James Heddon's Sons Lures, Dowagiac, MI
James Heddon's first commercially available lure was the "Dowagiac" Casting Bait. It was a white lure with a blue sloped nose and a red metal color. He received a patent for the lure on April 1, 1902. By 1905, Heddon was producing a number of different underwater minnow designs. You can tell the oldest models because they had three long flowing gill marks painted under the large glass eyes. The lures became famous because of their high quality and they caught fish. Early Heddon catalogs state that their minnows have 7 to 12 coats of special porcelain enamel and were guaranteed not to peel off or crack. Heddon continued to make glass-eyed wooden lures up until World War II. In the 1950's and later, plastic lures were the most common design. The first lures pictured below are all very early models. The earliest lures had cup hardware and screw eyes for the hooks. Then came what is called L-rig, then 2-piece and finally surface rigged hook hardware. The following photos show some of the basic color patterns and the wide variety of body styles. Early Heddon lures are very collectable.
Uncommon Heddon Lures
Heddon Dowagiac Minnows
More Heddon Dowagiac Minnows
Heddon 150 in Bar Perch Finish
Heddon Dowagiac 150 and 200's
Heddon Lures in Strawberry Spot Color Pattern
Heddon Rainbow Pattern
Heddon Shiner Scale Pattern
Heddon Green Scale Pattern
Heddon color pattern lures are from the collection of Mark Hostetler
Heddon 00
Heddon 1001
Abbey & Imbrie 1907 Catalog Pages Showing Heddon Minnows