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Here’s an interesting entry into the vintage tackle contest from Joe Rudolph, who wrote: I dug up this spinner in the basement of my uncle’s house at the Gatineau Fish & Game Club in Point Comfort, Quebec, underneath a workbench in a pile of sawdust. The house was built in 1924 and the club was founded in 1894 by my great-great grandfather, Franchot Jerome Tone. Per Dr. Todd Larson of The Whitefish Press and “Fishing For History” blog, this spinner is an example of a British design taking hold in the U.S., which ironically is happening again today as European-style carp fishing gets more and more popular on American soil.

Dr. Todd says:

“This is a great piece of British fishing tackle manufactured by Samuel Allcock & Co. of Redditch, England. The firm was founded around 1800 by Polycarp Allcock, and taken over around 1858 by his son Samuel. In the 1860s and 1870s it became one of the largest tackle makers in the world. What you have is an “Arrow” spinner, as it was called in America, or an “Otter” as it was sometimes called in Britain.

_It was a brass tube with soldered wings over a twisted brass wire which allowed the wings to spin in the water. The style was originated by Julio T. Buel in New York in the 1840s, and by the time your lure was manufactured around 1910, was a very popular style for bass, salmon, and pike fishing. It’s an old and interesting metal lure with a lot of collector interest, and should be worth around $30-$50. To see a picture of Samuel Allcock, click here.”
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Nice score, Joe. I’m sure you could find a pike in Quebec still eager to take a swing at this lure, but with a $30 – $50 price tag, it might not be worth the risk. Thanks for sending and keep an eye on your mailbox, because there’s a set of Berkley Aluminum Pliers headed your way.

If you’ve already sent me photos of your vintage tackle, keep checking every Thursday to see if I chose it for an appraisal by Dr. Todd. If you haven’t and want to enter the contest, email photos of your old tackle to fstackle@gmail.com, along with your name, mailing address, and story of how you acquired the gear. If I use it in a Thursday post, you get a pair of Berkley Aluminum Pliers (above) worth $50.