Whether the first tarpon caught with a rod and reel was A. W. Dimock’s monster off Homosassa, S. H. Jones’ fish in the Indian River Inlet, or W. H. Woods Punta Rassa teenager (93 pounds), it was the telling of the New Yorker Wood’s fish that launched a sport.  In 1885, Forest and Stream published an article chronicling Mr. Wood’s feat, exposing the world to West Florida’s tarpon fishery.  Venturing to Florida became all the rage and sportsmen traveled by rail and ship from the Northeast, Midwest, and Europe in search of this new experience.   Originally, they stayed at tarpon camps such as The Tarpon House in Punta Rassa.  Ultimately, however, Barron Collier and Henry Plant built luxury hotels to house not only these “sports” but their wives in the comfort to which they were accustomed.  The famous Collier Inn on Useppa Island and the Gasparilla Inn in Boca Grande, “The Tarpon Fishing Capital of the World,” continue to host snowbirds and anglers to this day.

Today, U.S. anglers chase Megalops Atlanticus from North Carolina to The Keys on the Atlantic Coast and throughout the entire Gulf Coast.  There are also thriving fisheries in Mexico and Central America, especially on the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica.

I am an avid tarpon angler and a collector of antique tarpon lures.  Throughout the years, a number of lure companies manufactured lures with “tarpon” in their name.  I wonder if many of these were ever actually used for tarpon, but that’s the point of my ongoing research into what Florida anglers actually used.  Most collectors define a tarpon lure or tarpon-rigged lure as one with large single hooks, as opposed to trebles. 

Why single hooks?  The mouth of a tarpon is hard and bony and its “lips” are massive.  Single hooks offered a surer hook up in this very inhospitable environment.  A hooked tarpon doing all that crazy airborne tarpon stuff is also less likely to throw a single hook that is firmly engaged in its mouth – less leverage.  To be sure, there are plenty of treble hook rigged lures that specifically targeted tarpon.  If the lure is big, has single hooks, or clearly targeted tarpon, I collect it. 

As a disclaimer, I am still learning a lot about all of these lures, their makers, and their use, so if I make an incorrect statement, please forgive me and correct me.  Please enjoy these photos and a little bit of history about tarpon lures.

Tarpon Pikies

One of the most famous and sought after tarpon lures is the Creek Chub Series #4000 Tarpon Pikie.  This big lure is 6 ½” long, weights a hefty 3 ounces, and was made from 1933 to 1961.  Older versions have a heavily reinforced lip with screws securing the hooks.  Later versions had more standard Creek Chub lips and through-wire rigging. Throughout its production run, the Tarpon Pikie was offered with extra large treble or giant Pflueger Sobey single hooks.  The red/white lure in the photo is an older version and the blue mullet is a later version.  These lures were used extensively in the Florida Keys channels, the deep creeks of the Everglades, and in the channels and upper reaches of Tampa Bay and Charlotte Harbor.

Poon Rigged Striper Special

As Creek Chub collectors know, the company would special rig just about anything for anybody.  So far, I have seen tarpon-rigged (single hook) snook, husky, striper, and giant pikies; husky muskies, and darters.  I am waiting for that tarpon rigged husky dinger!!

Another interesting Creek Chub lure is the #2000 Series Saltwater Darter (1957 to 1964).  This lure features a standard darter body with extra tail weight, through-wire rigging, and 2/0 treble hooks (2 instead of the standard 3).  According to a 1974 letter from Mr. Harry Heinzerling to a New Jersey Angler, this lure was made especially for Costa Rican tarpon fishermen (thanks Bob Hart for letting me steal your thunder – go to Bob’s site for the letter and a beautiful blue flash version of this bait)

South Bend

South Bend produced a family of single hook lures that were made famous by Zane Grey in his worldwide angling adventures.  From largest to smallest, the Tarp Oreno, King Oreno, and Coast Oreno were trolling and casting lures that “possess a wobbling, swimming, diving motion irresistible to all gamefish.”  I believe the Tarp and King Orenos were more often trolled offshore for pelagics or in the bays for tarpon, but the Coast Oreno looks like a great casting bait to me.  I have a couple of beaters that I plan on using next summer. 

The Tarp Oreno (8” long and weighing 5 ounces) was made from 1922 to 1953 and went through a dizzying variety of eyes, hardware, and hook hangers.  The King (6 ½” long and 2 ounces) and Coast Orenos (4 ½” long and 1 ½ ounces) were made from 1923 through 1942.

South Bend Tarpon Special

The South Bend Tarpon Special was a very sort lived lure (1951 to 1953) and is one of my favorites.  The body is that of a later press-eye Tarp Oreno but the rigging involves a through wire with a break away mechanism for the tail hook.  This arrangement made it less likely that the leverage created by a swinging lure attached to a crazy tarpon would dislodge the hook.  The same philosophy was later employed in break-away jigs in Boca Grande Pass before the break-away feature was outlawed to reduce lead waste on the bottom.

South Bend Special

Unlike Creek Chub, South Bend was not a big specials house.  I have found, however, a couple of cool specials.  The top lure is a Tarp Oreno with one large hook mounted on a short through wire.  The large box swivel gives away its age.  The bottom lure is a two hook King Oreno (standard is one belly hook) in tough red scale.

Shakespeare Tarpalunges

Not to be outdone, Shakespeare entered the fray with the Tarpalunge (1930 to early 1940s).  “Guaranteed to test over 200 pounds dead weight pull,” the Tarpalunge was designed with through-wire rigging and forged Mustad single hooks.  Early models featured glass eyes, giving way to pressed eyes in later years.  Shakespeare used one of the most interesting paint schemes, the “photo” finish.  The scales, gills, fins, and other features look almost like a photo.  Look at the top lure.  Shakespeare also made a large pier bait focused on tarpon and popular throughout Florida.  There is more to come on this lure and others like it.

Tarpon Tangos

J. K. Rush, New York maker of the famous Rush Tango, made the Tarpon Tango, a larger, single hook version of its flagship lure.  The two 6” lures in the photo are standard Tarpon Tangos with long shank Pflueger hooks.  The smaller lure is a special tarpon-rigged Rush Tango. I think a big poon would just destroy that baby.  Maybe that’s why the hook is offset?  Rush also made an 8” monster called a “Field Special.”  The larger Tarpon Tango was introduced in 1917.

DAM Tarpon Lures

DAM was a German maker of rods, reels, and lures that was founded in the late 1800’s.  The company really came into it’s own in the US in the 50s and 60s.  DAM’s line of big baits were known as Sea Devils, Sea Witches, and Sardines.  The single hook versions of these swimming baits came in three sizes.  I don’t know that much about DAM lures, but I think the lures in the photo are from the 50s.  I am still researching DAM and will add more information as I gather it.

King Cudas

Sorry, I forgot that this is a Florida lure site.  Here you go- the crown jewel of my collection, a rare single hook Barracuda King Cuda made by the Florida Fishing Tackle Manufacturing Company in St. Pete.  The King Cuda was a trolling and casting bait for kingfish, tuna, tarpon, dolphin, etc.  This single hook version was clearly targeted at tarpon.  These lures come in some of the most beautiful colors.  I have a collection of these and Bloopers (kind of an electrified CCBC snook plunker) that are outstanding.

Eger Mammoth

There are other pages on this site dedicated to Eger, Pfeffer, Griner, et al.  All of these makers produced larger tarpon-ish lures at various times in their history.  Here are two miscellaneous Florida lures that targeted tarpon.  The Eger Mammoth is a very neat lure that features through wire rigging, extra-strong trebles, and the famous Eger eyes.  The smaller Preston Rountree lure is reminiscent of a modern MirrOLure.  This hand carved bait has a lead dowel running through it and extra strong hardware and hooks.  The bait was worked off the bottom, jigging as the boat drifted over/through a school of fish.  The action is very similar to that used for the single hook MirrOLure below.

Mirrolures

Speaking of MirrOLures, L&S made a line of larger single hook lures in the mid-1960s.  Chris Emerson is still digging for some more information on these Florida made lures.  Rumor has it that the very heavy tail hook versions (88M) were first made for the legendary Harold LeMaster for jigging in Boca Grande Pass.  Of all the plugs in my collection, I am certain these caught the most tarpon, historically.  The best casting bait out there today is a DOA Bait Buster, and these single hook MirrOLures are a very close match in a hard body. 

Metal

I would not be surprised to learn that spoons caught more fish than plugs in the very early days and through the 1960s.  At the turn of the century, the pioneer guides in Boca Grande Pass would troll a spoon in the tide while rowing their primitive boats up tide. Trolling big spoons through the pass was the bread and butter technique for many charter guides during the 40s, 50s and 60s.  Anglers in Costa Rica still troll for tarpon with spoons.  Clockwise from top left in the photo (ignoring the hooks) is a Pflueger Evans, three Pflueger Records, a Sarasota-made Captain Action, a Heddon Stanley Silver King, two fairly rare Creek Chub Saltwater Champs, and two Vom Hofe Sam Spoons. 

With the wider use of internal combustion engines and stable inboard boats, live baiting began to build in the Pass in the 50s and 60s.  Captains would drift over the hole and anglers would drop their bait near the bottom, waiting for the “whooom” of a bite and the call of “FISH ON.”  The Vom Hofe and Pflueger TarTuna rigs are examples of early live bait rigs that might have been used while live bait fishing in Boca Grande and elsewhere.  Live bait fishing is still the mainstay technique used by traditional guides today.

Homemade Lures

No discussion of lures would be complete without paying homage to the ingenuity and creativity of the humble fisherman.  There is a nearly infinite variety of home made and angler modified lures out there, all of which were probably successful.  Here are three that I have found for my collection.  The red/white is an angler modified Creek Chub Husky Musky.  The angler removed the standard treble hooks and attached long shank, forged single hooks.  The other two are home made plugs that came from Central America.  There is no telling who made them or where they were used, but they are reminiscent of many of the factory made lures presented above.  The middle lure has an ingenious hook hanger made from two closely placed screws.  The hook neatly snaps into place and pops out after a hook-up.  Amazing.

Information for this page came from Harold Smith, Carl Luckey, and Terry Wong’s books; from Doug Brace, Russ Riddle, and Bill Stuart’s “Florida Lure Makers” volumes; from several articles on the history of tarpon fishing; from “Boca Grande- Lives of an Island” and other Boca Grande Historical Society sources; the “Tarpon Tales and Sportfishing” exhibition at the H. B. Plant Museum; and from countless conversations with other collectors and fishing guides.

If you have any questions, want to share information, have tarpon lures to sell/trade, or you just want to talk fishing, please send me an email by CLICKING HERE.  Thanks, Matt