Hook, line and sinker
Fish hooks were an important part of the program. Our store walls were covered with nothing butpickeral jigs, at the time perhaps the largest selection in this part of Saskatchewan. Each week we would feature a hook that seemed to be working the best, not because we were over stocked in that colour or anything like that; remember we did offer honest fishing information. I recall when the Saskatchewan travel guide first came out, honest fishing information was part of our listing and almost every time someone called inquiring about our place, they would mention the honest fishing information, wondering if that was for real. Of course, I would respond in length about how we could show them where to fish and what to use, but catching the fish was up to them. We even provided a map with all the “secret” locations. As the years went by, plugs also became popular. When they first came out, rapala shad raps or flat raps would run from $8 to $12 but would catch walleye. One day, Harvey’s mother caught a six pound walleye on a silver shad rap. Guess what became the hook of the week? Harvey, like a lot of other fishermen, was big on gadgets. He had a device called a colour selector. It was basically a coloured gauge with a needle and a probe you lowered into the water. As you lowered the probe the needle would register the colour of hook you would use. This information was also used for the “Hook of the Week” selection. On many occasions we would sell out of that particular hook. The “Hook of the Week” was a fun thing that lasted a few years and would always invoke conversation or sometimes disappointment, if we had forgotten to display the preferred choice. Every fall we now supply George, a campground customer, with a good number of buck tails to fashion his “Bailey” line of buck tail jigs with a stinger hook hidden in the long hair. I have tested several styles in Ministikwan Lake with success. I imagine if we still had the “Hook of the week”, some of George’s creations would reach that place of prominence. Isn’t it funny the lure a fish hook has! |
