Tight Lines Tuesday Fred Arbogast

Tight Lines Tuesday by John Etchieson – Fred Arbogast made fishing line too – Among the collectors of antique and collectible fishing tackle the name Fred Arbogast is well known. Fred Arbogast was one of the true pioneers of the fishing lure industry. As with so many who enter the lure business, it began as a hobby. Arbogast began by carving lures for himself and friends while employed by the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company in his hometown of Akron, Ohio. As his lures began to become popular with area anglers, some of the local tackle shops began asking if they could buy them to sell in their stores.

Soon after, Arbogast became aware that he was really on to something. Armed with this new-found popularity and confidence in his lures, he resigned from Goodyear and decided to enter the lure business in earnest…that was in 1926. Two years later, the Fred Arbogast Company was officially formed. Fred’s famous lures like the Jitterbug, Tin Liz, Hawaiian Wiggler, and his other lures can still be found with relative ease today. However what cannot be found so easily is the fishing line that Fred (a national tournament casting champion) personally designed and had made for him by the G H Mansfield firm of Canton Massachusetts in 1929 and 1930. Less than a half dozen spools of the “Fred Arbogast Waterproofed Silk Casting Line” are known to have survived these past 90 years making it one of the rarest items to be found in any antique fishing tackle collection.

Comments or questions may be sent to John at johnsetch@aol.com