Old lures in box, more for collectors items or catching fish?

[fishermantony]

I search through lures alot on E Bay as alot of you probably do and have come across many old lures in boxes that look great.  My question is, do the majority of people pay high price for these lures to keep them in there boxes as collectors items or do people buy them to catch fish.  Me personally, I'm not much into lures as collectors items, I'm concerned about catching bass.  I'd buy a lure if I thought it had unique qualities that would give me some kind of advantage and may be something the bass haven't seen.

[SPEEDBEAD.]

For the most part, I don't know which lures are worth a lot of money and should be kept in perfect condition.  If I spend a lot of money on a lure, it gets fished.

I won't fish the lures I got when my grandfather passed.  They are worth some nice coin, but I still wouldn't fish them if they were only worth a couple bucks.

I guess for me, it would all depend on where they came from. 

[Grey Wolf]

Beleve it or not , people buy them as collectables.

[Ima Bass Ninja]

Beleve it or not , people buy them as collectables.

x2...got a friend with a  whole room  dedicated to nothing but old tackle that has never / or will never see the water. Brings a tear to my eye every time i step foot in there.

[rboat]

I collect lures for fun, but all of mine have or will see the water at some point. If they are older or rare, collectors pay big bucks especially if they are in the original box or packaging. I guess it depends what you get and if you are willing to possibly lose it.

I fish first and collect second as a side hobby.

I believe most of us on this site have a little collector in us and have way more lures than we will ever need. Hope this helps. Good luck and don't outbid me on ebay! 

[fishermantony]

The only lure I have that I won't fish is a Shad Rap that I found while fishing on the shore in 1990.  It's a reminder of where I came from and kind of like a good luck charm.  I also will not fish with anything I ever get passed on from my grandparents.

[Raul]

I bet you that there are a lot less people purchasing lures as collectibles than you think, shure there are certain lures you are interested in keeping as they are, rare,expensive, hard to get ( like them Megabass Gatta X ) but as for me, I purchase lures to fish with them, so in reality only very few lures were purchased as collectibles, maybe 20 out of the 700+ cranks I 've got were purchased as collectibles. So what 's going to happen in the future with those baits ? many of them will become collectibles as they become rare.

Let me put you an example, Rapala 's Shallow Running Fat Rap, I 've got the ones I fish with and the backups I purchased in the early 90 's , nowdays they cost three times more than what they used to cost, and more if they are NIB like some of the ones I got, I ain 't planning to sell them, nowdays I wouldn 't probably open a backup if I happen to loose any of the ones in use, why ? cuz there are better lures than the SFR, I still use mine but they see less action every year.

There 's no point in purchasing an expensive old lure to fish with it when there are better more modern lures to catch fish that cost a lot less.

[Fishes in trees]

I do both.  Should I find lures in a bargain bin that I think are neat or collectible (happens very seldom) I'll buy them and put them in my collection box.  One old geezer told me once that he knew guys who collected lure boxes if they couldn't find the lure.   Now, for the most part I carefully open all hard lures I buy and save all the packaging in a waterproof/air resistant container.  The cheap orange buckets and lids from home depot work great for this.

For the most part, I cant drive by a fishing tackle store or a place that sells fishing tackle without stopping.  Can't do it.  A few years ago in an undesirable neighborhood in KC, stopped at a mom & pop store on a whim because I thought I saw a fishing rod through the window.  They were in the process of closing out all their fishing tackle.  The fishing rod was junk.  The half a dozen 60's era wooden bombers were not.

At $2 per hit, he thought he was getting the better of me.

While this isn't the main focus of my fishing addiction, I've never done the math, but I wouldn't be suprised if I spent $150 or so a year, getting stuff like this.

For KC area guys, there is an amazing military surplus store in the Argentine neighborhood of KCK that has an amazing collection of vintage fishing rods.  Rods that at one time were towards the top of the line rods that now are 15-30 or more years old and never been fished.  I think Mickey's is the name of the place, but I'm not sure and it has been several years since I've been there.

[fishermantony]

I bet you that there are a lot less people purchasing lures as collectibles than you think, shure there are certain lures you are interested in keeping as they are, rare,expensive, hard to get ( like them Megabass Gatta X ) but as for me, I purchase lures to fish with them, so in reality only very few lures were purchased as collectibles, maybe 20 out of the 700+ cranks I 've got were purchased as collectibles. So what 's going to happen in the future with those baits ? many of them will become collectibles as they become rare.

Let me put you an example, Rapala 's Shallow Running Fat Rap, I 've got the ones I fish with and the backups I purchased in the early 90 's , nowdays they cost three times more than what they used to cost, and more if they are NIB like some of the ones I got, I ain 't planning to sell them, nowdays I wouldn 't probably open a backup if I happen to loose any of the ones in use, why ? cuz there are better lures than the SFR, I still use mine but they see less action every year.

There 's no point in purchasing an expensive old lure to fish with it when there are better more modern lures to catch fish that cost a lot less.

Very well put.