1950s Pikie Minnow #700 by The Creek Chub Bait Co.-Garrett, Indiana

This lure is a well preserved 1950-1960 “Pikie Minnow” made by The Creek Chub Bait Company in Garrett, Indiana-USA.

Excellent Condition
Cat No. 700 (original price $1.50)
5” Long
Three 1” Treble Hooks
With original box
Weighs approximately 1 ounce

The Creek Chub Bait Company introduced the iconic #700 Pikie Minnow lure in 1920 and discontinued the classic wooden version around 1978 when the company was sold. It became the most famous and best-selling wooden artificial bait of the 20th century!

C.C.B.C. was a sole proprietorship in Garrett that began in 1906 out of the basement of one George Schulthess. George was an avid angler and hunter who solicited partners Henry S. Dills and Carl H. Heinzerling to help create and patent several handmade and high-quality fishing lures. Henry Dills served as the chief inventor along with George and Carl as prototype anglers.
They started by handcrafting baits resembling live minnows, officially incorporating as the Creek Chub Bait Company in 1916 on Kaiser Street in Garrett.
Their first major release was the Wiggler, that revolutionized fishing as an early crankbait. Henry Dills perfected a patented scale-paint finish (spraying paint through netting or bridal veils) that made wooden baits look strikingly lifelike.
In 1920, they launched the #700 Pikie Minnow, designed to mimic a wounded pikeminnow. It broke records globally including a legendary 69-pound, 15-ounce muskie and a 22-pound, 8-ounce largemouth bass. By 1936, shipments reached 48 foreign countries, backed by a 75,000-name direct mail catalog system.
The factory relied heavily on a local workforce of women. Indiana railroad wives in Garrett used precise hand-painting skills that yielded 7 to 14 fine coats of lacquer and pigment per lure.
Company operations faced sharp cutbacks in 1942 due to the War Production Board, forcing staff down from 100 to 30 employees. Post-war demand prompted expansion, leading to the creation of a branch facility in Ashley, Indiana respectively named Lures, Inc.
Although famously loyal to Northern white cedar bodies and glass eyes well into the 1950s, the post WWII factory slowly integrated modern plastics into its catalog through the 1950s and 1960s. Glass eyes were transitioned to tack eyes by 1961. By the 1970s, the original three founders of Creek Chub Bait Company were deceased, and their families operated the business. In 1978, the original family-run operation was sold to the Lazy Ike Corporation. After the acquisition was finalized, the historic Garrett, Indiana plant officially ceased production in 1979.
But, in 2017, the state of Indiana erected a historical marker in Garrett to celebrate the factory's massive footprint on angling history and its pioneering employment of women in local industry. The brand name is preserved today under PRADCO Outdoor Brands.

FUN FACT
There are approximately several hundred active fishing lure companies and around 9
to 10 primary functional categories of lure types produced in the United States today, branching into tens of thousands of unique individual models and color variations.
1. Jigs-Weighted hooks with a molded head designed for vertical or bottom-bounce action.
2. Crankbaits & Plugs-Hard-bodied plastic or wood lures that dive and wobble to mimic fleeing baitfish.
3. Soft Plastics-Worms, grubs, and creature baits molded from pliable vinyl or silicone.
4. Spinnerbaits-Wire frames featuring one or more spinning metal blades paired with a skirted hook.
5. Spoons-Curved, concave metal pieces that wobble and flashlight like wounded prey.
6. Topwater Lures- Surface-disturbance baits like poppers, frogs, and prop-baits.
7. Swimbaits-multi-jointed or soft-bodied lures designed to realistically swim through the water column.
8. Flies- Feather, hair, and thread-tied artificial insects or baitfish used primarily in fly fishing.
9. Chatter Baits & Blade Baits- Vibrating metal-lipped jigs and blade-weighted lures that produce intense underwater turbulence.


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