THE SALT WATER
FISHING LURE
INDUSTRY... STARTED
RIGHT HERE IN
CORPUS CHRISTI?
WELL... KRIS 6 NEWS
ANCHOR LEE SAUSLEY
RECENTLY SAT DOWN
WITH A LOCAL
COLLECTOR... TO
LEARN MORE ABOUT
THE SPARKLING CITY
BY THE SEA'S LEGACY
OF LURES.
PKG
(PKG IS IN MEDIA BASE
SLUGGED 'LURE PKG')
LEE
(CUT #1 )
DR. DAVID McKEE..
RECENTLY RETIRED
AFTER A 30 YEAR
CAREER AS A MARINE
BIOLOGY
PROFFESSOR AT
TEXAS A&M-CORPUS
CHRISTI. HE'S AN
AVID FISHERMAN...
AND A PASSIONATE
COLLECTOR OF OLD
FISHING TACKLE ---
ARTIFICAL LURES IN
PARTICULAR, IT'S A
PASSION... THAT
DATES BACK TO HIS
BOYHOOD IN SINTON,
TEXAS.
SOT
I've still got lures that I had
when
I was a teenager... I loved
fishing
lures... I took very good care
of
them ..I polished them .. and
just
started adding to my collection.
----------------
(CUT # )
AND TODAY... THAT
COLLECTI
NUMBERS IN THE
THOUSANDS... AND
THE VAST MAJORITY
OF THESE LURES...
WERE MADE BY
COMPANIES... RIGHT
HERE IN CORPUS
CHRISTI.
SOT
uh i'm a bit of a historian and
I
think my interest in the lures
has
a lot to do with the history of
our
area.
----------------
(CUT # )
DR. McKEE... SAYS
CORPUS CHRISTI
REALLY PLAYED A BIG
ROLE... IN
PROMOTING THE USE
OF ARTIFICAL LURES
FOR SALTWATER
FISHING. IN
FACT...THERE WERE
AS MANY AS 7
DIFFERENT LURE
COMPANIES HERE...
IN THE LATE 20'S AND
EARLY 30'S.
SOT
several of the manufaturers that
went on to produce plastic
baits,
when plastics became available
after ww11.. started out by
carving their lures at night out
of
pieces of wood --cedar was kind
of a prefered wood to work with.
---------------
(CUT # )
AND SEVERAL OF
THOSE COMPANIES...
WENT ON TO BECOME
NATIONAL BRANDS.
SO
one of those was fred nichols..
who had the fred nichols lure
company that later on became
pico.. padre island
company...which became a
flourishing company around the
country..both coasts
----------------
(CUT # )
"PLUGGING
SHORTY"... WAS A
WELL-KNOW LOCA
LURE MAKER. HIS
REAL NAME WAS
ANTON STETNER. HE
WAS A FULLER BRUSH
SALESMAN... WHO
VISTED HERE...AND
LIKED IT SO MUCH HE
MOVED HERE. BACK
THEN... FISH WAS 3-
CENTS A POUND...
AND HE MADE A
GOOD LIVING WITH A
ROD AND REEL.. AND
HIS OWN HANDMADE
LURES.
SOT
and he was making these..his
lures and using them, made from
cedar -- his lures-- and there
were no colors available at that
time.. and maybe you could put a
little glitter on it.. or maybe
some
red fingernail polish on it...
but he
made his living with his own
lures.
-------------
(CUT # )
LATER ON WHEN
PLASTICS AND
COLORS BECAME
AVAILABLE... HE
TEAMED UP WITH
DOUG ENGLISH...
WHO STARTED THE
BINGO BAIT
COMPANY. BUT DR.
MCKEE... SAYS THAT
TOOK SOME
CONVINCING
SOT
his first response was I will
not do
it, because if there were more
of
my lures available to people...
they would be catching more fish
and the price of fish would be
driven down below 3-cents a
pound. after he thought about
the
money he could make... he
changed his mind.
---------------- AND
THAT'S JUST ONE OF
DOZENS OF
STORIES...THAT DR.
MCKEE CAN TELL
YOU. IF YOU
COLLECT LURES AND
LIKE TO TALK ABOIUT
THEM... OR YOU'RE
CURIOUS ABOUT
WHAT'S IN
GRANDPA'S OLD
TACKLE BOX... DR.
MCKEE WOULD LOVE
T HEAR FROM YOU.
WE HAVE HIS EMAIL
ADDRESS POSTED ON
OUR WEBSITE,
KRISTV.COM... JUST
LOOK FOR THIS
STORY.
GREG
THE HOUSTON
TEXANS ARE
WINNERS OF N
