March 2015
Floater Getum
Outing Manufacturing Co
Elkhart, IN
1926
In the 1920’s , while most lure companies were making lures out of wood, Clarence Dewey had a different plan…he would make his lures out of bronze with a hollow inside.
Each lure he made had a name that ended with “get-um”. His most popular lure slogan was a play on his lure name and his personal name, which was something like “Du he (Dewey) Get Um? We say he du!”
Clarence Dewey started Outing Manufacturing around 1919, but was not awarded a lure patent until about 1925. Of the lures that he made, the Dewey’s Floater Getum is one of the hardest to find. This lure was described by Clarence as a bait that “Wabbles and Zig Zags”. It did this thanks to three hole locations where you could attach your line at the front of the lure. Tie the line on the top, and the lure “wabbles deep”. In the middle, the lure “wabbles shallow”. And, finally, on the bottom, and the lure “zig zags on the surface”.
Outing Manufacturing also sold hunting, camping and other fishing equipment and, besides fishing lures, they made their very own line of tackle boxes. These tackle boxes held several patents that big lure company Heddon wanted. So, in 1927, Heddon bought out Outing for the right to produce their tackle box. When this was done, the remaining stock of Outing lures were sold…only to be discontinued by Heddon and never made again.
Why did Outing sell out to Heddon? Was Clarence tired of his business? Did Heddon force them out? Were sales low due to the upcoming depression years? Or, was the offer from Heddon just too good to pass up. We may never know.
If I had not just acquired this lure or had a spare, I would like to try this lure and see how it works. Who wouldn’t want to try a lure that “wabbles” and “du getum” the fish. Maybe someday….
