It All Started With A Flex Ike

My Dad had a handful of these Flex Ikes he had ordered directly from the company, Kautzky Sporting Goods out of Fort Dodge, Iowa in the early 1960's and we fished them hard. This was well before the days of the internet and replacing a lost lure was no easy task so we made sure to do everything we could to not lose these prized lures. I can't tell you how many fish we caught on them, but it had to be in the hundreds if not thousands over the years. One day after I had hooked a rather modest pike fairly deep, my dad needed to help get an old wooden Flex Ike out of its jaws. While he was in the back of the boat, I had my rod in my hand in the front patiently waiting. While he was working to free the fish, it jumped and freed the lure by itself. Now I know that seems like good news, but I had made one key mistake my dad had told me over and over. I had not opened the bail on my spinning reel to release the line tension. When the fish jumped and freed the hook it pulled the line on the end of my rod and essentially created a slingshot effect. When the hook freed the fish, it shot the lure directly into the palm of my dad’s hand, well past the barbs. Needless to say, our fishing day was over.

Now we were at least a couple of miles back in this millpond and try as he might, he could not get those barbs free of his hand. Also, me being probably all of about six years old I was of little use rowing the boat. So, my dad had to row the entire way back to the landing with that lure embedded into his hand. I don't think he said a word. I know I didn't. Then we loaded the boat into the back of our pickup, and he drove us home. There I watched as he had the neighbor cut the lure out with a utility knife careful not to ruin it. I don't think he flinched, but I sure did.

A Kautzky Flex Ike FL-2 in the Yellow Spot color with the original box.

Fast forward about twenty years and I started to collect fishing lures after learning about this thing called Ebay. A friend had turned me on to the hobby and suggest I start with a lure that doesn't cost much and has sentimental value. I knew right away which lure to start with. Well all these years later I am still collecting Flex Ike lures and thousands of other ones. While my Flex Ike collection is not worth monetarily all that much (most in the $10-20 range) they hold the most sentimental value to me. Also front and center in my Flex Ike display case are my dad’s three Flex Ike's he had left in his tackle box including the very same Red and White one that was embedded in his hand. Those are priceless to me.

As I look back and go down memory lane sadly that Old Millpond is now silted in and not fishable anymore. The Flex Ike and Lazy Ike lures aren't made anymore. Kautzky who made the original model sold out around 1963 and the company was bought and sold numerous times after that. The molds are now owned by PRADCO but are not currently in production. I still however have my dad and the fond memories of us fishing that Millpond. I still fish older beat-up Flex Ikes I find and add new ones to my collection as I can although it has become more difficult to find colors I don't already have. The passion from those early days though laid the foundation for what has become a lifelong pursuit of days spent fishing and a chasing down old fishing lures and history. I hope to pass these on to my children as well.

Three original Flex Ikes owned by the author's father. The red and white one was embedded in his hand many years ago in this story. They are the prized possessions of the author and sit prominently in his collection.

The Flex Ike was first introduced in 1957 by Kautzky Lazy Ike and produced in wood. It originally came in two sizes and six different colors (Red and White, Black Scale, Perch, Yellow Spot, Orange Spot and Silver Scale). Over time the color and size selections were expanded, and the body shape was slightly redesigned when it was molded in plastic around 1970 by the Lazy Ike Corporation. The Flex Ike, later renamed the Jointed Lazy Ike was in production up until PRADCO purchased the Lazy Ike rights and assets sometime around 1991.