Friday, January 18, 2013

Learn About Antique Fishing Lures

By Annabelle Newton


Since the dawn of man, humans have been catching fish for food. As our minds became more intellectual and we began designing tools, we learned that fish like going for bait. This whole niche of sportsmanship has led to a lot antique fishing lures. These old lures can also be referred to as baits and they are highly collectible.

Something similar to baits was something called fish decoys which actually do still last today. They were used for catching fish in frozen over bodies of water, most commonly in lakes. A hole is cut into the ice, a fish comes and it is hopefully caught by the fisherman with a spear.

They were usually hand carved pieces of wood. They were painted to mimic the look of bait fish that were native to the area in which they were used. Older ones that are still in good condition can be auctioned for a few hundred dollars normally. Attached was something called a jig stick with a string just to jerk the decoy around to make it seem that it was alive.

Determining factors which assign value to the different types of decoys are obviously the materials used and the name of the maker. If a signature is present, the value increasingly goes up depending on the person who made it and how skillful they were in their trade. Although this tool is not used so much these days because rods are so accessible to people, some people still enjoy using them and it will always be in existence.

The most common means of catching fish for the average person would be the use of the old fashioned rod and line. People used to train themselves and have great skill within their own trades. This led to the production of very high quality items which are now all collected today. Many baits are painted, however sometimes the craftsman will sometimes leave it plain.

Aluminum used to be hard to produce and was considered to be a precious metal. Knowing this, many tradesmen used it in their work and make high quality products. It was so widely used in this trade that governments began to ban the usage of it with fisherman items because they were running low on supply.

The first people who began making baits primarily consisted of jewelers, believe it or not. That is an interesting fact of history to know about. Other commonly used materials used in the trade were cork, wood, plastics and animal fur. Generally, the craftsmen were proud of their work and usually branded their work with their company name or a personal signature.

The higher end models known back in the day are now worth thousands of dollars. Something to keep in mind when collecting these is that a lure by itself is essentially only half of the item. If the original box accompanies the lure, it is like having a complete item and is worth much more all together. Collecting antique fishing lures can be a very fulfilling hobby because there are so many things to take into consideration as we as having items crafted with utmost care and skill.




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