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November 30, 1997 - Vol. 2, No. 24

Wood's Sonic

Wood's Sonic

Wood's Sonic Lures

A casual glance at these two lures might lead one to believe they were Heddon Sonics. Closer examination, however, reveals they are not. Rather these two lures are Wood's lures, made by the Wood Manufacturing Company of Conway, Arkansas.

Actually, the identity of these lures are 'unknown' in that are far as I know, are not in any published reference. Both have a striking similiarity to a Wood's lure known as the Spot Tail Minnow, particularly the bottom one which has a spot on the tail. The Spot Tail Minnow, however, has a metal lip and line tie on the front as compared to these which have no lip and the line tie on top.

Both have a lead eye but the paint on the bottom one is missing and the top one is a smaller size than the bottom, so the lures are somewhat different.

What makes these lures special, however, is the fact that these were, indeed, the forerunner of the Heddon Sonic lure. Heddon bought the rights to this lure from Wood's and with a bit of re-designing, produced the Sonic in 1957.

Wood Manufacturing went out of business in 1949 but in the late 1960's, the company's assets including equipment, remaining lures, etc., were bought by a company in Ft. Smith, Arkansas. Excluded from the deal, however, were the patent and manufacturing rights. None-the-less, the company began making lures again and in fact, added 4 new baits to the Wood's line before production was shut down by the patent holders on threats of lawsuits.

The value of most Wood's lures range from $10 to $20 with a couple going as high as $40-$50.

UNKNOWN LURE

Unknown Lure

This fly lure is about 5/8" in body length and 1/2" in diameter. It appears it is made of a molded material and not wood. Whether or not the plastic feather skirt is original is also unknown.

UNKNOWN UPDATE! Fellow collector and NFLCC member Don Vaughan wrote to say that he believed the 'unknown' was a Fred Arbogast Hula Popper fly. Don says there are 3 or 4 variations of this fly. Another NFLCC collector, Bob Slade, confirmed Don's assessment and said it was not the earliest variation but a later one. It is made of balsa wood. Thanks to Don and Bob for this information!

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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Web Author: Tom Jacomet
Copyright ©1997 by Tom Jacomet - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED