Thursday Review: The Lure Papers Book

Thursday Review: The Lure Papers Book

I stumbled across a wonderful fishing tackle resource purely by accident the other day, and was rather astounded I did not know it existed. It's called "EpawnAuction Lure Papers Index" and it is a collection of hundreds of lure box papers and catalogs, from manufacturers obscure and familiar.

The site is maintained by ePawn, who is a very active eBay seller. I believe the owner is named Slater but I haven't been able to verify that.

The Lure Papers Book, as the owner refers to it, is a rather remarkable collection of over 250 different scanned box papers. Some of them are extraordinarily eclectic -- like the Chicago-made Ceetee Bait Co. spoon, one I'd never seen before. Others are more familiar, like the Creek Chub Darter and the South Bend Fly Oreno.

Regardless of what you collect, I promise one thing -- you will be spending an inordinate amount of time digging through these pages. It has a very 1999 feel to the web pages, which makes it even more charming, like you've stepped into a time machine.

I strongly suggest you get yourself a cup of coffee, settle yourself into a comfortable chair, and then dig into this fascinating series of web pages.

UPDATE: Sadly the Lure Papers Book appears to have been taken off-line.

-- Dr. Todd