South Bend Min-Oreno

The South Bend Min-Oreno lure was was made from 1933 to 1939 and came in three sizes, 3-1/2", 4-1/2" and a 6" version. All sizes came in tack eye and painted eye versions. The lure is shaped differently from the mainstream South Bend lures in that it has a flat body approximately 1/2" in thickness. It has two treble hooks attached with screw eyes in recessed cup rig and had a wire leader attached to the diving lip.

The 3 1/2" was cataloged as #926, a 4 1/2" as #927, and a 6" version, #928. All three sizes came in the standard colors of Red Arrowhead/White Body (RW), Yellow Perch Scale (YP), Green Scale Finish (SF), Pike Scale Finish (P), Scale Finish with Red Blend (RSF) and Red Arrowhead with Yellow Body (RY). All of the colors are considered common for this lure except RY.

This is a somewhat tough lure for South Bend collectors to find. The common colors have a value range of between $30-$50 with the tougher color RY from $50-$70.  (Note:  these price estimates are from the original 1997 article.)

Unusual Lure

It was not uncommon for tackle manufacturers to mark lures which didn't pass the quality control then let employees have them. Typically, such lures were marked "2nd" or "reject". This Heddon Baby Crab lure bears the '2nd' marking on the side as seen in both of the pictures. The color is believed to be Imitation Crab. The top picture shows a dark green body but the true color is more of a light green. This may be the reason the lure was marked '2nd' since the color should have been more golden brown.

If you have any further information on any of the items displayed on this page which you'd like to share, please send your comments to me and I'll update the page accordingly. Contributions of interesting items and/or unknowns are encouraged.

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