By Doug Bucha
While sitting at this years Niles Riverfest waiting for visitors to bring in antique fishing tackle this year, a local antique dealer stopped by.
Ric Ladonski and I have set up a historic display of antique fishing tackle at the Niles Riverfest the past 20 years for visitors to enjoy. Each year the dealer waits for Ric and me to set up so he can make his yearly visit. This year was no exception.
Over the years he has come in with some off the wall finds. This years find surprised even me. In his hand was a 1950s flip open cigarette lighter with a leaping fish on the front, but it was the back of the lighter that would really catch my eye.
Engraved on the back was an advertisement, which stated: POP-LUR COMPANY - 21 N. Barrett - Niles, Michigan. This was a hometown company that I knew nothing about. I knew that I had to have the lighter so I paid the dealer his asking price.
This is where the challenge, questions, and the fun began. What fishing lures did this company make? Who owned the company? When was the company in business and so on?
I would have asked these same questions about any unknown company, but a local company? You bet! I couldnt wait to get started.
I was in luck. Pat Furner was in the tent with us that day. He was on his i-Pad in and quickly found a few answers to these questions before the money had even exchanged hands.
James F. Gondeck was the owner and inventor of the Jim Bug. Jim was born in South Bend in 1926. He was a Niles High School graduate and a W.W.II Navy veteran. Jim returned to Niles after the war where he worked and retired from Tyler Refrigeration in 1993. He had owned and operated the Pop-Lur Company for many years prior to his passing in 2001.
But, what lure did he make and what did it look like?
Then I noticed the words, Fishing Flies, on Pats i-Pad. It was something about these words that struck a bell. In the wooden tackle box that I carry to the Riverfest every year, was a card of rubber bugs. I recalled that I had picked these up from a visitor to the Riverfest many years before, but had never made a connection before this time.
When you collect antique fishing lures you sometimes luck-out once, but lucking out twice in finding things for your collection is very rare. All these years I had forgotten all about the card of bugs in the tackle box. I had the answer to what the lures looked like in my tackle box all the time.
One of the by-laws of the National Fishing Lure Collectors Club is that if a member finds information about an unknown fishing lure, he should share that material with the public. I hope that you enjoyed this short bit of Niles history, and the fishing flies that Mr. Gondeck gave fishermen. It is hoped that some of you may have had the privilege of knowing Jim and may have even had the pleasure of catching a nice mess of fish using his JIM BUGS. I think he would have liked that.
(Contact Buch at 269-683-0686 or ndbucha@yahoo.com)