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Page 16 The Antique Shoppe February, 2020
COLLECTING ODDBALL FISHING LURES

MAY HAVE LAUGHED FISH TO DEATH

By Larry LeMasters, LeMasters’ Antique News Service

A famous fisherman, Other companies also made question. The “Hong Kong Mouse,”
President Grover Cleveland, beer bottle lures, and many of produced by Paw Paw, has a single treble
once said, “The community these lures were given away hook, a plastic lip, a rope tail, and
of fishermen constitutes a as promotional items by the ← Rare, Brady protruding ears. It
separate class or sub-race company. Today, these beer “Fish Dinner” looks exactly like a
among the inhabitants of the bottle lures sell for as much as lure is valued mouse, ending forever
earth.” $85. at $125. the debate about the
Many people have Not all oddball lures are genuine Chinese buffet.
observed this sub-race antiques. A case in point is the Shad- These rodent
standing knee deep in Quack lure available from BassPro lures sell
mountain streams or Shops in the late 1980s. for about
broiling in a johnboat Resembling a mallard duck, $30.
under a scorching sun. But the Shad-Quack is an Paw
fisherman have an even attractive duck-shaped ← This Harrison-Hoge “Bill Paw also produced
Plummer SuperFrog,” once
↑ W. J. Jamison Co. more natural habitat: their fishing lure. The Shad- sold through Bass Pro Shops the PP Wotta-Frog
“Bass-Pop,” a highly workshops, where for well Quack and Jennings and is now valued at $40. lures, which varied in
collectible novelty over 100 years, they have Decoy Company of St. size with some having
lure, $50. tinkered and toyed with Cloud, Minnesota made glass eyes and others
these flighty a reversing diving
thousands lures. The lip. Produced in the
of Shad-Quack
variations sold new
on fish for 1.25
traps and but now brings $50
lures, From 1970, this Marathon Bait Co. ↑ or more if found mint with box.
always “Muskrat Muskie” is valued at $75. As oddball lures go,
trying to nothing is more
invent a better lure. oddball than ↑ Paw Paw “Wotta-Frog”
lure, missing one hook,
Many of the lures that the Marathon 1950, is valued at $100.
fisherman made seemed Muskrat Muskie
designed to attract other lure. Believed to 1950s and ‘60s, some PP
fishermen, not fish. Feathers ↑ This Paw Paw have been made Wotta-Frog lures had glass
and gaudy eye-catching “Hong Kong” by Marathon Bait eyes and others a reversing
colors were the norm, but mouse lure is Company around diving lip, and, today, they
over time, realistic lures, that valued at $25. 1970, this ratty lure sell for around $100.
fish enjoyed biting, replaced has bead eyes, a Over the years, many
the Victorian gaudy lures cord tail, and real manufacturers have
of old. But realistic lures soon gave birth to fur. If you are lucky enough to find one, produced frog-styled
oddball lures designed to laugh fish to death as be prepared to pay about $85 for it. lures. An early example
much as to catch them. Ever wonder if the fish or chicken you eat is the Luny Frog made by
W. J. Jamison Company produced one of in a Chinese buffet is actually cat? Here’s Heddon in 1927. Heddon
the most oddball of all lures—the Blatz beer an oddball lure that seems to answer the advertised the Luny Frog
bottle popper. This lure, known as as a solid Pyralin (a type of
the “Bass-Pop,” is highly collectible. plastic material) lure that is
“practically indestructible.”
In good condition, a Luny
Frog costs about $125.
Another frog lure worth
collecting is the Harrison-
Hoge SuperFrog. These
↑ Jennings DeCoy Co. Kridler Fish Lure
“Shad-Quack;” this frogs were produced in
from 1944; when
relatively new lure, but pretty black, brown, yellow, white, the fish tugged on
↑ Five-inch turtle decoy, oddball, is valued at $45. and green, so collecting the lure, four steel
manufacturer unknown, $200. all of them can prove hooks sprang out of
demanding. Look to pay the body, impaling
Six-inch fish decoy, manufacturer $25 to $60, depending on the fish. This odd-
unknown, $50. → condition and packaging. ball lure is valued at
Continued > $1600.