The history of jigs and tins

[porgy75]

I was going through my dad's old tackle and came across a diamond jig. I think it is about 4oz. I was wondering about the history of these things. Can anyone tell me how to fish it?

[rip316]

Jig it off the bottom. Blues, bass, and even a fluke will hit it.

[jonthepain]

they are great speed retrieved thru blues or albies.

also handy when there is a blitz going on just out of everybody's reach. you can cast them a mile. i've hooked up lots of times like that when everybody else on the beach was being skunked cuz they couldn't quite reach them.

i usually keep one with me just in case; i like the ones with a red or white tube on the hook.

[voyager35]

A 4oz jig will be great for off the boat or in a channel somewhere, porgy. I think if you fished it from shore it might be too heavy in all but the biggest surf. Make sure your rod is rated for and can handle a weight that heavy.

[captnemo]

Here is some info you folks might like to know, about the origins of the diamond or ava jig.



Company Information
Just before World War II, Gus Bahr of the Bead Chain Manufacturing Company located in Bridgeport CT, developed a line of popular fishing tackle utilizing the natural ability of bead chain. One of their most popular items was a sinker with bead chain cast through it. This gave their product the unique ability to be trolled or pulled through the water column without twisting or kinking the fishing line. Mr. Bahr outsourced the casting of this product line to John Schmuke of the Bridgeport Silverware Manufacturing Company, also of Bridgeport, CT.

Mr. Schmuke, an avid saltwater fisherman himself, invented a very popular fishing lure in 1929. He called his product the Bridgeport Diamond Jig. His lure has become the standard that all plated jigs have tried to emulate.

Bridgeport Silverware did a great deal of contract work for Bead Chain Manufacturing and was their primary manufacturing source for their line cast sinkers. In 1955 Bead Tackle Manufacturing purchased Bridgeport Silverware and Mr. Schmuke stayed on as its director of manufacturing. The Bridgeport Jig and Bead Chain fishing lines have become staple items with fishing tackle retailers worldwide for over seventy years. In May of 2000 Larry Razza and Greg Metcalf of Atom Manufacturing acquired the assets of these two fine product lines and added them to their already great family of Atom fishing products.

[captnemo]

Here is a patent developed in 2004 by a William Geronda for a variable weight version of this. Many say a mousetrap is a mousetrap. The amount of folks tinkering with something as simple as a diamond jig tells me that we as humans are born to tinker. It also describes others who tried to make different improvements. I found it pretty interesting.


http://www.patentstorm.us/patents/6904712/description.html


SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The variable weight diamond jig fishing lure has a jig body with an elongated diamond shape, having a greater length than width, with eyes formed into the opposing longitudinal ends for attachment to a fishing line and a fishhook, respectively. The jig body is formed from two symmetrical plates having their central portions stamped outward to form a central chamber or cavity for receiving a weight or ballast. Slots are formed in the plates between the cavity and the eye. A lock plate having an eye defined in one end and a lock tab attached by a tang depending from the opposite end are inserted through the slots and rotated to lock opposing ends of the jig body together.

The lure may be assembled from the jig using any desired leader and hook configuration. A preferred embodiment includes either a single or a treble fishhook attached to one end by a split, and a snap swivel attached to a leader line or directly to the fishing line at the opposite end. The weight placed in the cavity may be any desired weight or sinker (lead balls, BB's, etc.), but is preferably a bank sinker weighing between eight and twenty ounces. The plates comprising the jig body are preferably made from stainless steel, but could also be made from hot or cold rolled steel, copper, brass, plastics, fiberglass, etc. The cavity may be formed by stamping the plates, or by injection molding, cast molding, or other forming process depending upon the material used, and may have any desired external shape, e.g., a fish body with tail fin. The finish on the jig may be bright, natural, plated, painted, or any other finish typically used for fishing lures.

By changing the weight of the sinker in the cavity, the speed at which the lure sinks to the bottom and the degree of wobble upon retrieval of the line can be altered according to the species of game fish and the depth or current condition of the body of water, thereby eliminating the necessity of having separate lures of different weight.

[surfstix1963]

My grandfather used the bridgeport jigs for weakies back in the day they were pretty hot in the 70's in great south bay along with the old salty dog shrimp tail and lead head.

[7deadlyplugs]

I thought it might be interesting to learn more about the old time jigs.

Surfstix mentioned this in the diamond jig thread and I thought I would do some checking.
A salty dog is a pink rubber shrimp tail on a pink jig head, and was a very popular lure for Long Island weakfish.

Here is a little bit about the Salty Dog jig made by Bagley's Bait Company of Florida, owned by Jim Bagley.

Jim Bagley became famous in the mid 1950's for his first invention - the "New Black Magic Eel" - and his innovative plastic worms were top sellers for years. Bagley subsequently invented and produced over 143 different fishing lures in 75 different colors, including the well-known "Bang-o-Lure," "Balsa B," "Diving B," "Kill'r B," "007," "Mighty Minnow," and "Salty Dog" lures.
Bagley is also credited with starting the "Super Line" craze when he brought "Bagley's Silverthread Fishing Line" to market in the 1980s. His Florida-based company employed 170 people by the time he retired in 1992.

12845




Does anyone else have any cool trivia about vintage jigs?

[surfstix1963]

Very cool long time since I seen one of them I use to remember them half melted in my grandfathers tackle box and they still worked I remember the rubber being more like a shrimp tail maybe it was something else but they called them salty dogs.

[basshunter]

Bagley salty dogs, like a step back in a time machine,,,thanks, nice read.

[strikezone31]

Very interesting thanks for sharing.

[nitestrikes]

Found this.

THE ALLURE OF DIAMONDSThe sand eel deal for jigs both in the surf and from the deck include these proven options for heavy metal inshore mayhem.
By Allen D. RileyBridgeport Lures of Connecticut was the first company to mass-produce diamond jigs. Their versions had four sides and were nearly square in shape when viewed from top-to-bottom. They were equipped with a treble hook attached right to the jig.

The Ava Lure Company later improved on this early design by flattening the profile, giving the lure more of a diamond shape. Instead of a treble hook attached to the jig, the Ava diamond jigs featured a swivel and a single hook which resulted in better hook-ups and allowed for easier hook removals.

Anglers who fish in saltwater should not consider their lure collection complete unless it includes several "diamonds."
Most of Ava’s diamond jigs were tagged with an “A” label to identify the weight of the lure. Originally available in two, four, and six-ounce sizes, the jigs were labeled A27, A47, and A67. To this day, many diamond jigs are still identified with the “A” classification even though Ava is no longer in business. The name recognition has stuck like barbed steel in our angler lore.
Since Ava established the industry standard for diamond jigs, other manufacturers have marketed their own variations of the popular lure.
http://www.thefisherman.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=feature.display&feature_id=577&ParentCat=2