Heddon is a brand of artificial fishing lures created by James Heddon, who is credited with the invention of the first artificial fishing lures made of wood in the late 1890s. The Heddon Company was founded in 1902 to sell the lures, originally made by hand in the Heddon family kitchen in Dowagiac, Michigan. By 1910 they had a sales distributor in Canada and a new factory in Dowagiac. By 1950 the Heddon brand name was well known. In their growth years, the company also made rods, reels and other peripheral fishing gear. Citing increased competition and wanting to quit during a profitable time, the Heddon family sold their business to the Murchinson family in 1955. Since then the company has been sold multiple times, finally ending up as part of EBSCO Industries. Many of the company's original lures are still made by EBSCO under their original names, though the list below shows the original run of the named lures in the company's catalog. Many of these lures have been resurrected by later owners, and are still made, such as the "Lucky 13", the "Zara Spook", the "Meadow Mouse" and the "River Runt" all of which remain popular with fisherman more than a century after their introduction. As proof of their popularity, many Heddon lures were copied by other firms with some subtle changes to avoid legal conflict.
History
1898- The original fishing lures were frogs carved from broomsticks by James Heddon. He came upon the idea when he threw a stick he had whittled into a local lake known as the Mill Pond, and watched as a bass hit it. 1902- The first manufactured fishing lures were created by James and his son Will. Will moved to Florida to test and develop new plugs, as the wooden lures became known. 1932- The first plastic fishing lures were introduced. They gained the name "Spook" because of their transparent color appearance. These early lures were susceptible to decay from poor early plastic mixtures. Few examples remain, the examples that have survived usually are distorted by bubbling. Because of their scarcity, they are premium priced collectors items today.
Models and series of lures
All models and series from Old Fishing Lures and Tackle 6th Ed. 1898 - Heddon Frog 1902 - Slopenose Dowagiac Expert 1904 - Dowagiac Underwater Expert, Sea Runt 610 1905 - Dowagiac Minnow 100, Killer 400 and Killer 450, Surface Minnow 300 1907 - Artistic Minnow 50 1908 - Night-Radiant Moonlight Bait, Surface Minnow 402 1909 - Baby Dowagiac 20, Multiple Metal Minnow 500, Musky Minnow 5 Hook 700 1910 - Woodpecker 1001 1911 - Swimming Minnow 800 1912 - Dowagiac Minnow "0" and Dowagiac Minnow '00', Light Casting Minnow 10 1913 - Black Sucker 1300 and Ice Decoy 400, Coast Minnow, Dummy Double 1500 1915 - Deep Diving Wiggler 1600 and Near Surface Wiggler 1700, Crab Wiggler 1800 1916 - Baby Crab Wiggler 1900 1918 - Spin Diver 3000 1920 - Midget Crab Wiggler 1950 1921 - Florida Special 10B and Florida Special 10S 1922 - Zaragosa 6500 1923 - Walton Feather Tail 40 1924 - Salt Water Special 500 and Salt Water Special 600 1925 - Torpedo 120, Torpedo 130 1926 - Salt Water Special 800, Surface Minnow 260 1927 - Flipper 140 1929 - Dowagiac Minnow 150, River Runt 110, MEADOW MOUSE 4000 1933 - River-Runt Spook 1934 - Musky Surfacer 350 1937 - SOS 140 1939 - Laguna Runt 10, Zara Spook 9260 Unknown - Salt Water Special 900
