Fishing tackle time capsule
Angler’s gear offers glimpse into past
Evansville — The old fishing tackle boxes sat on a table, their exteriors rusted after decades of storage in a Wisconsin garage. But what might be inside? Chris Slusar of Evansville and I were excited to find out. We carefully pried open the larger box; its hinged lid creaked but slowly gave way.
“Ah, the smell of old tackle,” said Slusar, 49. “Love that.”
A quick look at the box’s contents revealed a cornucopia of old lures and other fishing tackle. Items were crammed into every corner and compartment.
Slusar reached in and grabbed a green-and-yellow surface bait.
“South Bend Surf-Oreno,” he said. “Looks like it caught a couple fish, too.”
The lure’s frog finish was peppered with tooth marks, probably from a muskellunge or northern pike. The bait, which featured a tack eye, was made from 1939 to 1950, Slusar said.
The time period jibed with the little I knew about the angler who owned the boxes.
I recently came into possession of the boxes after a reader contacted me and asked if I would take them. Their father, a World War II veteran, had been an avid fisherman from the late 1940s through the 1970s.
He later fell ill and died. Many of his possessions, including the tackle boxes, were stored in a garage until last year. The time to toss, donate or sell had come.
The reader, who wishes to remain anonymous, couldn’t bear to throw them out and didn’t think they had much value.
In my world, all fishing tackle has value, whether broken or new, for use on the water or as a memento on the wall.
I happily accepted the boxes on the condition I could write a story about what they contained.
To help understand the contents, I enlisted the help of Slusar, an antique fishing tackle expert.
Sifting through the boxes became a sort of anthropological study of mid-20th century Wisconsin anglers.
The rusted metal shells weren’t just tackle boxes — they were time capsules.
Slusar’s encyclopedic knowledge of fishing gear became evident as soon as we opened the first box.
“This is a very representative collection for an angler in the Upper Midwest in the post-war period,” Slusar said, rattling off lure names, companies and years of manufacture.
Slusar was born and raised in Milwaukee and caught the antique lure collection bug in the early 1980s. He now serves as host to the annual antique fishing tackle show in Brookfield.
The larger tackle box is a folding, two-tray design made by Kennedy Kits. Its compartments were lined with cork. The box and exterior buckle closures are solid as a tank.
Although the outside was heavily rusted, the contents were likely in the same condition as the last time the owner laid his hands on them.
Most of the lures and tackle in the big box were for bass, pike or musky.
There were several large surface baits, including a Pfleuger Globe, a CC Roberts Mud Puppy and a Husky Pikie from the Creek Chub Bait Co.
It also had some large bucktails, including a Big-Slim from Marathon Bait Company in Wausau. The lure was in its original box.
A Suick’s Muskie Thriller was also in its original packaging. The Antigo-made wooden jerk bait was patented. Lettering on the box gave anglers fair warning: “Beware of Imitations.”
“When I see this collection, I think of Wisconsin musky fishing in the 1950s,” Slusar said. “Grab the Kennedy, we’re going up north.”
The smaller box had one tray and several small plastic containers of jigs and lead weights. It appeared to be set up for panfish.
Its contents were also in very good shape.
Among the finds: A bobber made from a female figurine, a roll of antacid tablets and an empty 2ounce bottle of Seagram’s 7 Blended Whiskey.
It also included a complete boxed set of five Mepp’s spinners called the Killer Kit. The lures were made in France. It sold for $7.95 in 1970.
The boxes also contained equipment Slusar called “to go withs,” including a matchbook from Frederickson’s Minnow Stand in Star Lake, a metal stringer and a minnow dip net.
Several items provided a touchstone to changes in safety equipment. The boxes contained a whistle, a compass and a wallet-sized, plastic life vest.
“A pretty complete setup for a 1950s-era angler,” Slusar said. “In very good condition, too.”
Since most of the items in the boxes were produced in large quantities and are readily available on the antique lure market, none would fetch a high price, Slusar said. A few of the lures might command $25 or so.
The value, of course, cannot be expressed in dollars.
If only the lures could talk. How many muskies were boated by the angler? How many were lost?
It would have been an honor to fish with the man who put the boxes together. But the opportunity to safeguard a fellow fisherman’s gear, and learn more about another angling era, was priceless.
May the dearly departed angler be seated comfortably along the great fishing hole in the sky.