Henry Rifle Forums

My grandfather owned and ran his own bait and tackle shop his whole life. He sold guns for a while and hunting supplies, but they never did as well as his fishing stuff.

I worked with him one summer as a teen. We netted leased ponds for minnows and crayfish. He always had a station wagon to haul everything around in. At the shop, there were minnow tanks tended to by my grandmother, worm refrigerators and the "shop". Glass display cases from the late 30's held everything. Fishing tackle jammed into every spot. If my grandfather didn't have it when you stopped in the morning, he'd tell you to stop by on your way home from fishing and he'd have it. He would go to a larger shop and get it from a friend and sure enough, the customers would stop back and pick it up.

He gave me things over the years. These three items are the last of the "new in the box" stuff. The spook has been used, but still is in the box. It was one of my grandfather's favorite lures. I have never used it. I wasn't much into fishing. When I did, it was worm and bobber only. I've used and lost all but these lures. I think they will reside in the mancave for a while. I dearly want to try the spook out, but the others will stay as they are, reminders of a man who never had much money, but plenty of zest for the outdoors. He hunted and fished when not working hard. He really liked to hunt pheasants. He had two mounted over his console stereo.

I thought you might like to see these lures.

nice .... classic lures .... I remember most of them and have some that have spent time in the water in my tackle box

Wow! Thanks Dave, you brought back some memories. My Grampa loved to fish I got to fish with him when he lived with us for the few years before he passed.
He had a spook like yours that I remember. I have an old reel that was his.

That Vamp is super nice.

Thanks for the pictures and sharing that great story.

Thanks, DD. It's nice to have those memories of your grandfather.

Mine took me fishing, but he only used worms and bobbers, not artificial bait.

After he died and I started fishing with my friends, I got introduced to artificial lures. Used to save up my yard mowing money to buy them. I had a bunch of the Heddon lures. They were always my favorites.

steelersfan97 wrote:That Vamp is super nice.

Nice for sure, but talk about a lure that is "looking for a place to get hung up on"

Better keep that baby far from obstacles.

It has that "old time" groove, though..........

Nice pictures! The boxes are art-like.

Oh, those look so familiar to me. My dad liked to fish and would take me with him when I was very young. I can remember all those types of lures in his tackle box. I'm sure he had that white one with the red head and yellow eyes. And bags of rubber worms I liked to play with. Haha. Great stuff, thanks for triggering some fond memories.

Dave,

Nice story about your Grandfather and his store. Thank you!

I love the pictures too.

Cate