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More Fishing and Boating

• On the Hook: Be ready — and grateful — for what you get
• Collier, Lee among Top 10 most dangerous boating areas
• Anglers Outlook: The best bait to catch those huge tarpon

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I featured an old Montague two piece split bamboo tarpon fishing rod rigged with a #112 Ocean City reel in last week’s article but the picture did not make it into the article. While I will try to get it in this week, please let me know at redstier@aol.com if you would like to have me email you the picture.

In the mean time I thought it would be fun to feature some of the runts of the fishing lures and spoon industry. There are a bunch of them, many of which are their little brothers of some of the larger models.

The first little old lure of the week is as cute as a bug called a Arbogast Spinning/spin casting Sputterbug lure with a spinner blade in front, rubber skirt at the tail with two triple hooks weighing in at one-fourth of an ounce. One the box’s plastic covers is one-fourth of an ounce. Noisy surface bait. It’s in the original cardboard box with the clear plastic cover with a Sears Roebuck price tag of 98 cents.

The price tag alone leads me to believe it is from the mid 1950s. I would put a collector’s value of $10, maybe more.

There is also a Fishing Hints & Pocket Color Catalog that has pictures of 23 of their lures along with instructions on how to use them.

Of course, the Sputterbug and the Hawaiian Sputterfuss models are two of them. It’s a good bet this lure was never used as it is still in the box and dates around the mid 1950s.

How it never got used is anyone’s guess. Mine is someone got a tackle box from a deceased family member, put it in the garage or attic and it sat there for years. They also made five-eighths and one-half ounce models. Arbogast has a great Web site at www.arbogastlures.com. It features their 75th anniversary and the history of the company and founder Fred Arbogast.

Our next bait is in a box Pflueger Chum Spoon Diamolite weedless, red and guinea feathers, single hook model 7172 size three. The weedless attachment has a heavy duty spring and if it was one of the first made could date as far back as 1936. It too has a paper tucked in the box with quite a bit of information about the Chum spoon models.

Lure number three is another one with the box measuring one and three-fourths inches called a Fly Ike made by Kautsky Company, Fort Dodge, Iowa. If it was one of the first made could date back to the very early 1940s. The paper work in the box brags Kautzky’s Original Lazy Ikes the successor to the live minnow. This lure came in several models and sizes and looked similar to a flat fish made by the Helin Tackle Co., Detroit, Michigan.

As long as I am on the subject I will feature the last but not least lure of the week the Helin flatfish lures.

While there may be some out there dating back to the 1930s, this one I am sure is a 1949 model as the paperwork in the old box reads 1949 Flatfish Model along with the prices of four models ranging from a low of $1.10 to a high of $1.45 and states, price includes Federal Excise Tax. The other side of the paper work has a full size illustration of 13 models with 26 color combos for them and six color combos for the Fly models. The model in the box is an X5 with a pair of triple hooks mid section and single triple hook in the tail.

I think April can be a good month for collecting antique tackle and other old things. People will be cleaning out their garages and attics getting ready to make their way back north. It may be a good time to put an ad in the paper.

Here is what I would say: Don’t throw it away or store it for another year. Wanted: Your old fishing tackle, lures, reels, pictures, etc. Call ...

There is also a chance garage sales will be a bit larger in their numbers, check them out. Leave your card at the condo or mobile home parks bulletin boat, be sure to ask permission to do so, can also spawn someone’s trash could turn into your treasure.

Good hunting!

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Red Stier is a weekly contributor to the Marco Eagle. Questions or comments may be directed to redstir@aol.com or 172 Trinidad St., Naples, Fla., 34113.