JAMES HEDDON & SONS LURE COMPANY

Vintage Antique Heddon fishing lures are extremely collectable today by fisherman young and old, all around the world. James Heddon started out by carving ice decoys in the early or mid 1800’s. James Heddon is known to have created one of the earliest artificial fishing lures in the 1890's. He carved a tiny frog out of a piece of wood and attached it to a hook. Soon he was making them for friends, and in the early 1900’s, he and his sons had a large factory in Dowagiac, Michigan. Their first big breakthrough was The Heddon Underwater Minnow 150, a basic minnow with painted eyes and gills, now regarded as one of the most valuable collectible lures. The company continued to innovate with bass lures, fly lures, and better rod technology, and by the time it was sold in 1951, was producing as many as 15,000 lures a day.  Famous Heddon models include the Dowagiac, Slopenose Dowagiac Expert, Dowagiac Underwater Expert, Sea Runt 610, Dowagiac Minnow 100, Killer 400 and Killer 450, Surface Minnow 300, Artistic Minnow 50,  Night-Radiant Moonlight Bait,  Surface Minnow 402,  Baby Dowagiac 20,  Multiple Metal Minnow 500, Musky Minnow 5 Hook 700, Woodpecker 1001, Swimming Minnow 800,  Dowagiac Minnow '0',  Dowagiac Minnow '00',  Light Casting Minnow 10,  Black Sucker 1300,  Ice Decoy 400,  Coast Minnow, Dummy Double 1500, Deep Diving Wiggler 1600, Surface Wiggler 1700, Crab Wiggler 1800, Baby Crab Wiggler 1900, Spin Diver 3000,  Midget Crab Wiggler 1950, Zaragosa 6500, Walton Feather Tail 40, Salt Water Special 500, Salt Water Special 600, Torpedo 120, Torpedo 130, Salt Water Special 800, Surface Minnow 260, Flipper 140, Dowagiac Minnow 150, River Runt 110, Musky Surfacer 350, SOS 140, Laguna Runt 10, Zara Spook 9260, Lucky 13. 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. Heddon lures are still being manufactured today, but under the name Pradco.  Below are some fine examples of these lures, manufactured by James Heddon & Sons Lure Company. I hope that you will enjoy them.

HEDDON LURE CATEGORIES

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