Terry O'Malley on the basics

[site admin]

Chase uploaded this clip recently. Great 5 minute clip of Terry going over the basics and lure presentation.

[yaaintdeadyet]

Good stuff.

[Hal Standish]

12/01, i put the boat to bed for the season. I had a fine year and look for to the days of lengthening day light hours. Firewood processing for 2021-22
provides some much needed exercise. This winters wood is in good shape 20-21 and I do enjoy being in the woods this time year prior to the deep snow fall.
Studying and review of Bucks works will has already begun. along with Plethora of You tube videos provided by Shell, Dickson Duplex, and now Kliensteker. Wow we are fortunate as group to have some much information available It is not that way in other activities that folks could be involved in! Really enjoyable and instructive to see Upper Mid western spoonpluggers working Bucks Program.
It has been very interesting to finally see and listen to Terry O'Mally I have always enjoy people who get to the point and takes names and kicks butt. He is powerhouse of guy for sure. Very Fun also to see JB, a great fisherman in the 90's as He still is today.

I do have one question, in the dozen or so vids i have watched. The on the water segments it seems that every one has the same type Boat. What kind of boat is that? Is that boat still available today! Thanks in Advance!!

Hal

[site admin]

All those boats were either a "Troller" or "Trophy". they were pretty much identical, but I believe seperate companies. They were built/designed specifically for spoonplugging/contour trolling. Don Dickson is the one that came up and worked on them originally. One of his YouTube videos told the whole story. Buck was also promoting them and sold them, early 1980's I believe. They were prone to transom problems. They were GREAT boats for control, but you had to sacrifice staying dry at times and would not handle any kind of rough water. I never had one but I'm sure others that did can chime in with more info. Jim Duplex is the only one I know that still has one. I don't believe they have been made or available since the late 90's.

EDIT: Here is the Don Dickson video where he discusses building the boat

[DougBush]

Chase uploaded this clip recently. Great 5 minute clip of Terry going over the basics and lure presentation.

Terry is laying down the gospel in this lecture. Pay heed....or blunder forever.
If you can't hit past that dropoff on the cast, and then crank that clanking spoonplug along and up the dirt/rock/sand of that underwater incline out there....you're just 'pissing in the wind and letting it blow back in your face'.
Go back to the troll with the wire...and HIT that incline down there.
THEN, you can work those plastic worms. (They are merely a slower speed control.)
Since the thing looks pretty good, come back later and do the whole process all over again.
Douglas

[Mapper]

All those boats were either a "Troller" or "Trophy". they were pretty much identical, but I believe seperate companies. They were built/designed specifically for spoonplugging/contour trolling. Don Dickson is the one that came up and worked on them originally. One of his YouTube videos told the whole story. Buck was also promoting them and sold them, early 1980's I believe. They were prone to transom problems. They were GREAT boats for control, but you had to sacrifice staying dry at times and would not handle any kind of rough water. I never had one but I'm sure others that did can chime in with more info. Jim Duplex is the only one I know that still has one. I don't believe they have been made or available since the late 90's.

EDIT: Here is the Don Dickson video where he discusses building the boat

FYI: The early Troller boats had some flooring issues; substandard quality that softened prematurely, but the boat itself was solid. The later Troller models were fantastic. This is the model Jim Duplex still fishes out of. I owned both the earlier model Troller and the newer model. Both lasted me 10 yrs. and had no regrets. In fact, the 2nd Troller was an excellent craft; hardly teetered and offered a better floor plan with a bigger livewell (40+”) across the bow.
The Trophy was a boat that looked very similar to the Troller but was no where near the quality. Transom problems plagued many Spoonpluggers who’d purchased those boats, and understandably, they were not happy campers.

[John Bales]

I know its an old post but Doug Bush said a mouth full about casting a spoonplug on a hard clean bottom. This presentation put a lot of fish in the boat for us back in the days of lakes with water color. Those were the places Mr. Perry preached to fish and we did. Nothing these days would compare to those catches of big bass for us. The spoonplug was our first choice to cast because the make up of the lake bottoms allowed us to use that control that will put more fish in the boat than any other lure or speed control. The zebra muscle took that away. The water cleared, the weeds grew deeper along with moss which completely took that away. These lakes are no longer spoonplugging lakes for the bass. One of the most important controls in making a great catch was eliminated (depth and speed), along with our most important observations which is water color. You must have seen this to understand its goodness, and in these lakes, that part is gone. The lakes were teeming with big bass and the conditions were perfect for spoonpluggers who followed the guidelines. It is now just memories. If you find something good, enjoy it because man will eventually screw it up. John