Glen Evans Shyster

[Dan Hughes]

When I was growing up in the 1950's, my smallmouth lure of choice was a 1/8 oz Shyster, yellow and black body, gold blade, and yellow feathered treble.  They cost 75 cents each.

I don't know if the Shyster is still around (I don't have the opportunity to fish for smallmouth much anymore), but I must have caught a thousand bass with it.  

For those not familiar with the Shyster - it was much like a Mepps spinner, but the body was torpedo-shaped and painted, usually dots on a solid color.  The top of the lure, where you tied your line, was keel-shaped instead of round, so the lure was less likely to spin during retrieval.  I found this picture:  

The worst problem was that it snagged easily, and since most of my smallmouth fishing was in fast, shallow water, I lost of lot of lures.  Often I would wade out to free them, even though that messed up the fishing for an hour or two.  But I was a kid, and 75 cents was hard to come by.

So....any other Shyster fans?  

[roadwarrior]

Welcome aboard!

Not familiar with the lure, but today's Panther Martin is very similar.

[Bladesmith,]

You caught me........ I'm old enough to remember them, too. They worked good for just about anything in the creek where I grew up. You're right , Seventy five cents WAS hard to come by, but they cost thirty nine cents at the Western Auto when I was a kid. Maybe I'm older than you.

[Dan Hughes]

They cost thirty nine cents at the Western Auto when I was a kid. Maybe I'm older than you.

I turn 60 in August, and I was buying those Shysters in the early 1960s.  

You could get Japanese-made knockoffs for something like three for a dollar, but they looked very poorly-made compared to the original.  

Nonetheless, I bought a lot of those fake ones and did well with them.  The fish didn't seem to be able to tell the difference.

[wvwask]

Strangely enough, I have several of those lures in a tacklebox here with a bunch of old tackle I have (yeah, collecting old tackle gets you through the winter months of cabin fever)

I may just have to tie them on and give them a shot (if bass season ever opens here, ok so it opens this saturday)

[Mrs.Bladesmith]

They cost thirty nine cents at the Western Auto when I was a kid. Maybe I'm older than you.

I turn 60 in August, and I was buying those Shysters in the early 1960s.

You could get Japanese-made knockoffs for something like three for a dollar, but they looked very poorly-made compared to the original.

Nonetheless, I bought a lot of those fake ones and did well with them. The fish didn't seem to be able to tell the difference.

OK, OK, we get the message. You are BOTH old farts.{Bladesmith turned 60 in March.}

Blade and I live in Idaho now, but we are originally from Oklahoma. Sounds like things cost more up there in yankee territory.  

[Dan Hughes]

Okay, that's the same fish you and your husband are holding in your separate pictures, right?

My cousin lived in Shawnee for a few years and I visited him there, but we never went fishing.  

[Mrs.Bladesmith]

Okay, that's the same fish you and your husband are holding in your separate pictures, right?

My cousin lived in Shawnee for a few years and I visited him there, but we never went fishing.

No, that is NOT the same fish. What an insulting question. There are plenty of fish in the lake, without having to use the same one. We did catch them on the same day, but mine was only 15" 2lbs., and his was 18" 3 3/4 lbs. Mine was still full of fight, and had his fins standing up. The Blade had to let his wear herself out before he could get her in the boat. That's why her fins are all droopy. We don't hold our fish out to the camera in order to make them look bigger, the way most of you all do, so they don't look as large as some of the smaller ones I have seen on here.

If I am going to be accused of dishonesty on here, think I'll go back to my pet forum. At least they have better manners.

[Mrs.Bladesmith]

Okay, that's the same fish you and your husband are holding in your separate pictures, right?

My cousin lived in Shawnee for a few years and I visited him there, but we never went fishing.

No, that is NOT the same fish. What an insulting question. There are plenty of fish in the lake, without having to use the same one. We did catch them on the same day, but mine was only 15" 2lbs., and his was 18" 3 3/4 lbs. Mine was still full of fight, and had his fins standing up. The Blade had to let his wear herself out before he could get her in the boat. That's why her fins are all droopy. We don't hold our fish out to the camera in order to make them look bigger, the way most of you all do, so they don't look as large as some of the smaller ones I have seen on here.

If I am going to be accused of dishonesty on here, think I'll go back to my pet forum. At least they have better manners.

Here are the larger pics. You can clearly see they are two different fish.

[Mrs.Bladesmith]

The Blade's fish.

[Dan Hughes]

I'm sorry Mrs. Bladesmith, I was just trying to be funny!  Didn't mean to be mean.  I'm really a nice guy, and I apologize.  

I'm a college instructor (broadcasting is my field), and I'm retiring next week (!) after 26 years of teaching, so I'm giddily happy and talking rather silly sometimes.  Again, sure didn't mean to hurt your feelings.

What is your pet forum?  My wife is nuts about Elliott Yamin (American Idol), and she spends all her computer time discussing him.  And my daughter, who just graduated from college and will teach special ed next semester, is really into old-time radio (Jack Benny especially).

I'm mostly into softball nowadays, but I still fish sometimes and smallmouth in a swift stream have always been my favorites.

[doublest]

What a coincidence I was just thinking of the Shyster a couple of days ago. Being 66 I remember it well. Down in SE Ohio, We used a lot of em.

That 75 cents was kinda hard to come by. Patiicularl when you were only making 50 cents an hour.The thing that used to really bug me about them was the twist it used to put in the line on my Airex Spinning reel and the accompanying birdsnests.However, they were a pretty darned good bait.

[thunderstruck]

Wow, I have a couple of those baits in my tacklebox that my dad handed down to me.  And I have that exact black and yellow one.  Never figured out how to fish it right, but now that I hear that it works, I am going to go play around in my neighborhood pond.

[Mrs.Bladesmith]

I'm sorry Mrs. Bladesmith, I was just trying to be funny! Didn't mean to be mean. I'm really a nice guy, and I apologize.

I'm a college instructor (broadcasting is my field), and I'm retiring next week (!) after 26 years of teaching, so I'm giddily happy and talking rather silly sometimes. Again, sure didn't mean to hurt your feelings.

What is your pet forum? My wife is nuts about Elliott Yamin (American Idol), and she spends all her computer time discussing him. And my daughter, who just graduated from college and will teach special ed next semester, is really into old-time radio (Jack Benny especially).

I'm mostly into softball nowadays, but I still fish sometimes and smallmouth in a swift stream have always been my favorites.

OK. Apology accepted. I should have guessed that you tend to be a little "giddy" from the picture on your profile. Glad to hear you're a nice guy.

By the way. Bladesmith played DJ  when he was in college, and I used to teach Special Ed. Small world.

[Dan Hughes]

Never figured out how to fish it right....

I fished it by throwing upsteam and holding my rod high enough that it didn't snag on the bottom.  If you let it hit bottom you'll almost surely lose it.

But boy did those smallmouth love it!

[Dan Hughes]

Bladesmith played DJ when he was in college, and I used to teach Special Ed. Small world.

I'll bet Bladesmith agrees with me that the music of the sixties was the best ever.

Did you enjoy teaching special ed? Nowadays "Special Education" (at least around here) mixes kids with learning disabilities with kids who have been thrown out of other classes. Seems insane to me.

[Mrs.Bladesmith]

[quote I'll bet Bladesmith agrees with me that the music of the sixties was the best ever.

Did you enjoy teaching special ed? Nowadays "Special Education" (at least around here) mixes kids with learning disabilities with kids who have been thrown out of other classes. Seems insane to me.

[Dan Hughes]

Mrs Bladesmith, my wife is an art teacher in a public middle school, and she has one class that is half autistic and half hardcore delinquents.  The hardcore kids have no respect for anyone, and are quite a chore to handle.

And its not like she hasn't had experience - we ran a group home for delinquent teenage girls for several years, and love and consideration worked pretty well there.

But today's kids seem worse.  (Three of her ex-students are now in prison for murder - all separate cases.)

Hope the board chiefs don't chastise me for getting so far off topic!  Sometimes you never know where a conversation will drift.  Now how did we get here again, from talking inline spinner lures?!

[Mrs.Bladesmith]

Mrs Bladesmith, my wife is an art teacher in a public middle school, and she has one class that is half autistic and half hardcore delinquents. The hardcore kids have no respect for anyone, and are quite a chore to handle.

And its not like she hasn't had experience - we ran a group home for delinquent teenage girls for several years, and love and consideration worked pretty well there.

But today's kids seem worse. (Three of her ex-students are now in prison for murder - all separate cases.)

Hope the board chiefs don't chastise me for getting so far off topic! Sometimes you never know where a conversation will drift. Now how did we get here again, from talking inline spinner lures?!

That's one of the main differences between a small country school in Oklahoma, and one in the city in IL. I have heard some real horror stories about city schools. {Before you tell me that you don't live in a city, I figure any place with a population over 500 or 600 hundred is a city.}

If they don't like the conversation, I guess they'll let us know.

[Dan Hughes]

The group home we ran was in Selma, Alabama, in the mid-seventies, and we enjoyed it immensely and we like to think we helped a lot of kids make positive changes in their lives.

We live in Champaign, Illinois now, which has a population of over a hundred thousand. A lot of these kids are from the south side of Chicago - they came here after Chicago closed up their housing projects. And they brought their gangs and their guns with them. It's a pretty bleak situation.

I really think some of them could be helped in a one-on-one situation, but when you get 20 of them at a time you just can't do a thing.

[tuxdaddy]

I think I saw that shyster at either K-mart or wal mart ... Will have to run by there and see for sure, and will give you a heads up..

Welcome to the board..

[Dan Hughes]

The Shyster is now made by the Luhr Jensen company, a company I remember from the old days as mostly making larger lures for northern fish, and ice lures.

And that 75-cent lure now retails for $2.92.

But at least it looks the same in the Jensen ads as it did 50 years ago.

[Shadrac]

My dad had a few of those and I remember it as a great walleye bait too

prompted me to check ebay on the bait:  http://cgi.ebay.com/VINTAGE-EVENS-SHYSTER-SPINNERS-ON-DISPLAYBOARD-NOS_W0QQitemZ120134148602QQihZ002QQcategoryZ794QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

the display board has some additional information about the bait

best

Shadrac