April 2012
Rainbo Wiggler
V. O. Pritchard
Springfield, MO
1949
April showers bring May flowers.

And with it, every color under the rainbow….

Speaking of rainbows and colors….

It was sometime this late winter when I was going through my “lure closet” and doing some early Spring cleaning, when I came across a group of fishing lures that were tucked away quite some time ago.  These were called “Rainbo-Wigglers” and I had bought several from one person some time back, but added very few to the collection since then.  I was going to color collect these lures, but found out these did not show up for sale very often.

I thought it would be a good time to pass this tackle on to someone else.  I looked at my list of lure collector contacts, and found a person on the list looking for Rainbo-Wigglers.  I sent him an email and I was quoted a possible value.  I was hoping for more, but I knew prices were down, yet I still wanted to get rid of them.

Then, the Northwest Sportshow comes along…and I decide to put the Rainbo lures is a small case and display them.  I thought it would be the one and only time that I would display these as my lures.

At the show, the small case drew a lot of attention.  The lures were bright and colorful and people were surprised they were not brand new fishing lures.  Even though a small case, it was one of the hottest items I had displayed at the show.  Then, the lures fate were sealed when my niece, Emily, who was helping me in my show booth says “Don’t sell those lures, I would like to have them someday”.  How could I sell them now?

After the show, I contacted the possible buyer before an offer was made on the lures.  “Sorry,” I said, “The lures are no longer for sale.”  I am sure he understood.

This lure is made up of two pieces of Lucite plastic glued together with a thin strip of color in the middle.  The color is then reflected over the whole lure to give is a surprisingly striking color.  The Wiggler came out in 1949, but it never caught on and the lure was short-lived and were never produced in mass quantities. 

This small collection of Rainbo-Wigglers has found a home in my collection and now they will be properly displayed.  Who knows, maybe I will even add to them someday.  Emily would probably like that….