Today in Fred Arbogast Sputterbug 1956, we’re going to start to delve into some of the baits Fred Arbogast Company developed after his death in 1947. Between the time when Arbogast started selling lures in 1923 and his death, he’d designed 11 different lures. Of the 11 baits he’d developed, everyone was a success, a feat not many companies could lay claim to.
After Arbogast’s death in 1947, the company forged on with his wife, Nellie Arbogast, owning the company. In 1954, the company was sold to an investment group owned by Cy Porterhouse and the company continued making the baits that Arbogast had developed (Heston 2007). Then in 1955, they released their second new lure since Arbogast’s death, the Sputterbug.
The Sputterbug was initially released in two different sizes, a 1/4-ounce version designed for the new spinning gear that was coming available to anglers, and a 5/8-ounce version for the baitcasting crowd. Prototypes were made out of wood (Virden 2018) but the lure would be made in plastic for the consumer.
The ad presented above is one of the first ads to feature the Sputterbug and comes from the February 1956 issue of Sports Afield. In the ad are two anglers who were some of the first to purchase and use the Sputterbug after its release. Each holds a nice string of bass. Unfortunately, the angler on the left said he caught all those fish and then lost his bait to a pesky musky took it away.
It is unknown who designed the bait but from Kevin Virden’s book, The Fred Arbogast Company, Incorporated Fishing Lure Collector’s Guide 1940 – 1997, Virden suggests that Toby Shopper, the experimental engineer at the company, may have designed the bait. The layout of the bait is pretty simple but was fairly revolutionary at the time.
Fred Arbogast originally designed a bait called the Sputterfuss in 1944 (Virden 2017) but the bait didn’t make it to store shelves until 1947. The Sputterfuss was a metal lure that resembled the Hawaiian Wiggler in that it had a metal head and a blade at the front. The body was fashioned out of an Arbogast rubber skirt.
The difference between the Sputterfuss and the Hawaiian Wiggler was the blade on the Sputterfuss resembled a contemporary buzzbait blade of today.
Now, bring on the Sputterbug.
The Sputterbug took the blade of the Sputterfuss and attached it to a plastic body that would resemble a chugger today. The body floated and was adorned with two treble hooks and a rubber skirt at the rear. The ad states, “Large head spinner makes a terrible commotion on the surface when reeled in fast. Retrieve slow for paddling sound. Can be fished in jerks like a popper…”
The bait came in nine colors and their new Silver Sparkle color.
The ad also has a free catalog offer as well as an offer for free 16mm movies. I wonder if any of these movies still exist as they would be really helpful in logging the history, not only of the company but bass fishing in general.
For more on the Fred Arbogast Company, click on the link to check out the other posts we’ve made on the company. I’m sure you’ll find something that will fill your need for Fred Arbogast information.
