I've always considered the Heddon No-Snag River Runt Spook one of the more 'hardware heavy' of lures but the Bumble Bug by Gowen Manufacturing Co. of Gowen, Michigan is a worthy rival!

The Bumble Bug lure has a metal bracket that extends from the middle of the belly of the lure to beyond the back end that holds 2 treble hooks. The bracket is mounted on the bottom of the lure at the back where normally a hook mount would be in such as way as to allow the bracket to see-saw up and down. The action of this bracket is provided by a front mounted spinner blade which is fastened to a offset shaft. As the blade turns, the offset shaft causes the bracket to sway.

Originally made of wood, this lure was first made in the 1940's with a body length of 2-1/2". The wood Bumble Bug is easily identified as it does not have the upturned tail that was later present on the plastic version produced in the 1950's.

A smaller wood version of this lure was also produced that measures 1-1/4" in length. It differs from the larger version in that the rear bracket is fixed and therefore does not move like the bracket on the larger version. This version also has a front prop.

The Bumble Bug comes in two different size clear plastic boxes, one measuring 3-3/4" x 1-1/4" x 1-3/4" and the other 3-3/4" x 1-3/4" x 1-3/4". The smaller box has a paper insert glued to the bottom of the box with fishing instructions. Some boxes also contained an a 'emergency order form' with fishing instructions printed on the reverse side. Click HERE and HERE to see pictures of the order form and fishing instructions.

The order form lists the following colors for this lure:

Frog
Gold
Silver
Black
Red/White
Black/White

Click HERE to see a picture of Terry Yorker's collection showing both wood and plastic versions in the various colors. The solid white one is a repaint and not a color this lure came in as far as is known. The yellow/black spot color is not a listed color but exists in both sizes. If you have any Bumble Bugs for sale or trade, you can e-mail Terry by clicking HERE!

The plastic Bumble Bug can usually be found for $25-$35 in the box. The wood versions will sell for more and are of course more difficult to find.

Related Articles / Pages:

Bumble Bug on My Bait Shop: The updated version of this page. Updated with new information, pictures and links from our parent website, My Bait Shop.

The Leighton Automatic Spin is shown in Karl White's Fishing Tackle Antiques and Collectibles book on page 13 as a 'dead bait trolling lure' by an unknown maker. Collector Ed Utley sent me a picture of this lure in it's original packaging! Ed notes that the packaging shows the name of the lure as the "Leighton Automatic Spin", made by Leighton Lure Co., Nashua, New Hampshire. The one pictured is the No.2 Trolling size and originally sold for $1.10. Ed stated that there are three hooks and one brass spinning device per package.

NOTE:The owner is interested in selling this lure - you can contact him by clicking HERE.

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. Lures pictured in Lure Lore are not for sale.

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