Lucky Strike Bait Works
Peterborough, Ontario

      The complete history of Lucky Strike can be read by going to the Lucky Strike website. I will only offer a very brief history of the company, as I'm sure I will do an injustice otherwise.

     Lucky Strike is well-known as being one of the oldest and most well established Canadian tackle companies. The founder of the company, Frank (Rusty) Edgar, graduated from pattern making in the 1920's and started working in the Automobile industry. When the Great Depression hit, Frank decided to return home to Peterborough, Ontario. It was during this time that Edgar began fine tuning his woodworking skills in the development of wooden fishing plugs. He began using broom handles, and evolved his skills to design a sleeker, and more effective fishing lure. Edgar spent countless hours in his garage perfecting his designs. He even starting asking neighbours to save their old wooden broom handles so he could use the wood. He tested out many of his lures on the banks of the Otonabee River in Peterborough. His success with the lures was noticed by other fisherman, who took an active interest in acquiring his designs. He started selling them by word of mouth for a $1 a piece.

     In an attempt to gain some exposure and promote his lure designs, he posted a display board of lures in a local barbershop. "A representative from Direct Factory Sales of Toronto, who was receiving a haircut, noticed the lures and contacted Edgar, who provided him with a selection of his best lures. In late 1931 Edgar was finally contacted once again by the agent, who gave Edgar an order for 10,000 plugs to be ready the following May at fifty cents each." - Lucky Strike Bait Works Website The rest is history. From that contract and on, Lucky Strike went on to produce thousands of lures with groundbreaking designs and a unique vision for the fishing industry. The production got so demanding that they even opened another plant in Cobourg, Ontario (1944) to make treble hooks, split rings and swivels.

     Unfortunately, the plant was switched to war production parts after World War II, and in 1952, all production was consolidated at the Peterborough facility. Lucky Strike continues to strive in a competitive North American market, and produces a diversified range of fishing tackle for the modern angler. Interesting to note that some of the early wooden lure designs, are still being manufactured today by the company. This is a true testament to Lucky Strike's renowned designs and pioneering vision. I have added some lure pictures below, to give you a sample of Lucky Strike's earlier production tackle. Please e-mail me if you have lure or tackle pictures to add to this site.

     Please note that the intention of this site is to inform. I am no expert on these companies, but I offer what information I know. Much of my information came from the 2004 Lucky Strike Calendar that was put together by members of C.A.F.T.A., and the other information I gathered came from collector friends and discussion with Lucky Strike. There are many lures not shown, but as I gain more pieces for my collection and take pictures of other lure designs, I will update this page to show you the amazing variations that this company produced over the years.

	Early Lucky Strike Submarine Early Lucky Strike Submarine with its original paperwork. Notice the early screw configuration for the ballast.
Photo courtesy of the Lucky Strike archive collection.	Old Lucky Strike R90 Lure Rare Lucky Strike R90 - Each lure was hand made and very few were ever created. It was only produced from 1933-35. The R90 name came from an early Cataloque number that was used to identify it.
Photo courtesy of the Lucky Strike archive collection. Photo courtesy of Bruce Spiers	Vintage Lucky Strike Walleye Minnow The Walleye minnow seems to be one of Lucky Strikes most popular and diverse lures. The lure came in many different colours, lip styles, body lengths, eye styles and hook types. There seem to be endless variations on the walleye theme.
	Antique Lucky Strike Siren Minnow The Siren Minnow was an early Lucky Strike bait that came in both glass eyes and tack eyes. Always looking to purchase more of these. The lure shown is a rare tack eye in Black with Silver Lightning Flash
Photos courtesy of the Lucky Strike archive collection.	Vintage Lucky Strike Frisky Minnow The Lucky Strike Frisky Minnow. This lure was produced for a short time from 1973-1974 as it shows in a 1975 Lucky Strike catalogue as a discontinued item.
	Old Lucky Strike Trolling Reel Here is a picture of a Lucky Strike trolling reel that was also in short production. Records indicate that there were only about 1000 of these produced.
Photo courtesy of Lucky Strike Archive collection.	Prototype Lucky Strike Metal Bait Early prototype Lucky Strike lure that was never put into full production by the company. It would appear the lure was created by taking a silver soldier and a pikee lip and bending them to form an articulated wiggler.