December 2012
Thoren Minnow Chaser
A. H. Thoren
Chicago, IL
1940
Have you ever seen those cartoon videos where the tiny fish is eaten by a bigger fish…who is eaten by a bigger fish…who is eaten by an even bigger fish…and so on?
Or, have you ever seen an animal that caught some prey, and a larger animal came up and took it away?
I think A. Thoren was thinking of this concept when he made his one and only fishing lure…the Thoren Minnow Chaser.
This lure was two fish as part of one lure. The first fish is “swimming for dear life” while being chased by the “chaser”. The rear lure was available in three colors; red/white, red/yellow, or pike scale. The front lure was always silver. The eyes were may out of small tacks and the lure bodies were made out of wood.
Just by looking at the hardware on this hard-to-find lure, it appears that it had lots of action in the water. It was advertised as having a “combination double action” and “it travels close to the surface…with an action you have never seen before”. It must have been fun to fish with as the brochure also says “You will get a big kick out of it just to watch it come in…you will have the time of your life”.
Due to its unique look and being not many of these lures were made, there is a lot of collector interest in these lures. While these lures only sold for $1.85 in the 1940s, they now command a price over a 100 times more than that now.
