Angler's Pride Chowhound Crankspin lure developed by Dr. Loren Hill. Circa mid-1980s.

This post covers a whole lot of ground. We have an old patch, some applied science, a lure you may or may not recall, and a pretty famous and interesting person to boot. The lure was the Chowhound, or as sometimes referred to by its full name, the Chowhound Crankspin.

The lure was marketed by Angler’s Pride of Garfield Heights, OH. Angler’s Pride, as well as Crankbait Corp, were both owned by the Highland Group. We’ve talked a bit about Crankbait Corp here a few times in the past and their association with famed lure designer Tom Seward.

The developer of the lure was none other than Dr. Loren Hill. Dr. Hill was the Director of the Zoology Department and Biological Research Center at the University of Oklahoma, but most anglers probably associate him more with his bass fishing innovations, not his actual professional position.

Without a doubt, Dr. Hill is mostly remembered by his development of the Color-C-Lector. That fancy gadget that would tell you what color bait to throw. Nearly every tackle manufacturer in the business at the time jumped on board with new and unique bait colors that fit with the Color-C-Lector color wheel.

But that wasn’t the only thing Dr. Hill had a hand in. He was also responsible for the Norman Snatrix bait and had a hand in the pH meter, and the earliest version of sound technology with BSX Biosonics. But let’s focus back on the Chowhound.

An old Chowhound patch, circa late 1980s. Photo Brian Waldman.

In a 1986 article written by the late Bassmaster Magazine senior writer, Tim Tucker, the Chowhound was marketed as “the first lure to combine a crankbait with a spinnerbait blade.” In that article, Dr. Hill stated the following.

“The Crankspin looks like a small fish which is either chasing an object or has food in its mouth (as it moves through the water). This action begins to trigger off the intraspecific competition response, an instinctive trait of gamefish which means when one fish has food in its mouth or is chasing an object, other fish in the area will try to take the food or object away. This then begins to eliminate the fear and danger response and timidity of gamefish by enticing them to chase and strike at the Crankspin lure.”

The lure was said to dive to a depth of 12 feet, a big deal back in the mid-80s when companies were stretching the bound of physics to get their baits deeper. On that subject, Angler’s Pride also developed another deep diver, without the spinner, that was one of the first to claim it could reach the magic 20-foot depth.

I can’t say I ever owned the Chowhound, but I’m guessing one of our readers out there probably did at some point. If you have any more information of experience with the bait, please let us know in the comments below. That said, the patch was pretty sharp looking.