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ABU Angling: Lures and Baits
The first big
decision: Bait or Lures?
Lures
I
will look at Lure Models first and then in more detail later models by Decade of release.
Packaging (and colours) have varied greatly over 70 years and in different
markets.
Vic McCristal
the much revered Australian fisherman (ABU) , writer and futurist,
long ago wrote
so simply " A lure is a lie told by a (wo) man to a fish"
My collection started small but now number 700+ different ABU lures
Lures/baits have been created
for almost eternity by individuals fore personal use, from natural materials
like fur, feather, shells, timber etc and later with metal and plastics of all
types.
In the last century and
perhaps even a few decades earlier , businesses sought to create lures to sell
and the process continues to this day, with individuals hand crafting or
modifying existing designs to suit their own purpose as well as large
multinational companies such as Pure fishing constantly developing new product
for a growing market seeking the "killer" product .
Many might think ABU's lures
were always made in Sweden, BUT Not so, some from the earliest days were made in
and outsourced from
other countries while ABU was in its infancy. in the 50's these came in the form
of small rubber insects from Norway, then later as rubber popper plugs from
Burke Industries in USA , the Kynoch Popper from a Scottish Tay River design,
The Rebel in the USA when a design upgrade was implemented for the famous ABU
Killer! Italy and Germany also made spinner for ABU before all production ceased
in Europe/Sweden to go to the Far East in 1981.
While ABU had the ability to
bend cut shape mould metal in house, an interesting aspect of some ABU lure
production was that the fiddly assembly of spinner with a myriad number of parts
was often put together by stay at home housewives in Sweden from the late
forties to mid fifties in and around Svangsta Sweden. Guides were supplied
as a quality control measure and presumably assemblers were paid on a piece
rate. I am unsure exactly when this process stopped.
To my mind the major
categories are Plugs (wobblers), Spoons
and Spinners, Flies (ABU
Fly and
Optic
) as well as Perks (Jigs).
These others to be linked when I have myself more organized.
Spoons
are the most numerous of ABU's lures coming in combinations of weight, length,
colour, hooking style running into the thousands. They are designed to rotate
along their length and flutter when retrieve rates are varied.
Perks
are deployed vertically from a boat in the sea or lake and via an ice hole when
fishing in winter. They are "jigged" up and down at varying levels. Modern sonar
devices allow these lures to be worked most effectively in particular bands of
water or thermoclines.
Plugs
are generally plastic or wood construction and have 6 main form in the ABU
marque viz Minnow like Killer , Hi-lo and Snoky. The Kynoch , and Cello
are generally surface poppers, while the Cello Dip dives deeper and the
Rakan is the shrimp like lure. All wobble in their action and are jerked along
in pulses or wound in constantly at high , medium or low speed.
Flies
are obviously made from feather, fur or hair and are used in the surface
dry form or the under surface wet form. The Optic with its much
copied bulging eyes, the Salmo or long thin
weighted Tube fly came in a number of sizes , colours and
variations totalling a dozen variations. Colourful names like Callgirl, Playboy,
Pinup or Streamtease were used to identify each. The later dry flies made in
Asia (Torrfluga) cam in many assortment packs and differing
hook sixes. They were modelled on well known patterns like Black Gnat, Cock-y-Bondhu,
Blue Zulu, Greenwells Glory, Brown Ant and Royal Coachman FW to mention just a
few patterns.
Spinners
can be defined as a lure , some of which rotated through 360 degrees in its
entireity OR some whose body remain stationary with a various number of
revolving blade(s). They attracted fish by vibration in the water and /or
flashing/reflecting light from its blade. Blade types were Spinnaren,
Reflex, Droppen, HiFi, Flax etc with predomiantly single blades but
some had two. The other types are Screw, Virvellen, ABU Fly, Swim Fin,
Roulette, Double Spinnaren, Dropfish and Hogbom (famous for anti twist
design)
More graphics courtesy of
ABU catalogs to follow soon. The unusual expression
Must lures
were commonly referred to, which meant you really needed these lures for
particular species.
See my hand finished
and much prized Svangsta Spinnaren
here!
Packaging Variety
Lures were boxed in cardboard, later clear top boxes, bubble packs, as well
as card hangers and BOXED Must sets
Even bulk cheap bags of carded lures were sold!
My Golden ABU Lures
My
Custom
Painted
ABU Plugs
My Favourite Lure Studies
Hi-Lo
Killer
Toby
ABU Lures by the Decade
Click the beautiful old Record ABU lures image
above to enjoy many more lures from collectors all around
the world !
See prototypes, boxed sets and rare auction items.
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My
personal collection
of ABU/Record lures is in the process of being displayed on a Swedish flag,
with the five sections allocated to plugs, spoons, spinners, flies
and perks.
It will never be complete and hopefully being constantly
added to. Sectioned view below.
Continued sequential
development has occurred from 1940’s to the present. My experience is
concentrating more on from the earliest to the early 1980’s.
Lure/spinner/bait/fly/plug
(s) are our attempt to deceive the fish and entice it
into attacking it, either as a food source or purely out of territorial
aggression.
The
best discourse on Fish feeding habits I have ever read, is to
be found in an ABU Tight Lines catalog (Napp och Nytt).
Metal, plastic, wood,
feathers or other synthetic materials are all utilized in the battle to
attract a strike. More recent times has seen fishermen use smell,
flavourings, taste in conjunction with artificals to increase the strike
rate.
Detailed
Lure Links from ABU Catalogs
here
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Linked from above image, a quite definitive amount of highly
detailed information on the huge variety of ABU lures courtesy of many
good friends such as Mike
Elsworth from the UK, Derrik from Germany
, Hans from The Netherlands and Uffe from Sweden.
A passionate
group of researchers and contributers to
our expanding knowledge of ABU
Baits/Lures all around the worth. I feel priveleged that they
are so unselfish
and willing to share the fruits of their labour of many
years in unwrapping the riddles of the development of ABU Lures.
Looking for more to join in and share!
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In the search for all the ABU plugs,
I am still looking for a Kynoch, Rakan, bibbed Snorky (large size) and
a jointed Killer of any
colour or size, for my
lure display. Old Record spinners/spoons are still very scarce and yet to be
found in my collection
also.
Attention USA ABU fans,
Garcia
catalog images of lures to date are here
I am looking for ABU lures to document and study for
this site which were sold only in USA.
Any help
in buying, loaning, photographing or providing information on would be greatly
appreciated. Many metal lures in the old paper boxes interest me greatly.
Wallace generously shares
images from an extremely rare Garcia "jobbers" catalog he has dated 1949.
(slight possibility it could be 1950)
Larger more detail revealing images to be linked very soon!
Items such as Kelly, Doublespinnaren, Svangsta spinnaren, Toby, Hogbom,
Whirl or Whirler or Virveln, Tilly, Safir, Sally, ABU Spoon, Joker, Glimmy, Atom, Tommy, Hazard or Mac
Dan in any size or colour (or other metal lures) are needed to continue studies
as well as the plastics such as Killer, Hi-Lo (Heddon ABU Hi-Lo River Runt
Spook, any colour other than RH , I need
XBW, XRY, L and D for my collection. The Kynoch in T or the rakan in black
are still to be found to record.
Full recognition for any
assistence offered will be provided on this site. My name and website is well
known to many ABU reel collectors in USA, but unfortunately I do not know too
many ABU lure collectors there. Looking forward to getting
to know more and perhaps trade some doubles of lures too!
Using Spinning lures
They can range from very
small light freshwater outfits of a metre and a half using
very light lines and lures through to high speed land based
game fishing from rocky headlands or wading in the surf,
using rods of three metres or more and large threadlines
filled with braid and casting heavy metal.
An interesting article written by Al McClane found in
December 73 Modern Fishing is here. |
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to
follow as material is created
Using Jigging Lures
Using Wobbling Lures
Using Trolling Lures
Using Flies/Lures
If you have any other lures, that are un-needed or
doubles in your collection and are available for
swapping
or a reasonable fee, I would be
very pleased to hear from you.