Massachusetts Custom fishing plug makers: A History
Some of the best Custom plugbuilders on the East Coast came from Massachusetts. In this thread you'll get to meet and hear about them, from the smallest to the largest.
Let's hear what you've got. Even if the guy built a few plugs and never really wanted to become commercial, it's still part of fishing history and merits talking about.
So don't feel your entry or post is not significant if the person you're posting about isn't nationally known. Post up and let's see it, anything you want to post regarding Mass. plug builders, from 1900 to present day.
1 Attachment(s)
Some background info on Stan Gibbs
Background:
Stan Gibbs was an old-time plug maker from Buzzard's Bay, Mass. The business he originally started in the 1940's, having changed hands several times after he first sold it in 1972, is still running today.
He was known for several specialties... among them the Canal Special Pencil Poppers, 3 1/8z pencil poppers designed to give him an edge in the Cape Cod Canal, his plug testing grounds. There was also a 5 1/4z popper designed specifically for Canal use.
Attachment 9190
He's also responsible for such innovations as the "Cast-A-Lure", Mackerel paint finishes, differently designed bottle poppers and bottle darters, the California special pencil popper, at 5+ oz one of the heaviest pencil poppers at the time.
However, the original pencil popper he improved and personally marketed up and down the Stripercoast was arguably one of his most successful plugs.
Originally, he had friends that made and were using a similar plug, and got their approval to design and market it further. Stan Gibbs pencil poppers gradually gained popularity and respect in the fishing world because they casted farther than anything else you could buy at the time. :wow:
From an original start where young Stan, an avid fisherman, made a few plugs at a time for friends, finished with nail polish as a sealer, he grew a little every year. His first big runs of pencil poppers were around 1946, when his production numbered into the hundreds. He branched out as his different plug lines began to gain popularity.
He started visiting other states as the personal ambassador of his company, to market his plugs.
Fishermen, who had only been used to slinging bucktails, tins, and some very light wooden plugs, raved how these "pencil poppers" could get out further and cast better in strong winds. They began to see that the pencil poppers gave them an edge, and the rest is plug building history.
Fuller Brothers Buzzards Bay - originators of the Atom40 style swimmer?
I read a lot about Bob Pond making those swimmers in the 1940's. I think he started around 1944 and selling them in 1945. He was known for that and his conservation support.
I think the Fuller Bros from Buzzard's Bay might have been first.
They started to make them around 1940, but may never have reached critical mass in the commercial market.
Anyway, I thought this might be interesting to you folks.
http://www.shorelinebt.com/id18.html
"Fuller Bros." from Shoreline bt.com
Fuller Bros.
Buzzards Bay, Mass.
*******
Manufactured lures in the early 1940's. They produced poppers in two sizes, and several colors, that I am aware of: white, pink and powder blue. The lures came "thru wired" from front to tail hook, but were also designed with cotter pin, belly, "hook hangers".
The company also manufactured swimmer bodies,
4 Attachment(s)
Re: Hi-Mar Striper Fishing Club fishing flea market
The original Striper Swiper from Atom Manufacturing Co in Attleboro, MA
Attachment 16397
Attachment 16398Attachment 16399
Attachment 16400
The guy selling these had 2 in pristine condition, $10 each....
I told him the boxes were worth that much and not to sell them for less....and it turns out 1/2 hour later some guy eagerly forked over $20 to buy both without haggling.......:learn:
Re: Hi-Mar Striper Fishing Club fishing flea market
striper swiper was one of the first saltwater plugs I started using. They are bulletproof and will take a lot of abuse. Thanks for posting DS.