The Top Ten People...

Who’ve Most Influenced the Popularity of Fishing in the U.S.

Joe Brooks - Eschewing the chance to be a major league baseball pitcher, this Baltimore native instead pursued a great passion: saltwater fly fishing.

Who’ve Most Influenced the Popularity of Fishing in the U.S.

10.

Joe Brooks - Eschewing the chance to be a major league baseball pitcher, this Baltimore native instead pursued a great passion: saltwater fly fishing. His penchant for writing provided a high profile of the sport during the 1940s and 50s in the pages of Field & Stream and Outdoor Life. He attained the position of fishing editor for the latter publication, which he held for many years. Besides authoring assorted books on freshwater and saltwater fishing, Brooks’ wit and good looks landed him roles on The American Sportsman TV series. He also served as mentor to Lefty Kreh, who would become a super-star in the fly-fishing industry in his own right.

9.

Ted Williams - While no one can deny Teddy Ballgame’s impact on baseball, his great interest in the outdoors landed him as a spokesperson for Sears Roebuck & Co. After serving in World War II and during off seasons with the Boston Red Sox, Williams fished the streams for trout and the flats for bonefish. Utilizing an uncanny 20-10 vision and a competitive zeal that made him an all-star hitter, Williams’ attention to detail helped him master the art of fishing as well. Displaying an arrogance at times but always in pursuit of learning more, he popularized fishing as few athletes ever have.

8.

Philip Wylie - Incredibly versatile as a writer, social critic, syndicated columnist and scriptwriter, Wylie authored such classics as The Invisible Man in 1933 and the controversial A Generation of Vipers in 1943. When Wylie’s interest in fishing grew, so did his attention to a fictional account of the Poseidon, a Miami charterboat skippered by Captain Crunch Adams and mate Des Smith. The Adventures of Crunch and Des appeared from 1939 to 1959 in The Saturday Evening Post to rave reviews, huge interest and a new generation of anglers. A Crunch and Des TV series ensued in the late 1950s, with the moral of the stories always that good sportsmanship and integrity prevail.

7.

Francesca LaMonte - This name won’t be familiar to you, but as both a founding member of the International Game Fish Association and perhaps the first to apply marine research to fish conservation, LaMonte deserves high billing. Without her research and interest in conservation, fisheries management would have been set back for decades or more. She helped produce books on fresh and saltwater species from 1938 to 1966, and put together affiliations of many scientific associations for the betterment of fisheries resources.

6.

Stu Apte - What do you get when you combine a Navy fighter pilot, Pan American Airlines pilot, fishing guide and world-class fly fishermen? A slew of world records, to be sure, but Apte also came along in the formative 1950s and 60s as a regular feature of The American Sportsman TV series. He thus helped grow the sport through TV shows, videos and his still-popular 1976 book Stu Apte’s Fishing in the Florida Keys and Flamingo.

Currently at work on his memoirs, Apte entered the IGFA Hall of Fame in 2005 and still owns the two longest-standing world records on fly: a 58-pound dolphin in 1964 and a 136-pound Pacific sailfish in 1965, both on 12-pound tippet.

5.

Lee Wulff - No list of the most-impacting individuals in US fishing history could leave this man out. After receiving a degree in civil engineering from Stanford, he felt a tug in a different direction. His books and magazine articles on fishing the Catskill Mountains and Canadian wilderness struck a chord with millions of anglers.

He met champion fly-caster Joan Salvato, and soon the married couple traveled the world in pursuit of big fish on fly gear. Lee and Joan opened a fly-fishing school on the Beaverkill River in the Catskills, becoming the model for ensuing schools. Lee invented the first fishing vest and became one of the earliest proponents of catch-and-release fishing.

4.

Ray Scott - When Scott pronounced in the mid-1960s that one day he’d build bass fishing into a major tournament circuit attracting millions of dollars, some people laughed. Not only are they not laughing now, they’re standing with all others to applaud a true pioneer in what can only be called the man behind the big business of bass fishing. He formed the national Bass Anglers Sportsman Society (B.A.S.S.) in 1968 and helped scores of bass clubs spring up, and in only three years the organization boasted 65,000 members. Now exceeding 600,000, B.A.S.S. (now owned by ESPN) is the largest fishing group in the world with big-name sponsors, TV coverage of tournaments and circuit winners who have become household names. Now instrumental in products for deer and other wildlife, he’ll nonetheless always be remembered as the Bass Boss.

3.

Michael Lerner - After founding the national chain of Lerner’s clothing stores, this entrepreneur turned his sights on the development of sport fishing. The main force behind the organization of the IGFA in 1939, Lerner could leverage ideas and money to make things happen. He and wife Helen caught marlin and swordfish galore, but they realized that a greater use of their resources could be the partnering of marine science with fishing experts. From the laboratories to the fish-filled waters of all oceans, he put together expedition parties to all points of the globe and helped pioneer a deeper understanding of saltwater game fish. Michael Lerner continued throughout his lifetime to generously fund the volumes of knowledge that would serve as the backbone of conservation efforts forever after.

2.

Zane Grey - It’s impossible to underplay the importance of promoting the sport of fishing in the public eye, and few did so better than Zane Grey. Although famous for his Western novels, historic pictures of Grey fighting giant marlin and bluefin tuna graced the pages of many newspapers. With money in the bank from best-selling novels, Grey began spinning yarns about his adventures behind the big rod – and he wasn’t exaggerating. The first to conquer a grander on rod and reel, he developed successful techniques for catching swordfish and light-tackle pursuits of sailfish. Keeping meticulous notes on his gear and diaries of conditions while fishing, he became a wealth of knowledge and a reliable authority to all who came to know him.

1.

Ernest Hemingway - Yep, Papa earns the title as the single most important person to impact the great sport of fishing. In 1940 Hemingway became Vice President of the IGFA, a title held until his death in 1961. Already an icon in American literature, his novel The Old Man and the Sea and the ensuing movie by the same name starring Spencer Tracy can only be described as immeasurable PR for fishing in general. The parallels drawn with competition and overcoming life-confronting challenges gave angling an even greater esteem. Hemingway’s Gulf Stream battles off Key West, Havana and Bimini became legendary along with his penchant for an adventurer’s life. Pictures in newspapers across the world showing him next to a grander marlin or giant bluefin tuna formed impressions that last to this day.