James Heddon's Sons Lures - Dowagiac, MI
James Heddon's Sons Lures were made in Dowagiac, MI. The first commercially available lure was the "Dowagiac" Casting Bait. It's now called the "Slopenose." 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. James Heddon's Sons lures are considered to be made by one of the early great lure makers.
After World War II, all lure manufacturers realized there was no need to continue to incorporate the little glass eyes into their wooden lures. First came little tack eyes and then simple painted eyes. In the 1950's, plastic lures started to be the predominate lure type. Heddon's venture into plastic lures started with what they called "Spook" lures. They were called "Spook" lures because you could see through them like a ghost.
Uncommon HEDDON Lures and Catalog
HEDDON Dowagiac Minnows and Boxes
HEDDON No. 150 Series in Bar Perch Finish with Wooden Box
HEDDON No. 1000 "NIGHT-RADIANT MOONLIGHT" Bait, circa 1910
HEDDON No. 00 and No. 1001 Series Lures with White Box
HEDDON Dowagiac No. 0 Series Lure with Blue Border Box
HEDDON No. 120 Series "BABY TORPEDO" Lure
HEDDON Dowagiac No. 150 Series Lure with Down Leaping Bass Box
HEDDON DOWAGIAC No. 150 and No. 200 Series Lures with Box
HEDDON Dowagiac No. 150 and No. 100 Series Lures in Silver Flitter Color
HEDDON Lures in Strawberry Spot Color Pattern
HEDDON Rainbow Pattern Lures
HEDDON Shiner Scale Pattern Lures
HEDDON Green Scale Pattern Lures
Heddon color pattern lures are from the collection of Mark Hostetler
Abbey & Imbrie 1907 Catalog Pages Showing HEDDON MINNOWS
HEDDON No. 500 Series "LITTLE JOE" Lure
HEDDON No. 1700 Series "NEAR SURFACE WIGGLER" Lure
HEDDON No. 2100 Series "CRAZY CRAWLER" Lure
HEDDON No. 2500 Series "LUCKY 13" Lure
HEDDON No. 3500 "LUNY FROG" Lure
HEDDON No. 4000 Series "MEADOW MOUSE" Lure
HEDDON No. 6500 Series "ZARAGOSSA" Blunt Nose and Regular Lures
HEDDON No. 7300 Series "PUNKINSEED" Lures
HEDDON No. 7300 Series "PUNKINSEED" Lure with Box
HEDDON No. 7500 Series "VAMP" AND No. 7400 "BABY VAMP"
HEDDON No. 7500 Series "VAMP" Lures with Box
HEDDON No. L-10 Series "LAGUNA RUNT" Lures with Boxes
HEDDON "GIANT VAMP" and "HUSKY FLAPTAIL" Lures
HEDDON No. 3200 Series "SPOON-Y FROG" Metal Lure
HEDDON No. 9240 Series "ZARA II" Color Variations
HEDDON No. 9250 Series "ZARA SPOOK" Color Variations
HEDDON No. 9255 Series "ZARA SPOOK" Color Variations
1905 HEDDON Magazine Ad
1921 HEDDON Field & Stream Magazine Ad
1922 HEDDON Field & Stream Magazine Ads
1922 HEDDON Field & Stream Magazine Ads
HEDDON Lure Collection
HEDDON Lure Collection
Lures in cases are from the collection of Bill Premaza