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Lures (artificial bait) of the Great Out\doors

I am by no expert on fishing lures, new or old, but my latest trip to Dowagiac, Michigan, home of the Original Heddon Lures peaked my interest. I suspect others out there either use or collect artificial bait so I thought I'd start a thread about it in hopes of learning more about past and current lures both collecting and using.

I've order several books but it is more fun talking this stuff with other enthusiasts. I recently purchased three Heddon lures for about $10. I doubt they are very old but they looked pretty cool and the price seemed fair. I'm thinking of picking up maybe 30 or so to make a nice wall display.

The main brands I'm thinking about are Heddon, Creek Chub, Rapala, Shakespeare, and Arbogast.

Are there any other must haves? I know I'm going to grab a mudbug and some kind of giant muskie lure. Any other thoughts.

Here are three I paid $10 for (all are Heddon and all are plastic)

Top to bottom

Tiny Torpedo

Firetail Sonic

River Runt Spook Sinker.

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by jeff on July 28, 2014 at 16:31

i really believe in the ugly sticks.. i've used them since i was young, and still belive in them... i have a 5'6" ultra light with a shimano spirex 1000 and am very happy with it.. i usually string it with 6 lb trilene. ive battled some bruisers with that little rod and reel.. the ugly stick is very sensitive, which is great for your nibblers,{snapper and such} and your pick up and spit out {bass and such} so you can actually feel them "bump" the bait. ive got quite a few combos.. all for different fishing types, but have retired most of my big stuff.. no need for it up here.. I feel for a good middle line, wont let you down.. ugly stick is hard to beat. wright and mcgill makes a great salt water reel, but that is all my knowledge on thier equip. i have never ice fished, but i'm sure that it would be alot of fun. oh..and i have used my fair share of the closed face zebcos.. one tough reel !

Permalink Reply by Tobias Gibson on July 28, 2014 at 21:24

I've use both the spin cast (closed) and spin (open face) reels. I'm too lousy with a bait cast real and have never really attempted the inline fly reels. I suppose I'll be an amateur forever but I do okay with the two I use. The duck Dynasty rod came with a pretty decent spinning (open) reel - for the price.

Permalink Reply by Tobias Gibson on July 29, 2014 at 9:36

It sounds like I need both vintage and new hula poppers and jitterbugs. The older to display and the newer to use!

Data (C Thomas) said:

I agree. I still have my Hula Popper and Jitterbugs I got when I was in high school. Caught many bass on them. It is fun to watch them come up and grab that popper and set the hook. Love it.

Permalink Reply by Ricky L McConnell on July 30, 2014 at 21:59

Pick up some metal signs with pics of old lures on them to complement your wall display. You could also get an old piece of driftwood to hang the lures on .

Permalink Reply by Tobias Gibson on July 31, 2014 at 7:22

Ricky thoase are great ideas. I would love to hang the lures from a piece of drift wood but if I did that I would be taking two very curious cats the vet every other day. Alas when I do get enough to display I think they will be in a glass covered display case.

As for signs, I already have a nice Rapala sign on the way:

The Rapla sign measures 17X7 inches. Heddon also has a few signs but I'm also looking for Shakespeare and Creek Chub advertisements.

Permalink Reply by Shlomo ben Maved on September 2, 2014 at 22:38

Those are modern made packs of reissued lures -- the value is in the ones from the 1950s to 1970s and some will go for hundreds of dollars..

Try:

National Fishing Lure Collectors - http://www.nflcc.org/

http://www.mrlurebox.com/

http://www.antiquelures.com/

http://www.oldfishinglure.com/

http://www.tacklecollecting.com/ - excellent link site

http://www.joeyates.com/

http://www.antiquefishinglures.com/

Permalink Reply by Tobias Gibson on September 3, 2014 at 5:28

Shlomo, I think the value is actually in the older wooden lures that pre-date WWII. I'm not serious enough to plunk down real money on old lures so I'm going for pretty lures that will make me happy and modern functional lures that attract and catch fish.

With that said, thanks for the links. I will definitely check them out. Knowledge is a powerful tool and you never know what bargains you might run across in an estate sale. I'd hate to pass on $100 lure that was being sold for $10!

Permalink Reply by Ugly Old Guy on September 3, 2017 at 15:26

I think a lot of lures are designed more to catch fishermen (and fisherladies, of course) than fish.

For example, Bass Pro Shops had a fishing lure shaped like a kitchen sink.

I mainly fish with artificals. Rapalla, Heddon, Lazy Ike(?) (I have not seen one in decades) and Red Devel were my "go-to" freshwater lures and spoons. For the jigs, I found a no-name or home made worked just as well as a brand name.
I made a few spinners over the years, too. No idea what happened to the tool set I had to make them with.
For shore fishing in saltwater, I used plugs and soft baits.
Only went out on a boat once, I used te cut bait thay had. It was an unexpected fishing trip, my boss' nephew came to visit us in the Florida Keys. We took him and his girlfriend to Key West. The boss decided to charter a boat, I didn't have any of my gear with us. I had to use the boat's rods and reels, too. I was not impressed with them. I like my Mitchell 302 much better than the Shimano spinning reels they used.
I did catch a 10 pound Bonita, though.

Permalink Reply by Tobias Gibson on September 12, 2017 at 19:12

my current lure of choice for fresh water is the wacky rig. looks stupid but it seems the fish like it.

Permalink Reply by Jan Carter on September 13, 2017 at 21:08

LOL well it is aptly named ! If it works, it works! I have seen someone take a piece of baloney out of their lunch and catch a fish. Sometimes the wacky just works