December 2010
Tin Liz Snake
Fred Arbogast
Akron, OH
1934
So, does the name “Arbogast” ring a bell? How about the “Jitterbug” or the “Hula Popper”? Yes, Fred Arbogast is the inventor of these famous and popular fish-catching lures.
Fred Arbogast lived in Akron, OH and worked at the Goodyear plant. In 1916, at the age of 22, Fred entered a local fishing lure casting tournament, and thoroughly enjoyed it. So much, if fact, that he entered many more contests over the next ten years and he set many casting world records.
To help pay the entry fees and traveling to these tournaments, Fred invented a few fishing lures that he manufactured and sold to friends and fellow employees of Goodyear, and these sales gave him the extra cash he needed.
Then, in 1926, he left Goodyear and began his own lure business in the basement of his house and made small metal lures with spinners for tails. In 1930, he outgrew making lures in his small basement and bought a larger house and made lures in this new home using the basement, extra bedrooms, and living room. At this time, he ran full page ads in magazines that featured his two lures, the “Tin Liz” and the “Weedless Kicker”.
In 1934, Arbogast introduced the “Tin Liz Snake”. This was similar to the “Tin Liz”, but the shape and color of the lure was that of a northern pike (which was referred to as a “snake” by many anglers). This lure was not made in high quantities and a statement in a book called “The Fred Arbogast Story” says it all:
“If you are lucky enough to acquire one of these beauties, you are among the lucky few.”
In 1936, Fred Arbogast came up with possibly his greatest invention, the rubber hula skirt for lures. This was used on the “Hawaiian Wiggler” and later the “Hula Popper”. Later still, this invention was used on spinner baits by many other companies. Could you imagine a spinner bait without this skirt?
(This is the perfect lure for this month as my nephew Joe is harvesting "snakes" this winter....)
