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.