I wrote a little about the Paul Bunyan Bait Company a few weeks ago, specifically about the classic bass lure, the Lucky 66 Spinner. Since then I’ve become more enamored with this old Minnesota company and their line of lures. Recently I picked up more than one vintage Dyna-Mite spinning lure, with the knowledge that the Paul Bunyan company manufactured this small bait. Well, I did a little digging, and also once again called Paul Bunyan expert Alan Bakke. I learned that the little bass catcher had a previous history before Paul Bunyan Baits.
The Dyna-Mite is an approximately 1½ inch shallow diving minnow-style lure. It has a metal lip and carries two hooks: a double hook on the center belly and a treble hook on the tail. The body material is interesting and a little confusing. It appears to be a hard, plastic-like material, but the lures that I have show some sort of granular deterioration on the belly of the lure where the hook and lip hardware are attached. I’m not sure if this granular material is old adhesive or the deteriorating lure body itself. I had read that the Dyna-Mite was made from denture material, which, if true, would probably mean it was an acrylic or possibly some type of porcelain material. In any event, I asked Alan Bakke about this and he agreed that he too believed it to be denture material. Very interesting.
The Dyna-Mite was originally created by a Dallas, Texas man named E.T. Condon sometime prior to 1947. Condon started the Dyna Tackle Company that year and the company produced the Dyna-Mite and the Dyna Topwater Popper. They advertised the popper as a “Top Water Killer for Black Bass.” The Dyna-Mite was heralded in Texas and Oklahoma as an effective white bass lure, although there are plenty of newspaper reports of it catching largemouth as well. A quick search of old newspaper articles turned up several stories that referenced the Dyna-Mite. In 1952 the Daily Oklahoman reported that in addition to loads of white bass “J.W. Thompson used a Dyna-Mite lure and he landed a blackie that weighed 3½ pounds” from Lake Overholser. The Tulsa Tribune also recounted that Jim Dowdy took several white bass and three largemouth on “a red and white Dyna-Mite” from an area lake in April, 1948.
And check out this October 27, 1949 Bristow News photo below. It shows three anglers with an enviable stringer of bass caught on different lures, including the Dyna-Mite. Old newspaper fishing reports make for fun viewing, especially when they include photos, angler names and the lures they used. It’s like discovering a time capsule.
Paul Bunyan purchased the manufacturing rights to the Dyna-Mite from Dyna Tackle in, I believe, 1950. They changed the lure slightly in the configuration of the diving lip and they expanded the color patterns. According to Alan they made two sizes, a smaller ¼ ounce model 500, for spinning, and a larger ½ ounce model 900, for casting. In a nice play on words, Paul Bunyan advertised the Dyna-Mite as their new “explosive fish getter.” Alan told me that Paul Bunyan sold the Dyna-Mite until 1960 or ‘61. At that time they pretty much gave up manufacturing fishing lures and transitioned from being a bait company to a general sporting goods wholesaler, similar to the Herter’s Company. Dyna Tackle itself went out of business in the mid-1950s.
I was curious to see how the Dyna-Mite fished so I tied one on and hit the lake by my home. I caught a keeper bass on my third cast, as well as a couple of small northern pike. Upon retrieving, the lure immediately tracked to the right, but once it settled down the action was brilliant, with a beautiful, tight wobble. What a gas, catching fish on a 75-year-old lure!
The Dyna-Mite, a popular small, spinning lure initially made in Texas for white bass and largemouth. Purchased and manufactured for around a decade by the Minnesota bait company Paul Bunyan, the lure became popular for northern bass. I recently purchased a dozen old Dyna-Mite lure blanks from Texas and will be building and painting several baits in the old Paul Bunyan style. I have a feeling that the Dyna-Mite would make a great smallmouth bass lure. I’ve got a smallmouth fishing trip planned for later this summer and intend to bring a handful of my “new” Dyna-Mite lures. It should make for some explosive fishing!
