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Collecting Old Fishing Gear |
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(As published in Utah Fishing magazine) You just inherited your grandfather's fishing equipment and you know old granddad, he was the type that never threw anything away. As you rummage through his tackle boxes you notice some brightly painted plugs that you don't remember seeing at your favorite sporting goods store. You pull them out for a closer look. They look old and the darn things are made of wood. A few of them are broken and several others could use a new paint job or some new hooks. A couple of them look like they were never used. One is still in its original box. You are not into bass fishing like old granddad was so you throw away the old broken plugs, give several of the others to your kids and hang on to a couple of the real funny looking ones. A few weeks later you are talking to your fishing buddies and happen to mention the old lures. One of your buddies immediately says that he heard about someone that got over a $1000 for an old fishing lure. You begin to feel sick. Could those old plugs be worth some money? Do people actually collect old fishing lures? How do you know if a lure really is old or if it just looks old? First it is important to learn a few things about lures and the history of fishing equipment in general. Prior to the beginning of the Nineteenth century sport fishing simply did not exist. Man's immediate goal was to survive, to put enough food on the table to feed himself and his family. Only after man's basic needs were taken care of could he indulge in luxuries like fishing for sport. The first American-made reels were invented by George Snyder ("Kentucky Reels") between 1800 and 1810. They were not commercially manufactured until about 1840. Julio T. Buel invented and began manufacturing the spoon lure in about 1848. His early spoons were just that — spoons. There were no hooks or swivels or other armature. The angler had to attach his own equipment. In 1874 the first patent was granted for an artifical lure that specified the use of wood for the lure body. The first glass lure was patented in 1880. Bait casting caught hold in the 1890's. The bait casting reel had been invented in 1815 but didn't come into its own until plugs became the lure of choice. Sometime around 1896 James Heddon designed the first plug. The plugs proved to be an immediate success and between 1900 and about 1905 the first commercial plug manufacturers began turning out product in the United States. In 1907 the first jointed wooden plugs were invented. In 1914 the Detroit Glass Minnow Tube Company came up with the bright idea to place a live minnow in a glass bottle with a cap that allowed for the circulation of water. The glass bottle had four treble hooks. The idea was to remove the cap, place a live minnow inside the tube, fill the tube with water and then replace the cap. The glass was supposed to magnify the minnow. The early ads claim the minnow would remain alive all day. 1915 was a banner year for lures because the first "self illuminated" (battery operated) plug was invented by Dr. Wasweyler. It was called, "Dr. Wasweyler's Marvelous Electric Glow Casting Minnow." It never really caught on. Pflueger was given the first patent on a luminous lure in 1883, but it took until the 1920's before the widespread use of luminous paint caught hold. In about 1922 the Vesco Bait Company of New York City began making baits and spoons from Pyralin, an early plastic made by Dupont. These were one of the first plastic lures. In 1932 Heddon developed the "Fish Flesh" plastic lures. Soon thereafter plastic began to dominate the lure industry. In about 1940 the first American built spinning reels were placed on the market. This revolutionized the fishing tackle industry. Plugs really haven't changed much since the 1920's (other than plastic almost completely replacing wood). The main improvements have been in paints, swivel designs and hook hardware. There are a lot of people here in Utah who collect old fishing equipment. Split bamboo fly rods are favorite collectors items. Old reels and wooden bass plugs are also very popular. Others collect the old metal bait casting rods. Like the old saying goes, "one man's junk is another man's treasure." Complete books have been written on each of these collector's items and no attempt will be made here to deal with rods or reels. What we are interested in is old bass plugs — the wooden kind with the glass eyes. So, you have some of grandpa's bass plugs. Are they old? Are they worth any money? The first thing to do is to look at the overall appearance of the plug. Is it made of wood? How well was it crafted? Some of the early plugs were extremely well crafted. Was it painted with high quality enamel? Does the enamel show hair-line cracks (some lures are so well preserved that there are no cracks)? Does it have glass eyes or eyes made from tacks. Most modern lures have eyes that are simply painted on. What do the hook fasteners look like? Many of the old plugs had recessed metal cups with a screw eye that was set down inside the cup. Others had the "toilet seat" hook fastener that was mounted right on the body of the lure. Some of the well known lure manufacturers included: Heddon, Creek Chub Bait Company, J. C. Higgins, Abbey and Imbrie, Fred Arbogast Baits and the Paw-Paw Company. There were hundereds of others. Action Lure Company made the Action Lure. It was advertised as "the world's first self propelled lure." It was chemically propelled by adding a "blue pellet" and a "white pellet" in the "fuel tank." When water mixed with the pellets it was supposed to emit a buzzing sound while swimming up to 15 feet deep. The pellets were designed to last "one hour or more." Fred Arbogast was trying to invent a deep diving lure by attaching a spoon to the nose of a plug when he invented the Jitterbug (1940). You see, his deep diving lure didn't work. It went totally out of control on the retrieve. With some modifications to the spoon (it became a big lip) and by fishing the lure on the top, it became one of the most popular fish catchers of its day. Variations of this pattern are still being produced. Arbogast invented the Hula Popper in 1948. It is said that Brooke Ortell, a consultant to Arbogast, whittled close to one hundred models before Arbogast finally settled on the production design. These are still popular top water lures. Some of the more uncommon manufacturers of lures were the Biff Bait Company, known for its Master Biff Plug and Spiral Spinners. Then there was the Bite-Em-Bate Company that made a plug that would rotate when it was retrieved and the Bleeding Bait Manufacturing Company that made plugs with a receptacle hole in which you placed a special tablet that made the lure appear to be bleeding. The Charmer Minnow Company invented one of the first buzz baits about 1911. These wooden lures had a nose mounted propeller and a tail propeller, two treble hooks and glass eyes. The lure types go on and on. There was the Gar Underwater Minnow, Castrola, Sarasota Minnow, Plunker, Creek Chub Weed Bug, Jointed Husky Pikie Minnow, Lucky Mouse, River Rustler, Beetle, River Scamp, Flip Flap, Skipper, Wee Dee, the Dingbat, and more. There are hundreds of old plugs in all shapes, sizes and designs. Most are worth only a few dollars ($5 to $10) but a few are worth big bucks. Once you have decided that you have an old lure, you will have to identify what company made it. Most companies either wrote their name right on the body of the lure or had the company name engraved on the lure's bill. Once you know the name of the manufacturer you can look up that company in one of the identification and guide books on lures to determine its exact age and estimated value. There are several good guide books. They include: Old Fishing Lures And Tackle by Carl F. Luckey (1980, Books Americana, Inc., Florence, Alabama 35630); American Sporting Collector's Handbook by Allan J. Liu (1976, Winchester Press, Stoeger Publishing company, South Hackensack, New Jersey); James Heddon's Sons Catalogues (1977, CAH Enterprises, Memphis, Tennessee); and Collecting Old Fishing Tackle by Art and Scott Kimball (Aardvark Publications, Inc., Boulder Junction, Colorado 54512). Unfortunately, all of these books are out of print so you will probably have to find them in your local (or university) library. Another way to get your lure identified is to take it to a local collector. Most collectors will have at least one reference book that they can use to help you identify your lure. Two active collectors that said they would be happy to help with lure (or rod and reel identification) are Cal Robertson and Red Barker. They have been collecting for the last four or five years and have turned up some impressive stuff. The easiest way to contact them is to call Robertson's Marine (801-534-1111). Robertson started collecting when his bass club held an auction. Several old lures came up for bid and Robertson bought them. He spent some time figuring out just how old they were and what they were worth. The more he got into the books, the more he liked it and soon he was hooked. Tracking down the origin and worth of an old lure can take a lot of detective work but that is half the fun. |
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