part I)

While 1957 goes down as the year that Buck Perry made it to the Midwest and "shook 'em up" with his talk of structure fishing and on-the-water spoonplugging demos, 1963 is the next milestone year, marked by the creation of Fishing News, a short but all-fishing publication spearheaded by Bill Binkelman, and initially focusing almost exclusively on spoonplugging and structure fishing. Of Binkelman, Ron Lindner once wrote, "If Perry fired the first shot in the modern angling revolution, Bill Binkelman was its relentless Paul Revere, and together with Carl Lowrance, they changed the ways that people fished."

In a March 1980 Fins and Feathers article by Steve Grooms, as well as a March 1984 Midwest Outdoors column by Hal Walker, they listed the following industry "breakthroughs" attributed to Bill;

Owned one of the first depth finders in the Midwest and popularized the fishing use of sonar gear.
Discovered hydrographic (fishing contour) maps and publicized their usefulness to fishermen.
Was a leading promoter of spoonplugging (speed trolling) teaching many Midwest fishermen the principles of structure fishing with bottom bumping artificials.
Popularized the Jack Crawford natural pattern jigs (now sold as Mister Twister jigs), designing several of the patterns.
Hosted the first all-fishing television show.
Developed the technique made famous in the book he wrote, Nightcrawler Secrets. The book was far ahead of its time and did much to change fishing. It presented the technique, invented by Binkelman, of hooking a crawler lightly through the nose.
Popularized the use of worm inflators.
Discovered cork jig heads, improving them for Midwestern waters, and taught their use.
Founded Fishing News, forerunner of Fishing Facts, the first all-fishing publication and a major communicator of the new fishing techniques.
Helped develop the concept of a fish "calendar" which recognized such major events in a fish's year as spawning and lake turnovers.
Discovered and refined a set of tackle and techniques which would reliably catch deepwater gamefish.
Started many fishing clubs, clubs of a new type. Rather than being local sportsman's organizations, they were all-fishing and geared toward fishing education.
Organized a major fish observation project, leading to the series of "Blue Books" which Binkelman wrote.
Created a special line of tackle (emphasizing fluorescent jigs, jigs for vertical jigging, and jigs with slimmer profiles) and popularized the special techniques associated with this tackle.
Created a mail order tackle business selling his own unique tackle and other equipment not easily found. Emphasis on live bait fishing.

Posted at 10:46 AM in Bill Binkelman, Fishing News, In' Fisherman/Al & Ron Lindner, Lowrance, Spoonplugging/Buck Perry | Permalink | Comments (0)

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