Are You a Collector of Antique, Vintage or just Old Fishing Lures?

If you are, we have some useful information to help you along in your collecting!

Some Places to Find Old Fishing Lures

Collecting old fishing tackle and lures is an interesting and natural extension to the sport of fishing. It has been one of the most unexploited areas of collecting in America. And, luckily there have been millions upon millions of pieces of tackle lures handcrafted and made since the early fishing days so there is still plentiful supply of nice examples to go around. 

Try some old "general stores", drugstores (used to carry bass plugs), bait shops and hardware stores in your area, especially their storerooms, attics, basements and storage area. There has been many a treasured fishing lure turn up by feeling around a dusty top shelf storage rooms.

Anywhere tackle has been sold over a period of forty years or more is a great place to look -- there are bound to be some old lures lying around. Some of these places may have sold tackle years ago and no longer sell it. Even if they don't sell it now, they may generally have some old unsold stock stuck away somewhere. 

Ask your family and friends if they know of an old timer who left his tackle box or other fishing gear in the cellar or attic. 

The garage sales and flea markets of today are good places to try, but usually they are not good place to find really good lures. Flea marketers and junk shop owners are offering old tackle and plugs at grossly inflated prices and most of the lures are just common worthless items. There are exceptions, however, so keep your eyes open. 

So What Should You Expect to Pay? Well, it Depends... is it really an antique fishing lure... or just an old common plug?

Now this is going to get tough and a bit sticky -- this business of pricing old tackle and fishing lures. It is an area as full of unseen hazards as submerged stump beds in a shallow lake. It would be safe to say that many tackle collectors, particularly lure and plug collectors, would much prefer swapping rather than buying. For the most part collectors are "swappers and/or buyers", but generally not sellers. In fact there are a great bunch of old, antique and vintage fishing lures that are valued at no more than $20. In fact many (most all) are valued at less. The swap is by far the best way to expand your collection. The problem is there are precious few instances when one can pin down a value in swapping or purchasing terms -- the actual answer (although sounding like a cop out) is an old fishing lure is worth what a buyer is willing to pay for it!