| How the Spook got its name. |
By ERIC SHARP Detroit Free Press
DOWAGIAC, Mich. — Almost every serious angler
knows about the Heddon Zara Spook, one of the
top-10 artificial lures of all time and still a standby
after 80 years. But did you ever wonder how it got
its name?
The original wood version, the Zaragossa, was made in
the 1920s for fishing in Florida. After watching a
prototype lure zigzag across the water in a test tank,
a Heddon worker remarked that it wiggled its butt just like the hookers on Zaragoza Street in Panama City.
The misspelled name stuck, and when the plastic version came out a few years later, workers dubbed it the Spook because
they thought it looked ghostly when light shone through its translucent body.
You can see an original Zara Spook and the 1902 Dowagiac Minnow, which started the modern lure industry, at the
National Heddon Museum in this southwest Michigan town.
The museum also contains virtually every other product Heddon made, from fine bamboo fly rods to fishing reels and radio
antennas for World War II Jeeps.
Until the 1950s, fishing tackle was dominated by a handful of companies in Michigan and Indiana. Most of their names
survive today on products made by bigger companies that gobbled up the originals like pike gorging on minnows. But from
World War I to the 1950s, anglers bought tackle from companies like Creek Chub, Paw Paw, Shakespeare, Helin and
Heddon.
The Heddon museum is funded from the pockets of Dowagiac mayor Don Lyons and his wife, Joan. They are history
buffs who own Lyons Industries, which makes showers, whirlpool baths, sinks and other bathroom and kitchen equipment.
"We get about 500 people a year," Joan Lyons said. "We're only open regularly from 6:30-8:30 p.m. on Tuesdays and 1:30-
4 p.m. on the last Sunday of the month. But if anyone wants to visit at another time, all they have to do is make an
appointment by calling us at home. We only live three blocks away."
The collection includes almost every lure Heddon made, some worth $5,000 or more. The most valuable are not always the
oldest, but have the rarest colors and finishes. Lures in original boxes are worth three to five times more than without a box.
There also are dozens of fishing rods, reels and other tackle, along with displays of Heddon ski poles, golf club shafts, violin
bows and other efforts at diversification.
"Even when these things were new, they weren't cheap," Don Lyons said. "Heddon prided itself on quality and aimed at the
top of the market."
Figures from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics bear out his argument. The original Dowagiac Minnow sold for $1 in
1902, equivalent to $25 today. A typical Heddon fly rod in 1913 sold for about $6-$20, equal to $250-$800 today, and a
solid fiberglass rod that was for $25 in 1950 would be $150 in 2006 dollars.
James Heddon started the tackle company in 1902, and it eventually became the world's biggest. It was his second major
business success. Born in 1845, he followed in his father's footsteps as a beekeeper and by 1885 was a world authority who
wrote one of the most authoritative books on the subject. He also invented a better beehive, ran a school for beekeepers,
shipped Heddon-label honey around the country in distinctive jars, and owned and edited a newspaper.
"We have a record of one sale where he shipped 10,000 pounds of honey to New York City," Don Lyons said. "It wasn't a
small operation."
James Heddon was 57 when he started the tackle company with $1,000 invested by son Will, an angler and businessman.
Local lore says Heddon got the idea for his first lure when he was waiting by the Dowagiac millpond to go fishing with a
friend and killed time by whittling a piece of wood into a fish shape.
When the friend arrived, Heddon flipped the wood into the water, and it was hit by a big bass. While he never denied that
story, Heddon often said that other anglers, including his grandfather, had hit upon the idea of wooden bait imitations before
he did.
After Heddon died in 1911, sons Will and Charles and a grandson ran the firm until 1951.
The company eventually was bought by Pradco, which moved manufacturing to Arkansas and closed the Dowagiac plant in
1984.
"When he was a kid, Don used to go Dumpster diving at the factory to find discarded (lure) bodies because he couldn't
afford to buy them," Joan Lyons said. "And he passed the old Heddon plant every day on his way to work. Bricks were
falling out of the walls, and the pipes had burst.
"He and I like history, and we didn't want to see a part of Dowagiac's history disappear, so we bought the buildings in
1991."
Don and Joan Lyons moved part of their production line into one building and opened the National Heddon Museum in the
other in 1995.
DOWAGIAC, Mich. — Almost every serious angler
knows about the Heddon Zara Spook, one of the
top-10 artificial lures of all time and still a standby
after 80 years. But did you ever wonder how it got
its name?
The original wood version, the Zaragossa, was made in
the 1920s for fishing in Florida. After watching a
prototype lure zigzag across the water in a test tank,
a Heddon worker remarked that it wiggled its butt just like the hookers on Zaragoza Street in Panama City.
The misspelled name stuck, and when the plastic version came out a few years later, workers dubbed it the Spook because
they thought it looked ghostly when light shone through its translucent body.
You can see an original Zara Spook and the 1902 Dowagiac Minnow, which started the modern lure industry, at the
National Heddon Museum in this southwest Michigan town.
The museum also contains virtually every other product Heddon made, from fine bamboo fly rods to fishing reels and radio
antennas for World War II Jeeps.
Until the 1950s, fishing tackle was dominated by a handful of companies in Michigan and Indiana. Most of their names
survive today on products made by bigger companies that gobbled up the originals like pike gorging on minnows. But from
World War I to the 1950s, anglers bought tackle from companies like Creek Chub, Paw Paw, Shakespeare, Helin and
Heddon.
The Heddon museum is funded from the pockets of Dowagiac mayor Don Lyons and his wife, Joan. They are history
buffs who own Lyons Industries, which makes showers, whirlpool baths, sinks and other bathroom and kitchen equipment.
"We get about 500 people a year," Joan Lyons said. "We're only open regularly from 6:30-8:30 p.m. on Tuesdays and 1:30-
4 p.m. on the last Sunday of the month. But if anyone wants to visit at another time, all they have to do is make an
appointment by calling us at home. We only live three blocks away."
The collection includes almost every lure Heddon made, some worth $5,000 or more. The most valuable are not always the
oldest, but have the rarest colors and finishes. Lures in original boxes are worth three to five times more than without a box.
There also are dozens of fishing rods, reels and other tackle, along with displays of Heddon ski poles, golf club shafts, violin
bows and other efforts at diversification.
"Even when these things were new, they weren't cheap," Don Lyons said. "Heddon prided itself on quality and aimed at the
top of the market."
Figures from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics bear out his argument. The original Dowagiac Minnow sold for $1 in
1902, equivalent to $25 today. A typical Heddon fly rod in 1913 sold for about $6-$20, equal to $250-$800 today, and a
solid fiberglass rod that was for $25 in 1950 would be $150 in 2006 dollars.
James Heddon started the tackle company in 1902, and it eventually became the world's biggest. It was his second major
business success. Born in 1845, he followed in his father's footsteps as a beekeeper and by 1885 was a world authority who
wrote one of the most authoritative books on the subject. He also invented a better beehive, ran a school for beekeepers,
shipped Heddon-label honey around the country in distinctive jars, and owned and edited a newspaper.
"We have a record of one sale where he shipped 10,000 pounds of honey to New York City," Don Lyons said. "It wasn't a
small operation."
James Heddon was 57 when he started the tackle company with $1,000 invested by son Will, an angler and businessman.
Local lore says Heddon got the idea for his first lure when he was waiting by the Dowagiac millpond to go fishing with a
friend and killed time by whittling a piece of wood into a fish shape.
When the friend arrived, Heddon flipped the wood into the water, and it was hit by a big bass. While he never denied that
story, Heddon often said that other anglers, including his grandfather, had hit upon the idea of wooden bait imitations before
he did.
After Heddon died in 1911, sons Will and Charles and a grandson ran the firm until 1951.
The company eventually was bought by Pradco, which moved manufacturing to Arkansas and closed the Dowagiac plant in
1984.
"When he was a kid, Don used to go Dumpster diving at the factory to find discarded (lure) bodies because he couldn't
afford to buy them," Joan Lyons said. "And he passed the old Heddon plant every day on his way to work. Bricks were
falling out of the walls, and the pipes had burst.
"He and I like history, and we didn't want to see a part of Dowagiac's history disappear, so we bought the buildings in
1991."
Don and Joan Lyons moved part of their production line into one building and opened the National Heddon Museum in the
other in 1995.
