Antique & Vintage Fishing Lures - Fisheriana
Though the earliest fish hooks date to the Stone and Bronze Ages, with some carved from wood or bone, the modern, recorded history of fishing lures can be said to begin with the mid 17th century publication of The Compleat Angler, describing trout fishing with hand made flies in English brooks and streams. In the two centuries that followed, lures were carved and tied by hand by individual fishermen and craftsmen.By the beginning of the 20th century, enterprising individuals began to manufacture fishing lures. The apocryphal tale is that James Heddon was whittling by a pond and chucked a piece of wood in the water, where it was struck by a bass, giving him the idea to carve a frog as a lure. That may have happened, but the fact that bass have a "strike first, ask questions later" policy when they are hungry should not have been news to any fisherman. In any case, the James Heddon & Sons company began producing lures like the Heddon Minnows and Frogs, beginning a long run of successful and sought after lures that are rare treasures to collectors today.
Around that time, the Creek Chub Bait Company began producing their Wiggler lure. Their success continued with innovative use of screening to create the appearance of scales on their lures, and the use of realistic looking glass eyes. It was a Creek Chub bait that took the world record 22 lb 4 oz largemouth bass in Lake Mongomery, Georgia, a record that was only recently tied in 2009. Their lures and baits from South Bend like the Bass Oreno were the foundation of the commercial manufacturing of American fishing lures in the early 20th century.
In the 1930's and 1940's, Rapala came along with lures designed to swim like wounded fish, and the Bomber Bait Co brought out their first Bomber lure. These joined lures from Pflueger, Minnows from Rebel, Bagley balsa wood lures and many other fishing lures produced in the early to mid 1900s. The rare fishing lure models like hand carved Lazy Ike lures from 1938-1940 have become very collectible today, and you can search for old lures here or at Vintage Fishing Lures.
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Collectors of vintage artificial baits should not miss Old Fishing Lure, where you can find lots of pictures and information about collectible antique lures, boxes, and lure company catalogs.