About Paw Paw

About Paw Paw (Moonlight Bait Company)

Paw Paw started out as Moonlight Bait company which was founded in 1908 by Charles Varney and Horace Ball. They began their company by making handmade wood lures. They later joined with Silver Creek Novelty Works and were renamed Moonlight Bait and Novelty Works. One of the interesting things about the “Moonlight” lures is that there appears to have been a marketing effort towards night fishing as they incorporated luminosity into their early lures which gave better visibility at night.

The Paw Paw Bait Company acquired Moonlight sometime (exact date not found) in the late 1920′s which led to the name change to Paw Paw from Moonlight. Paw Paw continued to make lures until it was bought out by Shakespeare in 1970.