My Bait Shop Blog

Great articles and news from My Bait Shop!

1956 Ad for Heddon Midget River Runt

Heddon River Runt Spook

Open any vintage tackle box and you are sure to find a Heddon River Runt. Probably the most successful early plastic lure (spook) lure ever...

Keith Bell
1950 Ad for Millsite Daily Double

Millsite Daily Double: One Lure, Double The Fun!

Steel & Wire Works Company, later renamed the Millsite Tackle Company out of Howell, Michigan. The most interesting feature was that it had two-line ties....

Keith Bell
Vibra Bat Artist Conception

Vibra-Bat

Sometimes you see a fishing lure and it just screams “as seen on TV”. Well long before that marketing line was popular there was the...

Keith Bell
Creek Chub Cray-Z-Fish

Crazy for the Creek Chub Cray-Z-Fish

One of these shorter life cycle baits is the Creek Chub Cray-Z-Fish. The Cray-Z-Fish was meant as a smaller plastic replacement for the traditional heavier...

Keith Bell
1957 Ad for Tony Burmek Secret Bait

Tony Burmek Secret Bait

In 1955 national and local outdoor magazines were full of articles and advertisements that vaulted two Wisconsin brothers to fame. They had caught “42 muskies...

Keith Bell
Musky Sized Catch All Lure

Catch-All Inc.

Being from Wisconsin, I have a soft spot for collecting Wisconsin fishing lures. Wisconsin has a strong and diverse history in the fishing tackle industry....

Keith Bell
1954 Hinkle Lizard Ad

Joe Hinkle and His Traveling Lizard

One of my favorite parts of collecting old fishing lures is discovering all the old designs that have been tried out through the years. We...

Keith Bell
A 1957 ad for the new Flex Ike.

It All Started With A Flex Ike

The Flex Ike was first introduced in 1957 by Kautzky Lazy Ike and produced in wood. It originally came in two sizes and six different...

Keith Bell