The Jim-Bo, Part the Fourth (A Bill Stuart Update)

The Jim-Bo, Part the Fourth (A Bill Stuart Update)

Not long after Update 3 on the Jim-Bo hit the internets, I got a great email from Florida legend Bill Stuart. Bill, of course, has forgotten more about fishing tackle than I will know in ten lifetimes, and he sends on some information that even FURTHER illustrates the Jim-Bo, the bait I am now calling "The Lure That Would Not Die." Here is text of his email:

I am not sure that this adds anything to the story, and it is all from the story that I wrote in 1997 on J&R Tackle Company, Jim Bryan Manufacturing Co., and Star Bait Company, in Florida Lure Makers and Their Lures.
 
From our research J&R was the first company vehicle used and in addition to the Jim Bo they also made the “Little Jewel” tackle box which measured 6” X 7” X 13”.  It featured: Genuine Imported Mahogany; Solid Brass Hardware; Rubber Feet; Rubber Gasket Protects the Interior; Tray and Lid Lined With Mildew Resistant Cork; and, A Genuine Leather Handle.  It was billed as ”The World’s Finest Small Tackle Box.”  The price was $15 which included postage.
 
The first box or pocket catalog we found in a J&R box told all about the Jim Bo and how it was to be used.

The second box or pocket catalog informs us of a new lure the Wee Willie, and the photo shown is of a Florida Fishing Tackle Manufacturing Company, Inc. product named the Spark-A-Midget . 
 
I think that the fabric tail addition [to the Jim Bo] was made when Bryan moved to Hopkinsville, Kentucky. 
 
I don’t know if Bryan moved back to Largo from Hopkinsville, Kentucky, or if he sold the manufacturing rights to Star Bait Company. 
 
We do know that the Star Bait Company changed the name of the Jim Bo to the Wee Willie. Star Bait Company used the same 2 pc. card board yellow box as both J&R products.
 
The earliest Star Bait Company box or pocket catalog we found showed the Jim Bo picture with the fabric tail as the Wee Willie and priced it at $1 per lure, or 5 for $4 or 10 for $7, and you could pay for them with cash, check, money order or 3cent stamps. The box also had 4 additional inserts that were either noted or advertisements. 

The first insert was for a mold to make your own sinkers by the Reading Instrument Co. of Reading, Pa.  The second insert was probably only in boxes where they were sending lures on approval because it gives you 5 days of grace to either pay your $1 or return your lure.

The third insert was to announce a new color offering which was called “Black Silver.”  The fourth insert was to alert you to be on the lookout for Jim Bryan’s great new novel entitled All The Lord’s Images.  (In 1997 I was not able to locate the book.)

A later Star Bait Company box or pocket catalog shows the Wee-Willie with a hyphen in the name.  The Wee-Willie in the box is painted in gray scale with a yellow belly and black stripes with red splashes at the top fin, side fins, tail and chin.

This box or pocket catalog shows 8 new baits for sale, all of which had been products of Florida Fishing Tackle Manufacturing Company, Inc.  The 8 lures with their new names are as follows: The Poe Go was the Spark-A-Midget; The Lo Co was the Spark-A-Wiggle; the Bo Do was the Florida Pee Wee; the Mom Bo was the May Wes; the Som Bo was Bull Nosed Jig; the Baby-Jo was the Baby J Jig; the Jo Jo was the Dude (jig); and the Plato was the Dude Fly.

That is all that I know, and it may not add anything to the story, but I thought you should hear it!

Thanks so much to Bill Stuart for the information. Bill's one of the legendary fishing and tackle historians, and it would make sense that he has made more sense out of this lure than anyone else! As an aside, I can find no record of the book All the Lord's Images--anyone know where to get a copy???

-- Dr. Todd

Jim Bo Update #3: Hold the Phone!

Jim Bo Update #3: Hold the Phone!

Well, just when you think you know something, you realize you don't know anything at all! Lindy Egan emails with a further addendum to the Jim Bo story, or "the Lure that Would Not Die" as I like to call it...

Here's what Lindy emails us:

Would you believe Las Vegas, NV I have a set of three with the Red tails with three different colored inserts (Red, Gold & Silver). These Jim Bo's are smaller than the older version. I LOVE MY JIM BO'S!!!!




Hard to read but postmark is 1967


Wow! 100 Jim Bo's for just $67 bucks!

Amazing. So the Jim Bo's story begins in Florida in 1952, continues to Kentucky in 1959, and moves to Las Vegas in 1967. I will not make the mistake of calling Jim Bo's story over again!

Where did Jim Bo end up next? It's like a game of Where's Waldo!

Thanks to Lindy and everyone else, we're starting to learn a lot about this neat little lure!

-- Dr. Todd

Jim Bo Update #2: The Rest of the Story

Jim Bo Update #2: The Rest of the Story

It's days like this that make all the work putting up this blog worth it.

Doug Carpenter writes us a final word about the Jim Bo. He sends the following advertisement from the December 1959 Field & Stream magazine featuring the Jim Bo, but in slightly different form. Note three things about this version of the lure. One, it has a red tail (the one referenced earlier) and two, that the address is now Bryan Manufacturing in Hopkinsville, Kentucky!


Finally, it is listed as filed under Patent #2881549, granted April 14, 1959 but filed for on June 17, 1952--nearly seven years before! Amazing amount of time. He is still listed as of the patent date at his Largo, Florida address, so he must have had some connection to Kentucky to manufacture them there. Amazingly, his "Patent Pending" from his first ads lasted the rest of the decade. Anyone know of another tackle patent that had to wait so long to be approved?


Thanks, Doug, for sending in the final piece of the Jim Bo puzzle! A lure that spans the 1950s and two states.

And now you know the rest of the story.

-- Dr. Todd

UPDATE: More Jim Bo Information!

UPDATE: More Jim Bo Information!

Yesterday we profiled the interesting Florida lure called the Jim Bo. Today, Jim Viviano of Chesterfield, MO writes:

I like the article on the Jimbos you posted on Joes Board. Here is a picture of my Jimbo collection. I have the 8 standard colors, plus two others that I have found.
 
Years later after the large size Jimbos were no longer made, someone in Las Vegas started making a small Jimbo with a red felt skirt (or wings) on them.  I have found a few and they are at the bottom of my collection.



Thanks for the info, Jim, and that's a very attractive display! Long live the Jim-Bo!

-- Dr. Todd

The Jim Bo: A Lesson in Mass Advertising

The Jim Bo: A Lesson in Mass Advertising

The following article was published on the wire services for the week of May 03, 1954. It appeared in the Fort Pierce News-Tribune, among many other places, and discussed the novel "blitz" marketing campaign of Jim Bryan, creator of the "Jim Bo" fishing lure. It was a novel way to make a splash, but I think that it was fairly short lived as the lure was not around for a long period of time...

NEW FISHING LURE MADE IN FLORIDA MEETS WITH POPULARITY

Claiming the title of "World's fastest-selling fishing lure" is a shiny, lifelike bit of plastic and steel called JIM BO. Inventor Jim Bryan, of Largo, Fla., reports sales at the rate of two a minute, 24 hours a day, and still increasing as the fishing season approaches in northern states.

JIM BO's skyrocket career began this January during the supposedly "dead" mail order period following Christmas. Advertisements for JIM BO were placed in almost every daily newspaper in the nation, a technique new to the fishing tackle industry. Although such magazines as Life, American Weekly, Saturday Evening Post, Popular Mechanics, and all the "outdoor" magazines have been used since, Bryan still considers newspaper advertising the most important.

Reports are pouring In from fishermen in those areas where the fishing season has started. According to these letters, JIM BO has caught almost every kind of fresh or suit water fish, from pan fish to giant snook. Testimonials are usually accompanied by an order for several more JIM BO's--many fishermen ordering all eight colors.





The Jim Bo is a neat lure but not a very valuable one. But from the stand point of marketing, it was one of the earliest of the mass newspaper blitz advertising lures, and deserves a small place in fishing history for it!

-- Dr. Todd