This guy is a true collector. He has several hundred lures and over 100 reels in his collection. He makes plugs and bucktails and takes it a step further by donating at least 30 sets each year to several organizations.
How many of you are antique tackle collectors?
Chatfield man is collector, maker of fishing tackle
3/20/2009
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By Sandy Erdman
Post-Bulletin, Rochester MN
Fishing is its own reward. Each year, more and more folks find that old tackle boxes can be a bit of a treasure.
"One of the interesting things about lure collecting is that there are some primary tackle companies and each one has its own unique history," said Wayne Carrigan, a collector and maker of lures in Chatfield.
One of the more popular tackle companies is the Heddon Lure Company. Heddon lures were first introduced in 1898 and are still being produced.
Other noteworthy tackle companies include Pflueger (1892) and South Bend Bait Company (1896), which was founded by F.G. Worden, the inventor of bucktail bait ... "which is one of the lures I create today," Carrigan said.
Love at first cast
"I've always loved fishing," Carrigan said about starting his hobby with fishing lures. "I still remember how excited I was when my Uncle Bob took me trout fishing for the first time when I was 10 years old with a bamboo pole, some fishing line and a bobber."
Carrigan started his collection with bait casting reels.
"I purchased a box of 'stuff' at an auction -- the box contained two bait casting reels from the 1940s and that was in 1981. Soon after that I started looking for reels at auctions, flea markets and garage sales."
Carrigan then started to collect old fishing lures.
"I actually started making fishing lures in 1997 when some friends and I started muskie fishing and we could not buy lures large enough, so one of my friends had tied muskie lures in the past and he taught me," Carrigan said.
Demand, condition and age determine the value of fishing collectibles. Some lures from the '20s and '30s were made for a short period of time and are quite rare and valuable today, while others made from 1940 to the 1970s are also valuable.
"I have well over 100 bait casting reels and several hundred old fishing lures," Carrigan said. "Some date back to 1910, but a majority of them are from the '30s and '40s."
Among Carrigan's list of favorite finds are old tackle boxes sold with all the contents.
"I love sorting through the contents because you start to wonder where the tackle box and tackle have been, what the owner was like, and what kind of experiences occurred," he said. "My favorite is garage sales because you can talk to the people that owned them and get some of the stories behind them. ... A $10 lure that I know a story behind means more to me than a $500 lure purchased at an antique fishing show."
Collection turns to art
Not only does Carrigan collect fishing lures, he also makes them.
"I love making fishing lures and in some ways, it is an art," he said. "I truly enjoy tying a bucktail at 5 a.m. on a Saturday morning over a nice cup of coffee."
Although Carrigan says he's never really considered selling his lures, he does combine them with crafts made by his wife, Carol, to sell at craft sales.
"We only do three sales in the fall, but have talked about doing a couple others throughout the year," Carrigan said.
For the craft sales, Carrigan sells wooden fishing lure boxes and Christmas bulbs with fishing lures inside.
"I also love to tie lures at the craft sales," he said. "I've had mothers go home to get their sons so they could learn to tie a bucktail."
So what is a bucktail?
"My bucktails are just that -- deer tails that have been dyed different colors," Carrigan said. "I also add two feathers."
Those feathers -- pheasant, duck or turkey -- are what Carrigan uses to define the lure. Each year, he donates pheasant bucktails to Pheasants Forever (an organization dedicated to habitat conservation) and duck bucktails to Ducks Unlimited (a leader in wetlands and waterfowl conservation).
"I usually donate 20 to 30 lure sets a year," he said.
Carrigan says he has recently started to think a little more seriously about selling his lures.
"I've actually started a limited liability company called Root River Lures LLC. I'm hoping to get a Web site up and running soon," he said.
