Winchester 3 Hook Minnow Antique Lure

This Winchester 3 Hook Minnow Antique Lure is a great example of a great bait from the bygone era. Dating back over a century to roughly 1919, Winchester began to sell fishing tackle for over a decade. The lures themselves, not lasting as long as the rods and reels. Identifying Winchester Antique Fishing lures can often be easy as the maker gave us a few easy eye tests.

We have a very nice 3 Hook Underwater Minnow in on consignment this week, click below to view.

Winchester 3 Hook Minnow Antique Lure

First and foremost the props are offset. The front prop points forward as most all antique fishing lures do, and the rear prop is flattened and faces up. We only see this in a few other lures ever, so this is your first and easiest identifier. Secondly if you can get close enough to see that front prop you see its marked on the left side; Winchester Trade Mark, the right will have a 4 digit series of numbers. As a collector we wish every lure has a model number stamped right on it. Can you imagine looking at a Heddon minnow and it was stamped 103 and corresponded to a 3 Hook Heddon 100 in aluminum, well that is what Winchester did with these.

The Winchester Minnow Antique Lure was a model series 9010. The last number is where you will find its color. Take for example one of the underwater minnows in the gallery below. This classic antique lure is a color 0. You can use the little chart below to help identify you color and model number.

0 : White, Green Back Stripes, Red Head
1 : Green Gold Back with a Yellow Belly
2 : Green with Silver Sides
3 : Gold Scale
4 : Red
5 : Crackle Back
6 : Rainbow
7 : Silver Scale

While having the information stamped on the front prop sets itself apart from the other makers, the rest of the Winchester 3 Hook Minnow Antique Lure fall in line with the Fishing Lure industry. We have a wooden bodies fishing lure which measures 3″ in length. the vintage piece is adorn with the desirable glass eyes and dual front and rear props. The lure features a single belly weight to help bring it down to the depths of its prey. Lastly, the underwater minnow has 3 trebles, 2 mounted to the side via cup rig hardware, and the third is a trailing treble hanging from the rear closed eyelet.