Witch Fire Lures

Listed as a unknown lure in Karl White's book, Dick Streater lists this lure as a Witch Fire Lure made in Madison, Wisconsin. Bob Slade's book, The History & Collectible Fishing Tackle of Wisconsin, further identifies this lure as a 1960's novelty bait made of plastic, parts of which are luminous.

The Witch Fire Lure came in a couple of different variations. The first of the Witch Fire lures consisted of a plastic body which was 1-1/2" in length (pictured above). It has a single tail hook, no eyes, and a line tie embedded in the front. Two belly wires extended beneath the lure at the end of which were two colored beads and small spinner blades.

 Witch Fire Lure varieties

Three later varieties all had bulging eyes but varied in body length, hook styles, and diving lips, as shown here. The first measured 2" in length, has a single tail hook, and no diving lip. The line tie is embedded into the front of the lure on one end and screwed into the bottom on the other. It also has bulging eyes.

Another measured 1-3/4" and also had a single tail hook. It has a diving lip on the front and eyes. The third of the later models has a treble hook on the tail, also measured 1-3/4", and came with a diving lip and eyes.

Though considered a luminous bait, only parts of the lure actually are. On the two color lures, the front half of the lure is the only luminous part and is always made of a translucent white or brownish color plastic. Of the solid color body models, the body is luminous on those with a translucent white body; on the rest, only the eyes are luminous.

These come in a variety of body and eye colors. You'll find the same color body with different color eyes so if you're a color collector, have fun! Body colors include:

1. Solid black
2. Solid white
3. Solid yellow (actually yellow is more of a 'ivory')
4. Solid red
5. Black/white
6. Red/white
7. Brown/red
8. Brown/yellow

Eye colors include:

1. Black
2. Yellow
3. Red
4. White
5. Brown

Witch Fire Lure Display & Display Box

These lures were sold off of dealer display cards and not in boxes. The lures came in a segmented cardboard box along with the display card as shown. Two dealer display cards with lures were recently sold at a sportings collectible show for $250 each. Current lure value ranges from $15 to $25.

Thanks to Robert Slade's excellent 2011 work "The Encyclopedia of Old Fishing Lures Made in North America" we now know quite a bit more about this lure than when this Lure Lore Edition was first written in January 2000.  First is The Witch Fire Lure Company was actually called the Winnebago Outdoor Supply Company.  It was headquartered at 2550 University Ave, Madison, Wisconsin.

The company was started by Carl Waller sometime in the late 1940's and dissolved around 1955.  He had two partners; Phil Henderson and Dr. Donald Britton.  The lure manufacturing was outsourced.  The three sizes made were bass, pike, and musky sizes.  There is also an experimental prototype Witch Fire Diver that has been seen a handful of times that was probably never produced.  

Below are a couple of interesting images we found that shed some additional light on the Witch Fire.  Notice the date on the ad and notice an actual box for the lure!

 1948 Witch Fire Ad

 

 Witch Fire with Box

Notice both mention Litterest Distributors.  I would love to find a box first hand and also see if there is a box insert that could shed more light on this lure.  Hopefully more information to come on this company and its lures.

 

Unknown Lure

I took a picture of this lure last year at a tackle show in Illinois. I think this belonged to NFLCC member Frank Cristao but lost my notes so I can't be sure. I recall it measured 4 to 5" in length so it's a big fella! 

If you have any further information on any of the items displayed on this page which you'd like to share, please send your comments to me and I'll update the page accordingly. Contributions of interesting items and/or unknowns are encouraged.

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