Lucky Lloyd

[John H]

Lucky Lloyd Eiserman was a bass fisherman in Clear Lake 50+ years ago. I think he was born around 1898 and fell from a grain elevator in the midwest. He broke a bunch of bones, spent a couple of years in the hospital and was told by doctors his fishing days and active lifestyle were over. He was not having any of that and moved west to Clear Lake to pursue bass fishing. He guided and tied flies and there were a couple of magazine articles about him so he was somewhat known. He had a row boat and sculled it around in pursuit of largemouth bass. He took six rods with him so if he broke off a fly he could grab another rod without having to retie. I don't know much more about him than that but I do know I like the guy's name and his perseverance to live a good life after a devastating injury.

Thanks to Bob G, I now have some of Lucky Lloyd's poppers which I believe were tied in 1976. They are pretty old and made by someone I would call an early local bass fly rod pioneer. I like them, put them in a frame and thought about fishing one of them but for now they are staying on the wall. My hope in all of this that Lloyd's fingertips imparted a little bit of luck into the poppers when he was tying them and that it will rub off on me. I went out Sunday and caught a 4 pound largemouth in 51 degree water and today found a pile of stripers on a pump. Both of those are pretty lucky fishing events so maybe, just maybe a little of Lucky Lloyd's magic is rubbing off on me. We'll see.

I also have a couple bird pictures from the bypass.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Two of my dearest friends, Bob Giannoni, Don Rotsma, and myself, all got some of the beautiful Lucky Lloyd poppers back then.

I have given some away and used some but when I get time I will find them and send you all that I have left now.

I love your pooper display and it brings back memories.



As long as we can keep this Forum going people looking for "Lucky Lloyd poppers" can find this post on Google.


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As a youngster, I built a fly rod on a LamiGlass fiberglass blank with help from Edwolt's Rod & Reel Repair on Del Paso Blvd.

Got some little poppers from Payless and fished in local ponds for Blue Gills and small bass.

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Fly fishing for panfish has been the best stepping stone to fly fishing in general.

I always told newcomers to fish the last hour in local ponds in the spring, summer and fall for panfish.

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Many of us in this part of California are bass fishing students of Leo Guterres from Stockton, California.

Leo made lots of great poppers with balsawood bodies that were a little smaller than Lucky Lloyd's.

Leo always had a private pond that was fantastic for Large Mouth Bass and he took some friends with him.

He was a founding member of the Delta Flyfishers Club in Stockton, California.

Back then we were in round float tubes and Leo taught us to cast to the "edge" which was where the surface hit something.

The edge was where the water hit the logs, tules, the bank, or weed beds.

Loe's method was to not move the popper very much if you wanted to get any larger bass.

After it landed you would wait a while and then straighten your line and twitch it a little and wait again.

Some big bass would just sip the popper in like a Brown trout.




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[Tony Buzolich]

Bill,

Was that Edwolt's Rod & Reel Repair right next to the old roller skating rink? My dad and I spent a lot of time there too but it seems we were always stopping for sardines. That and Romeo's in Freeport. They always seemed to have the freshest sardines. Sometimes my dad would bring the extra ones home and fry them up for dinner if we didn't use all of them throughout the day.
Tony

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Tony, Yes, there were so many bait-n-tackle shops all around Sacramento 60 years ago because the fishing and hunting were so good.


Growing up in South Sac, near the Zoo, we all went to Broadway Bait & Tackle on Broadway and 16th Street.

Years ago, in the old location, there was a dinner next door called Momma's where we all ate breakfast before going out.

We had a group of guys in South Sac who all hunted and fished together. We lived near each other but some went to different schools.

Some of these old Baby Boomers are still hunting and fishing and clamming and crabbing! Some have passed away too.


I worked at West Capitol Rod & Gun, near the new baseball field in West Sacramento, over a half-century ago.

People would drive up out front with their vehicle and boat in tow to buy lures or bait and then go fishing.

Later they might return with a big Striper or big salmon which we would weigh and take Polaroid pictures for them.

We put all those pictures up on the wall and many would bring their family and friends in to see all the fish that were caught.


Tony and I had a very similar childhood, back in the day, when everyone ate fish & game.

[Bob G]

John - Just a wonderful post! Thank You, Bob