saltwater lures - Striped Bass Fishing

saltwater lures
4/17/04
12:30 PM
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Saltwater
Classics
(# 6 in a Series)
REQUIEM FOR A SURFMAN
by Frank Pintauro – Photography by Ed Poore
I
remember the night like it was
yesterday; it was the first night
of the down-side of the moon in
early November of 1976. The
tide was just beginning to ebb, and
the wind was from the North at 1015 mph. The wind would be against
the tide just the way we liked it.
My friend, Al Daniels, and I were
setting up to troll a small secret rip
just east of Gardiner's Island, New
York. We were particularly excited
that night as we had just gotten our
hands on a bunch of STAN GIBBS
GTS-3's and would be trying them
for the first time..... Four hours later
we had caught six bass weighing
between 33-51 pounds and lost half
a dozen other fish that we could just
not control.
Since that night more than 25
years ago, I have never ever been
without some type of Gibbs CASTA-LURE in my trolling or surf bag.
They are that good! And so it is with
great regret that we report that Cape
Cod's legendary fisherman and
luremaker, Stan Gibbs, passed away
Stan Gibbs – “Requiem for a Surfman.”
in early February at the age of 89.
His death comes at a time when the
popularity of the lures he produced
from 1946-1972 has never been higher with collectors and fishermen.
Gibbs was born in North Easton,
Massachusetts in August of 1914
and lived there through World War
II, working in the Hingham Ship
Yard. After the War, he and his wife
moved to Buzzard’s Bay; and Stan
pursued fishing for striped bass
with a passion, supplementing his
fishing efforts by trapping and
hunting mink, otter, and muskrats
in the off-season.
It was there at Buzzard’s Bay in
1946 that Stan first began to whittle
popper plugs for his own use. (His
tools at the time consisted of a jackknife and red fingernail polish!) The
first ones were crude, but they caught
lots of stripers; and pretty soon people were taking notice and asking
him to make them some. Stan figured
that he made 400 lures that first winter and 1200 the winter after. By then
he knew he was onto something.
Extremely rare Gibbs poppers, circa 1945, hand-carved and handpainted by Stan himself. These pieces are pre- CAST-A-LURE.
One-of-a-kind Gibbs Darter prototype and Squid Special.
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Hunting & Fishing Collectibles Magazine
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Those first few post-World War II
years were an exciting time for fishermen as they were discovering the
thrill of surf fishing which, up to
that point, had been a recreational
activity that only the rich could
enjoy. A host of lure makers, from
up and down the coast, like Charlie
Russo, Charlie Murat, Bob Pond,
Jerry Ferron and Stan, began to cater
to this new fishing crowd. But few
had the staying power of Stan Gibbs
and CAST-A-LURE!
After his initial success, Gibbs
worked on developing more models
for fishermen to choose from so that
they could match their tackle with
the fishing conditions they would
face. The Darter was designed for
Cape fishing, but it was the rips and
currents of Montauk Point (Long
Island), N.Y. that brought out the
best of the lure's erratic side-to-side
action. Under the lighthouse at
Montauk, lure selection was so simple that by the 1960s all that guys
carried in their surf bag was a collection of big yellow Darters and 3oz. Casting Swimmers.
The
"bottleplug,"
or
GS
Swimmers, had been made famous
in October of 1958 when Ralph
Gray, fishing with famed outdoor
writer Frank Woolner from a tin
boat in Provincetown, Massachusetts waters, caught a 68 1/2
pound striper on a Gibbs GS-2
model. At the time it was the largest
striper that had been caught in over
45 years!
It did not take long for Gibbs'
reputation as a lure innovator to
spread up and down the striper
coast. Living next door to the “greatest research tank in the world,” – the
Cape Cod Canal with its powerful
currents on one side and the leg-
Templates for Gibbs Casting Swimmer (CS) and 2 oz. model that
Ralph Gray used to catch a 68 1/2 pound bass
Gibbs pioneered light-tackle fishing for schoolie bass. Here, a sample of his “Mighty Midgets."
Gibbs was a prolific
designer. A sample
here of a few
one-of-a-kind models
never put into
production.
Template evolution of the Pencil Popper, a Gibbs favorite.
May-June, 2004
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endary sandy beaches of the outer
Cape on the other – Gibbs was able
to experiment on the most important striper grounds known to man.
And what an experimental time it
was! Stan's designs were opening up
new methods and new concepts in
lure making and fishing. Frank
Woolner, in an early 1950s Salt Water
Sportsman Magazine article titled,
"The Mighty Midgets," praised
Stan's efforts in pioneering light
“artificials” for schoolie bass fishing.
In a 1958 catalogue, Gibbs wrote:
"First we test them - Next we prove
them - Only then do we make
them." These words would prove to
be prophetic as Gibbs was about to
embark on the most creative period
of his lure-making career. While
there were a number of designs that
would not make it into production
in the near-term, Gibbs would
unveil one great innovation after
another. This time-period yielded:
Several
different
sized Pencil
Poppers,
including the
very rare
Bicentennial
and
Canal Special
Models.
Gibbs said
The Polaris
“cast like a
Rocket.”
* The Pencil Popper (PP) –
Probably one of the most widely
copied lures ever made. The sleek,
tapered design minimized wind
resistance and added extra distance
to the cast. The PP had an incredible
ability to raise fish when nothing
else would work. Stan also designed
a 5 1/4 oz PP that was used exclusively in the Cape Cod Canal.
* The Polaris (POL) – It cast like
a rocket but had the dual ability to
swim underwater as well as on the
surface.
Copycats are rare to find, and it is speculated that Gibbs
made less than a thousand of them.
Cast or trolled, the Gibbs Trolling Swimmer (GTS)
were killers on bass.
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* The Copy Cat (CC) – It was
made to compete with Rebel and
Rapala. It caught lots of fish but
proved to be impractical to produce
and thus was discontinued very
quickly (which is why they are so
hard to find).
* The Gibbs Trolling Swimmer
(GTS) – It was produced in a variety
of sizes. Stan had observed that more
and more surf men were taking to tin
boats and that trolling was becoming
more popular all the time. His line of
lures had become so successful that
he decided to market them inland to
the Great Lakes Region.
By 1972 Gibbs’ production had
reached a peak; but his wife, Celia,
was sick, and Stan sold the business.
His son John signed an agreement to
stay on as manager. Five years later,
the business was sold again, with
John staying on board one more
time. Then, finally, in 1982 John
Gibbs bought the business back and
really "brought it home."
In the early 1990s Stan had
another creative renaissance and
began carving miniature fish – specializing in striped bass, bluefish,
weakfish, and some popular freshwater species. He unveiled them in
1992 at a fishing show in Buzzard’s
Bay, Massachusetts’ and they sold
like hot cakes. He had done it again.
He always knew what the fishermen
wanted! Gibbs would always
remind his customers to EXPERIMENT... "Fill your tackle bag with
good tricks as well as good lures!"
he said repeatedly.
As we write this, the striped bass
has once again begun its great
northern migration…. Somewhere
along a striper beach this spring, the
first without Stan in more than eight
decades, a lone surfcaster in the
deep of night, silhouetted against
the May Moon, will pause to clip on
a fresh Gibbs lure; and another new
striper season will begin…. What
greater testimonial to a trailblazer
could there be! (The author wishes to thank Roy
Curley for several photographs and
much information used in this article. Readers wishing to contact the
writer may do so by calling 516-7417044
or
by
emailing
–
[email protected] )
May-June, 2004
The Trolling
Swimmers
(GTS) were so
successful that
Gibbs marketed
them to
the Great Lakes
Area by putting
freshwater paint
jobs on
saltwater bodies.
1980s Salesman Sample Case...part Stan's/part John's.
The Skipper, Skipper II and Needlefish were John's.
A sample of Stan's hand-carved fish including Striped Bass,
Bluefish, Weakfish, Bonito, and Fresh Water Bluegill.
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