CREEK CHUB RARITIES FROM THE FABULOUS FIFTIES
By Fred Sweeney

Some collectors specialize in pre-1940 baits because they feel lures made in the 1950's or later are too modern to be considered collectible or rare enough to be worth pursuing. In reality, a combination of collecting experience and a close study of Creek Chub catalog offerings from the postwar years proves that many baits produced by CCBCo in the later years are extremely difficult to locate.

The focus of this study centers on Creek Chub baits offered during the 1950's. The rarity of some baits from this period will be covered here with a sampling from 12 different series. Certainly there are others that could have been added to the mix if space permitted.

After WWII an untold number of men (and women) returned from the war ready to start a new life. The market for recreational goods such as fishing equipment exploded as a pent up demand curtailed by the Great Depression and the war years finally blossomed into an insatiable appetite for the "good life".

In earlier years Creek Chub allowed customers to order directly from the factory if necessary. Beginning in the late 1940's this service was discontinued because the company was eighteen months behind on orders! A combination of spectacular demand and a scarcity of lure components from foreign suppliers couldn't be sorted out for several years. By the 1950's Creek Chub was running smoothly and began to add new baits and colors to their expanding line. This huge output of lures might lead current collectors to believe that any lure from this generally prosperous era would still be available in quantity today. Actually this is true for certain colors/baits which were in great demand during that period. No one today has a problem finding a #700 Pikie NIB from this era. However, there are many other factors that need to be addressed before we can assume all of these 1950's lures should be lumped together into one great tackle box.

Sometimes there are confusing signs. Many collectors believe that a "common" color in one series must be easily available in all other series, too. In some cases common colors weren't introduced in a particular series until long after its introduction. The resulting rarity is unknown to those who haven't studied the old catalogs and charted the limited years of production.

Basically, the rarity of any collectible lure is determined by FIVE major factors:

1. The original demand by anglers during the years of production. Some series and/or colors never became popular resulting in short production runs.
   
2. Production priorities - For instance, a decision to make several smaller baits with the same amount of wood as one large lure, thus retiring the larger bait.
   
3. Changing tastes of anglers who tired of a previously successful series or a popular color.
   
4. Variations - One CCBCo example is glass eye baits (discontinued in 1960) versus tack eye lures of the same series. If a series or color wasn't introduced until the late 1950's, you can bet there wasn't enough time to build a huge angler following before the variation changed.
   
5. Condition - Unlike the other factors, which were based on original production decisions, the condition of a lure is a later collector driven rarity indicator. Everyone knows there are more VG examples of a lure available than Mint specimens.

Some collectors confuse value with rarity. Value isn't listed as one of the five factors of rarity shown above because price isn't always a true indicator of a lure's availability. A fairly common lure that is part of a very popular series may be much more expensive than another scarcer bait from the same era and maker, especially if the lower cost lure is from an obtuse or out of favor series.

Note: Some of these colors and/or lures were made before AND after this study but the center of discussion will focus on the 1950-1960 period. Only catalog colors are mentioned here.

• Below are several Creek Chub examples from the Fabulous Fifties that exhibit rarity for some or all of the reasons mentioned above.
• Whenever years of production for a particular color are mentioned, it's a reference to the exact series covered below and not all series.

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