Vintage Tackle Contest: Pflueger Luminous Spinner

Moving along in our weekly vintage tackle contest, here’s another cool old lure photo sent in by Samuel Groves. Once again, this lure came with a great story, but I was also interested to find out from vintage tackle expert Dr. Todd Larson of The Whitefish Press and “Fishing For History” blog whether this was a homemade spinner or factory model, as it’s certainly like nothing I’ve seen on shelves lately. Samuel wrote:

_Here is a lure my great uncle left me. He called it a guinea feather spinner and said it was a real fish catcher. The lure says Pflueger 1 Tandem Spinner. As best as I remember he only owned three lures; this one, an old Heddon Lucky 13 that I lost in a tree and wish I had back, and a spinner he called a Hawaiian Wiggler that he lost to a big pike.__
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Now for the moment of truth. Dr. Todd says…

_”Your great uncle had great taste in lures because if limited to just three lures, you could do far worse than than his choices. This one is a classic Pflueger Luminous Tandem Spinner manufactured by the Enterprise Manufacturing Company in Akron, Ohio. It was offered from the mid-1890s to the mid-1950s, and made in at least eight sizes, ranging from the tiny “Size 000″ which had blades 23/32” long, to the large “Size 4″ with 3” blades. The paint on the underside is luminous and glows in the dark; if you use a camera flash on it it should still light up. It was (and is) a top fish getter, and is particularly good for smallmouth bass. The value of your Luminous Tandem Spinner is around $10, which could double if found on the original card. You can see a catalog cut of this neat lure by clicking here.“__
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I had no idea they even made lures back then that glowed in the dark. You learn something new everyday. Incredible find, Samuel. Hang on to that one. Thanks for sending the photo. Your new pliers are on the 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.