RED STIER

A replica of a midget Wiggle Diver made by local lure maker, Bob Burris.

RED STIER

A Bob Burris wood box with seven of his custom made lures.

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I am not sure all of us are on the same page about the title of my weekly column. It is Antique Tackle and Other Old Things. I decided on it because I am sure that while you enjoy reading about lures, reels and other fishing items some of you might need a break and would enjoy other old things. It also gave you — the reader — a chance to share something that is old but does not fall in the fishing category.

Now, I have opened the door, feel free to get your old things and information about them in to me.

Last week’s article feature pictures of three lures. One lure was an old maker unknown three piece five and a half inch wood lure. The three pieces are connected with two brass hinges. The head was painted red and the rest of the body looks like natural wood, no paint.

I have not heard from anyone about what they thought about it but it is a good bet whoever hand carved it got the idea from a lure company that made one similar.

Some of these companies that made three piece lures date back to the 1920s and can be worth several hundred dollars.

The Haas Company was one of them. But one thing is for sure it is not a Haas lure.

The two Creek Chub Wiggle Diver plastic lures were a by product of the earlier Shakespeare wood Wiggle Diver that was shorter. Again, no response on the Wiggle Diver as to date.

I did get a response however when I showed the plastic Creek Chub to local lure maker Bob Burris. He told the history of how hot the wood models were at the Naples Pier back in the 1920s.

Burris has been making wood lures for many years and will also make fishing lures that are not on the market any more.

He is also an avid hunter both bow and gun. He has made his own hunting bow and offers his custom made wood box displays with his lures in them for sale.

I have one that holds seven replicas of some of the old lures that we use to use.

Then one day he came to my house with a big grin on his face and announced, Red you were so excited about telling about the Wiggle Diver I thought I would carve one out for you. The lure is a small model measuring two and a half inches and autographed. One of the neatest small lures I have.

The Burris box displays have made great gift packages for many people. You can reach Bob at 774-0905. Thank you Bob for the neat midge Wiggle Diver.

Custom made tackle can come in many shapes, sizes and can have a neat history behind them. One that comes to mind is a large heavy gage aluminum tackle box with two fold out trays. It all started out with a phone call. “Hi, Red, I have an old tackle box found at a garage sale. It has some tackle in it that includes lures and spoons, would you be interested?”

I said I was and when I saw it I knew it had to be hand made, one of a kind box and purchased it from him.

The box was laced with dust which covered a lot of the items but as soon as I wiped the spoons off I could tell they were handmade also. Some of them had red fingernail polish on them. Digging deeper I found a small aluminum strip with F. P. Smith, Rd. 2, Emporium, Penn stamped on it.

Then another clue showed up as I was cleaning the box a few days later. A plastic bag with an old state fishing button and the anglers fishing license in it dated 1974. Judging from the angle’s date of birth and first name it was a good bet it was the son of the man that made the box. Punching the son’s name into the computer we were able to find the son here in Collier County. He also had a sister living here and I learned their father was the supervisor of the Sylvania Machine shop for thirty years.

He also had a nice machine shop at home and enjoying making many items including fishing spoons, furniture, gun cases and a hand made fish gaff and of course the tackle box.

He also was a great father his daughter announced. We fished and boated this area and he also took us fishing in Canada.

She emailed me pictures of her, her brother and their father. It turned out the son left it behind when he moved and the new owner must have had the garage sale later.

When I told the daughter the tackle box could become a piece of American fishing folk art ending up in a museum she was very pleased.

Good hunting!

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Red Stier is a weekly contributor to the Marco Island Eagle. Questions or comments may be directed to redstier@aol.com or 172 Trinidad St., Naples, FL 34113.