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I bet some of you old guys remember...
Smitty500mag
Member Posts: 13,623 ✭✭✭✭
The Doll Fly. The fishing lure that was not actually a fly but a jig. They were made by Thompson Fishing Tackle Co. that was located just a couple of miles from where I grew up in Knoxville, TN. The company was founded by Elmer ?Doll? Thompson in 1952.
I've still got a lot of those old Doll Flies in one of my tackle boxes that I use today. When I was a kid I would tie on 2 of the flies and when Stripe were really running I would catch 2 fish at a time lots of times where I lived at the Forks of the Rivers in Knoxville. That was the Holston and French Broad rivers that came together and formed the Tennessee River. The French Broad River was always muddy and the Holston River was almost always clear and where they met there was definite line of muddy and clear water that made for great fishing.
An odd thing about the Holston and French Broad Rivers was the water temperature difference. The Holston had cold water and the French Broad was several degrees warmer. You would think it would be just the opposite since the water from the French Broad was coming out of the mountains in NC and the water in the Holston was coming from VA.
When someone was visiting at my Grandpa's boat dock there in the forks and my uncle and his friends were pulling skiers behind their boats they would take them up the French Broad first and then take them up the Holston and then stop their boats and let the skiers sink into the cold water. You could hear them start hollering because that water was cold.
https://www.outdoorlife.com/blogs/newshound/2008/08/doll-fly-lasting-legacy/
The Doll Fly: A Lasting Legacy
By Outdoor Life Online Editor
August 4, 2008
If you?re an angler who grew up fishing in the 1950s and 60s, chances are that you still refer to all alloy-head jigs as ?doll flies,? just because that?s what you?ve always called them.
But, do you know why?
Were you aware that the term doll fly began as a specific brand name that became synonymous with lead-head, bright-colored crappie and bass lures? As a result, ?Doll Fly? was transformed into one of those eponyms of American jargon, much like Jell-O and Kleenex.
Dollfly01
And beyond that, the Doll Fly isn?t a fly at all, it?s a jig.
The man behind the lasting Doll Fly legacy, luremaker Elmer ?Doll? Thompson, died quietly a few weeks ago in his hometown of Knoxville, Tenn.
?Doll? founded Thompson Fishing Tackle in 1952 and was soon producing his signature lure?displayed on bright cards hanging in Western Auto stores, Marathon gas stations, and mom & pop tackle shops across the country?by the millions.
At the peak of production, the company--with a plant in Knoxville and one in Port-au-Prince, Haiti--made an incredible 75,000 lures a day. That?s 27.5 million a year!
That?s one helluva lot of jigs.
Bob Hodge, the fine outdoor writer for The Knoxville Sentinel, noted in Thompson?s obituary that the company?s flagship lure was comprised of a hook, alloy head and polar bear hair. That right, real polar bear hair.
Hodge wrote that in a Charlotte Observer article appearing March 17, 1963, Thompson told the writer he had cornered the market on polar bear skins.
?If I couldn?t buy another polar bear hide for four or five years it wouldn?t halt my production one single lure,? he told the paper.
How times change, huh?
Thompson Fishing Tackle added other lures to its line during the 1960s, including the popular Doll Top Secret crankbait. Then, in 1972, Doll Thompson sold his company to Brunswick Corp., the pool-table maker that also owned Zebco Corp. at the time. He served on the board until 1975, when he retired.
So, for all you young fishermen out there in your 20s and 30s (and even lower 40s): when you hear some crusty old sage angler call any furry-tailed crappie jig a ?doll fly,? remember the legacy that Doll Thompson left to all of us who live to fish for slabs in cold spring waters.
And don?t forget to tell him about the polar bears.
I've still got a lot of those old Doll Flies in one of my tackle boxes that I use today. When I was a kid I would tie on 2 of the flies and when Stripe were really running I would catch 2 fish at a time lots of times where I lived at the Forks of the Rivers in Knoxville. That was the Holston and French Broad rivers that came together and formed the Tennessee River. The French Broad River was always muddy and the Holston River was almost always clear and where they met there was definite line of muddy and clear water that made for great fishing.
An odd thing about the Holston and French Broad Rivers was the water temperature difference. The Holston had cold water and the French Broad was several degrees warmer. You would think it would be just the opposite since the water from the French Broad was coming out of the mountains in NC and the water in the Holston was coming from VA.
When someone was visiting at my Grandpa's boat dock there in the forks and my uncle and his friends were pulling skiers behind their boats they would take them up the French Broad first and then take them up the Holston and then stop their boats and let the skiers sink into the cold water. You could hear them start hollering because that water was cold.
https://www.outdoorlife.com/blogs/newshound/2008/08/doll-fly-lasting-legacy/
The Doll Fly: A Lasting Legacy
By Outdoor Life Online Editor
August 4, 2008
If you?re an angler who grew up fishing in the 1950s and 60s, chances are that you still refer to all alloy-head jigs as ?doll flies,? just because that?s what you?ve always called them.
But, do you know why?
Were you aware that the term doll fly began as a specific brand name that became synonymous with lead-head, bright-colored crappie and bass lures? As a result, ?Doll Fly? was transformed into one of those eponyms of American jargon, much like Jell-O and Kleenex.
Dollfly01
And beyond that, the Doll Fly isn?t a fly at all, it?s a jig.
The man behind the lasting Doll Fly legacy, luremaker Elmer ?Doll? Thompson, died quietly a few weeks ago in his hometown of Knoxville, Tenn.
?Doll? founded Thompson Fishing Tackle in 1952 and was soon producing his signature lure?displayed on bright cards hanging in Western Auto stores, Marathon gas stations, and mom & pop tackle shops across the country?by the millions.
At the peak of production, the company--with a plant in Knoxville and one in Port-au-Prince, Haiti--made an incredible 75,000 lures a day. That?s 27.5 million a year!
That?s one helluva lot of jigs.
Bob Hodge, the fine outdoor writer for The Knoxville Sentinel, noted in Thompson?s obituary that the company?s flagship lure was comprised of a hook, alloy head and polar bear hair. That right, real polar bear hair.
Hodge wrote that in a Charlotte Observer article appearing March 17, 1963, Thompson told the writer he had cornered the market on polar bear skins.
?If I couldn?t buy another polar bear hide for four or five years it wouldn?t halt my production one single lure,? he told the paper.
How times change, huh?
Thompson Fishing Tackle added other lures to its line during the 1960s, including the popular Doll Top Secret crankbait. Then, in 1972, Doll Thompson sold his company to Brunswick Corp., the pool-table maker that also owned Zebco Corp. at the time. He served on the board until 1975, when he retired.
So, for all you young fishermen out there in your 20s and 30s (and even lower 40s): when you hear some crusty old sage angler call any furry-tailed crappie jig a ?doll fly,? remember the legacy that Doll Thompson left to all of us who live to fish for slabs in cold spring waters.
And don?t forget to tell him about the polar bears.
Comments
What he said. We used the white flies...
Do the Bass still do a spring run in the New?
Well I don't consider myself an Old timer I still feel like I did in my early 50's. I can still put on them climbing spurs and go right up a tree. I walk 5 miles every day. I doubt I could do what I was doing when I was 45. I don't shoot quite as well as I used too but I think I can drink more than when I was younger
I was at the grocery store and the cashier want to give me the "Senior" Discount
I laughed and said I still got a year to go!
She gave it to me anyway :oops:
When I was a kid, men, women, and kids would line up along the shoals and falls a catch the white bass. Usually ran for two or three days, as I recall. Now I?m wondering what conditions changed to stop their spring run.