About South Bend

About South Bend Bait Company

South Bend, another member of the “Big 5” of vintage fishing lures (along with Heddon, Shakespeare, Pflueger, and Creek Chub) was founded in the early 1900’s by F.G. Worden of South Bend, Indiana.

Worden had already been selling his Bucktail baits since 1894 prior to the official founding. These bucktail baits were wooden minnow lures with a feathery “bucktail” that were invented and popularized by Worden. By the mid 1910’s, the South Bend Bait Company was making the famous oreno fishing lures. The Oreno was also a minnow shaped lure and would become a very popular and long term seller. The Bass Oreno was the most popular South Bend bait. It started production around 1915 and was still in production into the mid 1960’s. Another popular vintage South Bend lure is The Vacuum Bait which can be quite hard to find and would make a nice addition to a vintage fishing lure collection.

South Bend Bait Company was sold in 1958, but continued to sell and produce lures and other tackle.

Adding a vintage South Bend fishing lure to the collection should be a goal of a vintage fishing lure collector. Vintage South Bend fishing lures are a popular item to collect with many pieces available both online and offline. South Bend lures will make a wonderful addition to a vintage tackle collection.