LAUBYLURES

ANTON J. LAUBY · WISCONSIN INVENTOR

Anton Lauby.
Lure-making
pioneer.

Buoyant wooden spoons. Ingenious hook mechanisms. Tools built to make them. Explore Anton J. Lauby’s contribution to early fishing-tackle design through patents, period catalogs, and surviving lures.

Explore Anton’s inventions
Three Wonder Spoons with colorful painted bodies and distinctive metal hardware
THE WONDER SPOON Wood, wire, and a different approach to action
“With Lauby Lure a Catch is Sure!”THE WORDS ON THE ORIGINAL BOXES

A CLOSER LOOK

Meet the lures.

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Upper and underside photographs make the construction as interesting as the paint.
Lures

Wonder Spoon

Upper and underside photographs make the construction as interesting as the paint.

A close view of the body, paint and single-hook arrangement.
Lures

Weedless Wonder Spoon

A close view of the body, paint and single-hook arrangement.

A broad, angular body offers a useful comparison with the spoon-shaped examples.
Lures

Surface Lure

A broad, angular body offers a useful comparison with the spoon-shaped examples.

Lauby Bait Company exhibition display with a caption identifying Chicago in August 1938

DESIGN & MANUFACTURE

The lure.
The tools.
The inventor.

Anton approached lure making as an engineering problem: shape the body, control its movement, and devise the machinery to reproduce it.

Five reviewed U.S. patents trace his inventive work from a buoyant spoon in 1935 to manufacturing equipment in 1944 and a collapsible bait in 1946. Explore the patent record.

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BEYOND THE TACKLE BOX

More of the story survives.

Packaging preserves language that can be lost when lures are studied on their own.
Packaging

Original packaging

Packaging preserves language that can be lost when lures are studied on their own.

A contemporary advertisement anchors product names, prices and the Marshfield address.
Documents

Lauby in Outdoor Life

A contemporary advertisement anchors product names, prices and the Marshfield address.

A patent provides a dated engineering record, separate from the history of retail production.
Documents

The 1935 lure patent

A patent provides a dated engineering record, separate from the history of retail production.

From the printed record

See what anglers saw.

Color patterns, specialized baits and the maker’s instructions bring Lauby’s designs into view. Explore all seven source images

Sixteen patterns, one Wonder Spoon: The 1939 catalog’s Wonder Spoon color chart, with advertised casting sizes and prices. Reproduced in Christopher Slusar’s history, p. 369.

Sixteen patterns, one Wonder Spoon

The 1939 catalog’s Wonder Spoon color chart, with advertised casting sizes and prices. Reproduced in Christopher Slusar’s history, p. 369.

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A broader range of baits: The complete 1939 catalog plate for Flyrod Wonder Spoons, Special Minnows, Michels casting rods and flies. Reproduced in Christopher Slusar’s history, p. 371.

A broader range of baits

The complete 1939 catalog plate for Flyrod Wonder Spoons, Special Minnows, Michels casting rods and flies. Reproduced in Christopher Slusar’s history, p. 371.

Source detailsSelect image to enlarge
The maker’s instructions: The complete Wonder Spoon instruction sheet reproduced in Slusar, p. 372. The maker explains how retrieve speed affects the lure’s depth.

The maker’s instructions

The complete Wonder Spoon instruction sheet reproduced in Slusar, p. 372. The maker explains how retrieve speed affects the lure’s depth.

Source detailsSelect image to enlarge

HELP COMPLETE THE PICTURE

Have a Lauby lure or a piece of its history?

A marked lure, a dated catalog, a workshop photograph, or a manufacturing record can help explain how the designs developed.

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Research your Lauby lure

Compare models and identification details, or explore Lauby’s place in Wisconsin fishing-lure history. Individual records include sources, provenance notes and citations.