I wonder what has been the end of hundreds of lure lines? Did the originators retire, die, get tired of it or what? Are those old lure lines lost forever or did someone somewhere keep the written down formulas in a drawer somewhere? Those that stood the test of time most surely produced enough results to develop a following.

In Ohio we had a lure maker named Sheldon Colvin. Produced lures that by all accounts were excellent. Charles Dobbins used and liked them. Sheldon never wrote down his formulas nor passed them on to anyone. It’s my understanding that this is why Charles made sure that his formulas were passed down to Paul.

I remember seeing his “ Good Luck” lures.

Yep Was a good thing Asa found an apprentice. Its why I encourage everyone to develop a few of their own. its not easy but worth the effort. Simple is often best.

I would guess some fishing tackle (like a lot of other things) didn't get patented or the patent expired. Makers got bought out by bigger companies. Bigger got bought out and production was moved to China.
This would be an excellent argument for building your own lures, flys and tackle. Lots of resources for that.

Back in the 1960’s a fellow by the name of Pat Sedlak from Pennsylvania made and sold his own lures. He passed away and I don’t remember anybody taking over. So that was the end of his products. He is also the fellow that wrote the School Boy Trapper in 1960

Fuller Laugeman "Big Sky" lures worked well for me, and sometimes wonder where those recipes went.

I believe J & M furs out of MT ended up with the formulas. Check out link below for Big Sky lures that can still be purchased today.

https://montgomeryfur.com/index.php?content=big-sky-lures

John Shuke who did business as Seven Oaks line of baits and lures ended when Covid took him away.

Sorry, my bad. I was looking at an older Rapala lures catalog with a friend of mine yesterday. I was in fishing mode.

Leo Hoeft from Bruce WI Always used his lures. Asked him once if antone was going to continue his lures. He pointed to a man next to him. I don't believe he took it over. As I can no longer find them.

One line I used quite a bit was CO Lippert’s back in the late 70’s. Sunderlands made them a while but now they’re gone. The old Helfrich lures come to mind too. There were numerous “ small batch” lure makers that had good lure. They didn’t make in tremendous volume, mostly peddled at trapping meets. Anyone remember Tom Landers in Kentucky? Floyd McBeth in Texas? Robert Campbell and Mark Griffith in Tennessee ? Lure making is fascinating and a lot of work and expense.

I started out playing around with lure making for the reason Danny mentioned then got a little carried away. Alot of old formulations floating around if you know the right people it seems. Some are supposedly the formulations to well known lures and baits but who knows for sure. It would never happen but I always wonder if all the great lure makers got together and put their knowledge together into one formulation if something really special could be made. But I also understand with the time, knowledge, and money put into creating a good formulation why one would be hesitatint to share with others who aren't willing to put in the effort. Always wonder how similar are a lot of formulations too.

Finding a reliable source for some quality ingredients is getting harder to procure these days, not to mention more costly. I bet that and the physical work to make and prepare some of the ingredients is why some lines died out when another person was suppose to keep making them. The other solution is just use more artificials or lower quality or less of the ingredients thinking it won't affect the attractiveness of the overall formulation that much.

This is one of the reasons I don’t really trust some lure makers when they change hands. I also wonder about very successful lure makers who start taking short cuts in making their lures and living off their reputation. Lately, some baits and lures I purchased just don’t smell the same from previous years I purchased them.

Yes i can remember Tom Landers , caught alot of coyote with his lure ,i believe i still have some but it would be 12 to 14 years old.

He made good lures used them alot back in the day.

Thanks for the info silkyplainscoyot, appreciate that!

Possum Skinner on here made a killer beaver lure that actually worked in the summer down in the south! He passed away so that formula is gone forever. Imagine alot of home recipe's that never were big name's faded away in time as well. For whatever reason those that got someone else to carry on their line of lure just never seemed to work same as the originator's lure worked.

I make some lure, because I find it adds a lot to the fun and satisfaction. I use some well known lure makers products that perform well also. Iam old enough now that they will probably outlive me ! I have been lucky to find the ingredients I need, Iam not interested in selling any, I don't have enough "stuff" or the ambition to make it by the 5 gallon bucket to sell.