Southern Fishing News sat down under a shade tree late last year to talk with Wilson Frazier about his life in the bass fishing business. Some “old timers” might know a little about “The Professor’s” background but it’s doubtful the new generation of bass fishermen, and women, have any idea of the experience and range of knowledge, other than sonar and GPS, this veteran of the bass fishing industry has. Exposing the young and not so young, anglers to the “real” Wilson Frazier of bass fishing was the point of our conversation.
Wilson Frazier has been in, and around, the fishing business for 40 years and has paid his dues. He started bass fishing seriously in 1971. Frazier was tinkering with fishing some before that but around that time bass fishing began to consume most of his waking hours. He began tournament fishing when he began to get serious about his hobby. “I joined a bass club, started fishing tournaments and really started to learn what I didn’t know, and that was an immense amount. I am still learning today,” Frazier confessed. The club he joined outside of Memphis, TN was the Lakeview Bassmasters in Lakeview, Mississippi, 500 yards from the Mississippi-Tennessee state line.
In the latter part of 1972 Frazier began whittling crankbaits, a hobby he continues today. Some of those “Frazier Specials” handmade baits sell for $25 or more to have one made today- if you can get one. His tackle box is stuffed with sinking crankbaits, lipless crankbaits, topwater plugs, floating crankbaits and more- all whittled, sanded and painted by hand. Each lure takes several hours to produce over a three-day period. Frazier says all this wood work was not really his idea. A friend brought some balsa wood by and ask him to carve a bait. That was where the wooden crankbaits began. Up until then he was actually making spinnerbaits and pouring his own worms. “I was making spinnerbaits before I was fishing with spinnerbaits. I was lucky enough to be living in Memphis at that time and Memphis was a mecca for spinnerbait and lure innovation,” Frazier said. In fact, the first “commercial” spinnerbait Frazier ever bought was a Stan Sloan Zorro Aggravator. “ I was so glad when I lost that spinnerbait because I never caught a fish on it and it aggravated ME to death,” he lamented. “Actually, I didn’t know what I was doing!” He admits he had no idea of where he was suppose to throw it, how to crank it, skirt colors, head sizes, anything about trailers, nothing. To this point (October 2012), Frazier says he has created 120 different models of wooden baits and 27 color patterns he could paint lures in that have all caught fish.
Most in the bass fishing world don’t know in the seventies Wilson Frazier had a major hand in the development of what was later to be called the “buzzbait”. “I was in the right place at the right time,” Frazier recalled. Regarding other baits, “You will see a lot of similarities in the shapes of lures on the market today and the shapes of the lures I have created and that’s good- but, I had those shapes before they did,” he says with a laugh. He says that “Research & Development” should be renamed “Trail & Error” because that’s what developing a new lure is.
In 1975 Frazier sold the design of four of his baits to Smithwick Lures. Bill Dance confided in Wilson that he won one of his tournaments at Toledo Bend on one of the handmade Frazier lures. At that time there were about 17 pros fishing his lures. Dance can be seen on “The Professor’s” website doing a video testimonial.
In 1976 he created a tournament trail organization, “Southern Bass Anglers”, with members in 14 states from Texas to Georgia with more tournaments than anybody at the time. Even later in the seventies Frazier got involved with angler John Fox and worked for him as a professional manager. Marketing experience was gained by The Professor from a stint in the marketing department of Lew Childre & Sons that is known for Lew’s reels and rods.
Strike King Lures was Frazier’s next stop in 1980 where he created the “Balsa King” for the company. In the meantime, he had already joined Lowrance as a pro staffer- a position he still holds.
“The Professor” began his electronics development working with Lowrance flashers and handing out catalogs at major tournaments. As flashers advanced into paper chart graph units he was there to give instructions to the pros on how to use the unit and troubleshoot any problems. Next came the liquid crystal display units (LCDs). During all this Frazier was still fishing in clubs and using the products he was representing and learning.
In 2002 he got a call to go to a tournament in Tulsa and do the tech work for Lowrance. From 2002 to 2008 Frazier did the on-site tournament tech work for Lowrance. He began asking questions that no answers were being given for about what were fishermen actually looking at on the screens and how the machines actually worked as opposed to just what buttons to push. He began to solve the “mysteries” of sonar. “As you go thru time you learn more and more,” Frazier recalled.” I knew every fisherman needed to know what I had learned about sonar”.
Bass pros began to seek his assistance about their sonar units shortly after his retirement from Lowrance in 2008. Those professional anglers became students of “The Professor” simply because of a lack of knowledge on their part of how sonar really worked and what they were seeing on their screens. “It was my pleasure to help these guys out, to help anybody out, and they are the ones that started calling me “The Professor”. He says that as far as he’s concerned he is just “Wilson”.
“All a teacher does is share information they have acquired. That’s all we can do. I’ve learned a lot of valuable information I can share with people. If you will go put it to practical use it will change the amount of fish you will catch.” And Frazier is always trying to teach and learn. You’ll see him in a ramp parking lot giving an impromptu class to a single bass fisherman that has sought his help.
What’s next for Wilson Frazier? “Well, for the time I have left I’d like to share the information I have accumulated with as many people as possible”, The Professor said. To assist him with sharing the information he has created a set of DVDs starting with the basics of sonar and GPS and each DVD moves to the next level. Presently, there are four DVDs including on-the-water “homework” essential to a comprehensive understanding of what he is trying to teach. A fifth and sixth DVD is scheduled for production in 2013. “I hope to start work on two more DVD’s this spring when it gets warmer. They keep developing more units but sonar is sonar. I really teach geometry and geometry is all it is,” Frazier added.
The Professor has also used the knowledge and “Trail & Error” gained over the years in the business to create a line of fishing accessory products for lures, screens, boats and more. He says the products he has developed were not created to simply make a sale but to solve a unique problem. He does have products that you will not find anywhere else on the market- yet.
As to current development, he is working with an old associate from Lew Childre & Sons on a new line of rods. “I’m just a user, he’s the genius behind the design,” Frazier admitted. No samples were available.
The full DVD list and product line of The Professor can be seen on his website at: http://www.itainttv.com/index.php
