Heddon Crackleback Lure

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December 13, 1997 - Vol. 2., No. 25

Heddon Crackleback Lure

A fishing lure from a more 'modern' period, the Heddon Crackleback was first issued in 1971. Actually, this was made by "Daisy-Heddon" since by 1971, Daisy Mfg. had owned Heddon for almost 10 years (1962).

The Crackleback was made in two sizes, a 3/8 ounce, 3 7/8" size (catalog #8000) and a 5/8 ounce, 4 1/2" size (catalog #8050). It is made of plastic, has painted eyes, and two treble hooks. The name of the lure, "Heddon Crackleback" appears on the bottom side of the diving lip.

The name 'crackleback' is in reference to the paint design which gives the appearance of cracked paint. It is interesting to note that very early fishing lures by Heddon and other companies used this paint design back in the early 1900's. Back then, however, Heddon, however, didn't call it crackleback but always referred to it as 'fancy back'.

In its first year of manufacture, Heddon's 1971 catalog listed ten (10) colors as shown in the table below, plus in 1972, another color, SSD (Silver Shad) was added. Thereafter, the colors remained the same until the lure ceased being manufactured in 1976. Some un-cataloged colors have also been found.

**CRACKLEBACK CATALOGED COLOR CODES & COLORS**
WBC - White/Black	YBC - Yellow/Black	WBR - White/Brown
BAR - Barfish	SSD - Silver Shad	GSD - Green Shad
YOC - Yellow/Orange	GBC - Green/Black	BOC - Black/Orange
WGC - White/Green	WYC - White/Yellow

**CRACKLEBACK UN-CATALOGED COLOR CODES & COLORS**
CBC? - Chrome/Black [1]	XRY - Yellow Shore Minnow [1]	L - Perch [1]
NC - Natural Crab? [1]	VGE? - Metallic Green? [2]	RH - White, Red Head[2]

[1] Picture courtesy of Darwin Stewart!

[2] Picture courtesy of Billy Taylor!

(Pictures courtesy of Billy Taylor)
12/1/2021 UPDATE: Two additional uncataloged colors have been added. The metallic green is not only uncataloged for this lure but is also at the very least a variation of the color VGE but has a red stripe running down either side, something the standard VGE color does not have.

Shown in the picture above are two variations of the cataloged colors. The top picture shows the color Green Shad but one has the spot on either side of the head while the other does not. The Green Crackleback has large glass eyes according to the owner.

~~UNKNOWN LURE~~

Unknown Lure

This unusual wooden lure measures 3 1/2" in length and is unmarked. The color is indicative of Creek Chub's Pikie Scale.

UNKNOWN UPDATE:The 'unknown' has been identified as a Shur-Strike Flat Face lure and in fact is pictured in Harold Smith's Collector's Guide To Creek Chub Lures & Collectibles on page 175.

If you have any further information on any of the items displayed on this page which you'd like to share, please send your comments to me and I'll update the page accordingly. Contributions of interesting items and/or unknowns are encouraged! Lures pictured in Lure Lore are not for sale!

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