Rough notes not in any chronological order
40 Plus Years of Great Lakes Fishing History
 Under Construction
     

This page is mostly rough notes that will be expand on. Credit is given from who I knew as 1st.
There might be a dual time line, but these are the reel-fact as I know them. 

A special thanks to Dick Boyajian who began chartering Manistee in 1968 and contributed much of this info

If you have verifiable history info, email me at: kingscharter@yahoo.com

1 1st Salmon Planting Michigan's 1966 Bear Creek and the Platte river
2 Howard Tanner
Wayne Tody MDNR
Solution to cure Alewife problem
3 U2-Flatfish 1967 first big time salmon lure, rented for 10 bucks a day in Manistee back then
4 1st jack Coho run fall 1966
5 Tragic Storm claims 11 September 1967 8 in Frankfort, 3 off Manistee
6 Luhr Jensen Sr. 1968 met w/John Spolmer buyer from Detroit Based JL Hudson in Manistee.
7 Walt Gauthier 1970 lead core. Owned Fisherman's Center in Manistee, MI
8 1st downriggers 1969 Portage manuals and Plath electrics
9 Chuck Cartwright fleet accepted Silver plated and mag spoons
10 Capt. Dick Swan Introduced long rods, light line, boat name, " light liner"
11 Jerry Bechhold Verticle finned plastic flasher
12 Jack....? 1st fish shaped plastic flasher, the Orca circa later 1980s
13 Larry Crosby Traverse Bay Tackle and designer the bucktail Alee fly big in the later 70s.
14 Dennis Ende Created the Northport Nailer, marketing wizard ...spoon marketing is based on now.
15 Capt. Mel Wantz 10' Wire deep-6 rods, 1988  I transposed these to dipseys spring of 1989 at PA
16 Capt. Bud Raskey Known for sewn minnows best.  Hall of fame member.  Pro guide & charter Capt..
17 Diver Rods Commercially came into being around 1986
18 Monel wire Mooching/pumping Laker technique 1968, used dating back in the 1930s for LTs. Alcor Rods
19 George Richey Later 60's river guide and Mylar flies in 1977
20 Manistee Wobbler 1968 First Salmon spoons Luhr Jensen
21 Jack Crawford 1982? Surface Steelhead fishery
22 BKD Crash 1988
23 Mort Neff TV outdoor show host in the 1960s and 70s. Brought salmon fishing into our homes.
24 J-Plugs On Lk. Huron 1st.  Lk. MI debut-Buzz Ramsey aboard the Troller in Manistee 1975
25 Dodgers 1968
26 Sliders Fixed and free around 1980-82
27 Roger Bogner DW Lures Michigan's master tackle marketer.  None better at developing and marketing
28 Steelheaders Clubs first formed around 1976
29 1985 & 2005 Most/best productive years for Kings
30 Charter boat fleet Grew to 1100 boats in the mid-80s.
31 Loran C took off in the mid-1980s
32 GPS-plotter Early 1990s foothold, standard issue nowadays
33 Internet 1996, took off in 1999.
34 Dipsys later 1980s, prior diver of choice was a Deep-6
35 Lead core II reemergence late 1980s, reel-popular again by the mid-1990s.
36 Meat Fishing Exploded and well on it's way by 2004 for Lk. MI anglers
37 Zebra Mussels I first seen them on Lk. Erie in 1985
38 Quagga Mussels Took over in the i2ks.  Colonizer deeper and recent est. was 10 trillion in Lk. MI
39 Super Braid Lines 1990 Kevlar and Spectra.  Fleet standard by 1992.
40 Copper Line Gained wide spread fleet popularity around 2005
41 Deep Kings Kings were targeted at and below 150'-250' depths by 2005.
42 Capt. Pete Ruboyianes MI tournament legend
43 Capt. Emil  Dean Best known for heated boat river Steelhead fishing.  Lots of TV & press 1980s & 1990s.
44 Gill Netting 1977-1984  Lk. Trout were wiped out by the UP tribes that came to Lk. MI.
45 5 Salmon Limits 2009 Restored to MI anglers after the cut to 3 in 1990.
46 Tempo Tech Scandal Dirty dealings with the MDNR fish harvesting contract (late 1980s?) prison time involved
47 2000 Decree agreement-tribal net Fishing returns to Manistee ...2007 big time with 21 trap nets
48 2010 Commercial netting operations off Manistee ceases after the tribal money grab.
49 Lk. Huron King Salmon ceased to be a viable fishery in 2002  spring is OK and N end still has fish
50 Clean Water Act 1969  banned high phosphate detergents.  Many sewage treatment plants built
51 Drop weights? Early 1970s?
52 Lk. Ontario Mirex scare looking for date, made it illegal to dispose of fish on land ---industrial pollution
53 Lk. St. Clair Mercury issues in the late 1960s with mercury content in fish ---industrial pollution
54 Lk. Erie Walleyes Early mid 1970s population rebound.  Excellent fishery by early 1980s
55 Saginaw Bay Walleyes This fishery became world class by the late 1980s.
56 Planer Boards 1976  widespread use by late 1970s and fleet standard in the 1980s
57 Inline planer boards Introduced later 1970s, usage boomed in the 1980s
58 Temp Probes 1980 Fish Hawk 1st attempt. Much improved model came out in 1985
59 Dick Boyajian-source Luhr Jensen rep, retired charter skipper, canvas-upholstery man extraordinaire WWII vet
60 Pro-combinator 1985 down temp/speed system when they worked, but a lot of grief when they didn't
61 BC Plankton Later 1980 Lk. MI
62 Fish Hook Water Fleas Lines became choked with these in the early i2ks.
63   Vexilar 155 1969 1sr paper chart recorder (graph) widespread mid-70s ...talk of outlawing these units
64 CRT & LCD Graphs Expensive, hard to get an exact date, 1983-1985 from those I spoke with.
65 Affordable LCD Graphs 1995 Raytheon L-750 was an excellent value. CRTs hard for daylight read ....went extinct
66 Autopilots Probable since and before 1966,  became affordable in mid to late 1980s.
67 Radar Pricey thru the 1970-80s, price was coming down by the early 1990s.
68 TFT screen Sonar Used in most present day marine electronics 1990s?  need to confirm date
69 GPS Mapping chips for GPS? need to research date
70 Joe Renoski NY's Lake Ontario, Pirate Spoons, master lure promoter, well liked by the Lk. O fleet
71 George Metzler Credited  with delevloping a early version 3 fly cut bait rig.  Oswego, NY
72 Stan Lievense Early pioneer on Lk. Michigan
73 1988 Consumers lawsuit Court action files against Ludington's "project" for a high rate of fish being destroyed.
74 1989 Handheld GPS Magellan came out with one
75 Loran C ends Towers are being shut down February 2010.
76 VHS Found in the Great Lakes with confirmed in samples dating back to 2003
77 Asian Carp 1973 Federal Introduction/Arkansas Game/Fish Commission stocks 380,000 grass Asian carp in state waters, and eventually opens the breeding program to bighead, black, silver carp
78 2011 water sales Selling of fresh water of Alaska to India in bulk tankers
     
     
     

 

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