About Creek Chub
About Creek Chub
Creek Chub, another member of the “Big 5” of vintage fishing lures, was founded by George Schultess, Carl Heinzerling and Henry Dills in 1910 in Garrett, Indiana. Their first products were delivered in 1911 and business grew at an expanding pace eventually requiring a larger facility in 1929. The company is named after the creek chub, which is a small fish commonly used for live bait by fishermen.
Dills was the creator of The Wiggler, a lure with a metal lip that caused the lure to wiggle in the water and caused it to attract more fish to strike it. The first lure created by Creek Chub was the Creek Chub Wiggler just mentioned and it had good success. Another popular lure was the Pikie minnow which was a bullet-shaped lure that had more than one variation available to purchase, depending on the amount of movement in the water desired. Also popular in a similar time frame was the Open Mouth Weedless, later named the Open Mouth Shiner. The Creek Chub Open Mouth Weedless lures were designed to be weed proof due to the inclusion of long-shanked double hooks that faced backwards so they would drag over snags without hanging. Open Mouth Weedless lures are a hard to find vintage fishing lure. All three of these are great examples of Creek Chub vintage fishing lures and are collector’s items.
One of Creek Chub’s most important innovations in the lure industry was the process of spray painting lures by spraying the paint through netting. Paint applied to this netting (originally from ladies’ hats!) was used to create the now common scale patterns on Creek Chub lures.
Creek Chub was a very innovative company in other areas as well. Their early adoption of the use of glass eyes on lures and the invention of the weedless bait mentioned above are great examples of this spirit of innovation. Creek Chub also held numerous other patents related to lure improvements.
By way of testimonial, a 1930’s era Creek Chub Wiggle Fish was responsible for a record that still stands today. George Perry caught a 22 pound 4 ounce Largemouth Bass in Lake Montgomery, Georgia using this lure.
Vintage Creek Chub fishing lures are another great addition to the collections of those seeking to expand their set of vintage fishing lures. To this day, Creek Chub vintage fishing lures are popular with collectors and are bought and sold regularly Adding an old Creek Chub lure to your collection is a great place to start for a vintage fishing lure collector.
