Jimmy Houston

[Pete Collin]

Hello All,

I must be becoming an old guy because I am always marveling at what technology allows us to do.  

Today I exchanged pleasantries with Jimmy Houston.

As a kid, I would never miss any fishing TV show as they came on the air.  In the beginning were Roland Martin and Bill Dance and Virgil Ward, followed in the '80s by Jimmy Houston and Jerry McKinnis.  I idolized all of them, even trying on their southern accent for size while on the water.

The YouTube fishermen have driven all of the fishing programs off the air, it seems.  It's a good thing, really.  Because the modern internet ones are more diverse and personalized, and the overt tackle company shills can be avoided.  But I came upon ol' Jimmy H.  on youTube, who puts out regular features.

It's interesting that he doesn't seem to have a big viewership, his subscribers being a fraction of those that some of the more ambitious younger guys have.  But his southern charm is still there and seems like a happy grandpa toodling around with boats and rods and pets.  I noticed that he freely engaged with his viewers in the comments section.  So I wrote him a paragraph of well wishes and got a warm reply.  Young people today probably won't appreciate how cool I find this to be.  Youtubers have avid fans, but approaching them isn't hard - I have met and befriended several of my favorite producers of online video.  But if you told me as a kid how easy it would one day be to interact with a guy who I regarded the same way as some kids looked at Carl Yastrzemski or Larry Bird - I would have flipped! 

[Frogger]

Very cool! Loved watching them growing up. Still remember seeing Tom Mann on Seneca when I was a kid. Don’t forget Al Linder and Larry Dahlburg. What a group. Thanks for sharing Pete.


Sent from my iPhone using Lake Ontario United mobile app

[wishinfishin]

Jerry McKinnis was my favorite.
Pretty sure he fished water that was open to the public .
Most of the old fishing shows turned into infomercials, which drove me crazy ,but I understood it's how you paid the bills ,but really cut into my happiness of watching and dreaming of catching the big one like pros. I'm happy to with the YouTube and the likes to look specifically at what you want to.
Forums have also been great especially LOU for getting info, which didnt really exist back in the "old days".

Nice post Pete,brought back some memories of watching the shows with my dad.

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[Gator]

My brother won an all-expenses paid fishing dream trip of a lifetime from Jerry McKinnis when he was all of 14 years old, from "The Fishing Hole", Jerry's TV show at the time. Unfortunately, Jerry himself wasn't able to join my brother and father for their flyfishing adventure out West, but they were treated like kings. My brother fished out of the Firehole Ranch on some of the best water around with phenomenal guides, and they set him up with top-end gear that he was able to take home. Quite a treat for a kid, especially in that day when the world was a lot bigger.