Rebel Lures Catalog 1975/76

Today in Rebel Lures Catalog 1975-76 we’re taking a step back to the hay-days of Rebel Lures and Plastics Research & Development Company, pre-PRADCO.  This catalog features all the baits that Rebel offered for this year as well as an introduction to their new line of tackle boxes designed for the bass angler.

Rebel catalogs are hard to come by and I would like to thank Andy Kinslow for scanning this catalog and giving us the file to share.  Over the last couple weeks, we’ve had a couple folks reach out to us and offer scans of their collections.  This really helps us build our gallery of tackle and boat catalogs, documenting the history of these companies.

So, let’s get on with this amazing catalog.

The front cover (lead-in image) of this catalog features a cool image of all the products Rebel was offering that year.  They were still in the troll-motor business as well as the boat business.  If you recall, the boat used for the first BASS Masters Classic on Lake Mead, NV in 1971 was a Rebel.  That boat was a tub-style boat with an inboard/outboard motor and featured the Rebel trolling motor.  Looking at this cover you see their boats had morphed into the more modern style bass boat of the 1970s, a tri-hull.  I wish we had access to that boat catalog so we could add it to our boat gallery.

Also on the front cover is the new tackle box they were offering, the Rebel Bass’N Box.  There’s also a couple rods that appear to be Lew’s Speedsticks and of course a host of Rebel lures.  For a cover picture, this image has it all.

Next, we get to one of the most popular baits ever made by Rebel, the Deep Runner or better known as the Spoonbill Rebel.  This is arguably the bait that started the jerkbaiting craze and technique in Missouri.  For shallow water the floating Rapala was the dominant bait to throw but when you needed that extra depth, it was the Rebel Spoonbill that shined.

Due to its lack of weight and the long bill, the bait was difficult to throw in all sizes, especially if there was a hint of a breeze.  Because of this, most anglers threw them on spinning gear.  And man did they catch fish.

Rebel offered the bait in three sizes, the DR100 (3-1/2-inches long and 1/4-oz), DR200 (4-1/2-inches long and 3/8-oz), and the DR300 (5-1/2-inches long and 3/4-oz).  The DR100 had two hooks where the DR200 and DR300 had three.

Page 3 highlights more of the original baits that put rebel on the map, the Humpy, and the Super-R.  The Humpy was offered in one size but four different models.  There was a shallow diving floater (F25) and medium dunning sinker (S25).  Both baits were 1-3/4-inches long but the floater weighed 1/4-oz while the sinker weighed 3/8-oz.

Next in the lineup are the Rebel Poppers starting with the Popper itself.  Offered in two models, the P100 and PB100, the bait was 3-inches long and weighed 1/2-oz.  The difference between the two being the bucktail treble on the back of the PB100.

Below the Popper is the Bonehead Popper, model numbers PBX100 and PX100.  This bait looks like the Popper but with a shaved upper lip.  The bait came in one size, 3-inches long and 1/2-oz, but one of the models had a feathered treble on the rear.

Page 5 continues with the most famous popper that Rebel ever made, the Pop-R.  Brought back to life in the mid-1980s through the success of Zell Rowland, the Pop-R in its original form doesn’t resemble the Pop-R of the 80s, unless the rendering is missing something.  The 1980s Pop-R I am familiar with had a slenderer body.  It came in two sizes, the P60 (1/4-oz and 2-1/2-inches long), and the famous P70 (1/2-oz and 3-inches long).  Also notice the lack of the feathered treble that became standard in the 1980s.

The next three baits, the Jumpin’ Minnow, Spinback and Top Prop are three baits I have zero experience with.  The Jumpin Minnow was offered in two models, the TW100R (3-1/2-inches long and 3/8-oz), and the TW200R (4-1/2-inches long and 1/2-oz).  It’s hard to tell if this was a walking bait.

The Spinback looks to be made from a Humpy-like mold, minus a slow for a lip and adorned with two props.  It’s a cool little topwater bait that bares no resemblance to any contemporary bait I know of.  At 1-3/4-inches long and 1/4-oz, this would be a spinning rod-only lure as well as one to fish with lighter line.

The Top Prop looks to be the typical topwater prop bait, probably in response to Smithwick’s Devil’s Horse.  At 3-1/2-inches long and 3/8-oz, the bait was assembled with rattles.

On to page 8 and the “New” Rebel Bass’N Box and Trolling Motors.  I vividly remember these boxes, as I owned one.  They were great if you kept them in a climate-controlled environment.  But in the heat of the Arizona summer sun, mine warped to the point the lids wouldn’t close anymore.  That was after one trip.  As a young kid who saved his lunch money to buy tackle, that was a setback.  Thankfully the department store I bought it from let me return it and buy a Plano.

Below the tackle boxes re the Rebel trolling motors.  Rebel offered four models, two in 12/24 Volt and two in 12 Volt.  Look at what the 12/24 versions had to offer.  Thirty-six-inch shaft with 24-1/2 pounds of thrust.  Today that seems crazy, but you must remember, back then a 15-foot boat was standard with few boats in the 17-foot class offered.  We used two batteries to power the trolling motor, and one of those batteries was used to start the motor and run all the electronics.  It was simple and it worked.

If you’d like to participate in sharing your old catalogs with us, please leave a comment down below or hit me up at terry@bass-archives.com.

To view the entire catalog in its entirety, please check out the gallery below.  Click on the first image and use the arrows to scroll through the catalog.

Gallery – Rebel Lures Catalog 1975-76